Kala Tour

The Kala Tour is a 2007 global M.I.A. concert tour performed in support of her studio album Kala (see 2007 in music).

Kala Tour
Tour by M.I.A.
M.I.A. performing at Treasure Island Music Festival, 2007
Associated albumKala (2007)
Start date20 May 2007
End date20 December 2007
No. of shows21 in Europe
37 in North America
6 in Australia
4 in Japan
68 in total
M.I.A. concert chronology

Tour details

The tour features dates across Europe, North America, Canada and Asia. M.I.A. began performing in support of Kala at Radio 1's Big Weekend on 20 May 2007. She made sporadic appearances at venues in the US during late 2006, including performances at Gotham Hall in New York City on 31 August 2006 where other performing acts included Cee-lo and The Rapture, and at McCarren Pool on 3 September 2006 where other performers included Spank Rock and Amanda Blank. This tour followed recording for Kala, and the Arular Tour, which ended in February 2006 with performances in Japan. The 2007 Kala tour was announced by M.I.A. on her official website and Myspace page.[1] The setlist featured songs heard for the first time from her studio album Kala (2007), and also included songs from previous album Arular (2005). Dates included concerts at music festivals, universities, colleges and club venues around the world.[2]

Sets
Afrikan Boy supporting M.I.A. at the Rock en Seine Festival, 2007

Concerts during the tour often began with political activist Koichi Toyama on a panoramic screen delivering an anarchic speech, ordering the overthrow of a government. The setlist often began with Kala's opening track "Bamboo Banga." M.I.A. selected programming, beats and videos during her set using a Lemur Input Device on stage, and performed dates with back up singer Cherry, DJs Sinden and Low B, supporting vocalists and backup dancers "The Coconut Twins" (Kesh and Zezi Ifore).[3][4] On the back screen, disembodied images and film footage of break-dancing street kids, strippers, tigers, war, video games, political rhetoric, graphs, globes, laughing women and large concert crowds from her previous shows are played throughout the show.[5] Fans were often invited on stage during the performance of "Bird Flu."[6]

M.I.A. has collaborated with CassettePlaya, Ashish and Brian Lichtenberg and as with the Arular Tour she wore some of her own designs on tour. T-shirts such as the "How Many How Many" Tees from the "Boyz" set were sold as tour merchandise at gigs and via her website. "Kala Tour Tees" from her "Kala Tour/Okley Run" line were released in 2008.[7]

Shows

M.I.A.'s date at the House of Blues in Chicago, US was performed with Lupe Fiasco and Emily King, whilst her dates at the Arena of Nîmes in France and at the Fox Theater in the US were performed opening for Björk.[8] Her date at the Verizon Wireless Theatre was performed with Paul Wall.[2] Although reports suggested that M.I.A was booked and subsequently cancelled an appearance at the Glastonbury Festival in 2007, a statement released by M.I.A.'s agents explained "Contrary to printed reports in the Guardian Guide, M.I.A. advised Glastonbury that she was unavailable to perform in late May. We are sorry if fans were led to believe otherwise. M.I.A. looks forward to performing next year.“[9]

More dates were added to her US tour after September 2007 due to high demand. M.I.A. ended 2007 with a mini-tour of venues across the U.K.[10] She and her label XL Recordings made available a tour diary of her late 2007 UK dates in different parts to view on YouTube.[11][12] Opening acts throughout her tour included The Gray Kid, Rye Rye, Santigold, Holy Fuck,[6] The Cool Kids, Soko, Radioclit, Buraka Som Sistema and Afrikan Boy. Her DJs also often played opening sets before her shows. On her YouTube account, M.I.A. posted a video of her and her tourmates during an encore performance of "Paper Planes" at the Electric Factory in Philadelphia, where she named the tour the "KALA Back 2 P.O.W.A. Tour."[13]

The KALA tour ended in December 2007, with will.i.am, Paul Wall, the Beastie Boys, Nick Zinner and Brian Chase of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Pavement's Mark Ibold among attendees.[14] It was followed by M.I.A.'s People vs. Money Tour in 2008.

Set list

M.I.A. did not follow the same setlist at every show, but played combinations of the following songs. "Galang" and "Paper Planes" were variably chosen as the final song she played for the encore depending on the venue. During the Terminal 5 club performance, part of the CMJ Music Marathon, she performed mash ups of New Order's "Blue Monday" with "Jimmy", "10 Dollar" with the Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)", (from the mixtape Piracy Funds Terrorism) and "Galang" with Lil Mama's "Lip Gloss". It was noted that the latter "served as a reminder of how much the mainstream pop/dance/rap landscape has shifted since M.I.A. first appeared in 2004, and how much certain megahits such as Fergie's "London Bridge" have come to resemble her sound."[14]

Encore:

Tour dates
Date City Country Venue
Europe
20 May 2007[lower-alpha 1] Preston England Moor Park
North America
21 July 2007[lower-alpha 2] Brooklyn United States Coney Island
25 July 2007 Studio B
28 July 2007 San Francisco Rickshaw Stop
30 July 2007 Los Angeles The Echo
31 July 2007
3 August 2007[lower-alpha 3] Chicago Grant Park
4 August 2007 House of Blues
5 August 2007[lower-alpha 4] Baltimore Pimlico Race Course
Europe
13 August 2007[lower-alpha 5] Paredes de Coura Portugal Praia Fluvial do Taboão
16 August 2007[lower-alpha 6] Hasselt Belgium Kempischesteenweg
17 August 2007 Cologne Germany Gloria Theater
18 August 2007[lower-alpha 7] Biddinghuizen Netherlands Walibi Holland
21 August 2007[lower-alpha 8] Nimes France Arena of Nîmes
23 August 2007[lower-alpha 8]
24 August 2007[lower-alpha 9] Paris Parc de Saint-Cloud
26 August 2007[lower-alpha 10] London England Clapham Common
1 September 2007[lower-alpha 11] Stradbally Ireland Stradbally Hall
2 September 2007[lower-alpha 12] Inveraray Scotland Inveraray Castle
North America
8 September 2007[lower-alpha 13] Toronto Canada Toronto Islands Park
9 September 2007[lower-alpha 14] Montreal Parc Jean-Drapeau
11 September 2007 Detroit United States Fox Theatre
14 September 2007[lower-alpha 15] Austin Zilker Park
15 September 2007[lower-alpha 16] San Francisco Treasure Island
Australia
22 September 2007[lower-alpha 17] Melbourne Australia Birrarung Marr
23 September 2007[lower-alpha 17] Adelaide Botanic Park
28 September 2007 Melbourne Forum Theatre
29 September 2007[lower-alpha 17] Brisbane City Botanic Gardens
30 September 2007[lower-alpha 17] Sydney Moore Park
1 October 2007[lower-alpha 17] Perth Wellington Square
Asia
5 October 2007 Nagoya Japan Nagoya Club Quattro
6 October 2007 Osaka Shinsaibashi Club Quattro
8 October 2007 Tokyo Shibuya Club Quattro
9 October 2007 Liquid Room
North America
18 October 2007 New York City United States Terminal 5
19 October 2007
20 October 2007 Toronto Canada Kool Haus
26 October 2007[lower-alpha 18] New Orleans United States City Park
27 October 2007[lower-alpha 19] Las Vegas Sam Boyd Stadium
29 October 2007 Miami Studio A
31 October 2007 Atlanta Earthlink Live
2 November 2007 Houston Verizon Wireless Theater
3 November 2007 Austin Hogg Memorial Auditorium
4 November 2007 Dallas House of Blues
7 November 2007 San Francisco The Fillmore
8 November 2007 Mezzanine
9 November 2007 Los Angeles Wiltern Theatre
11 November 2007 San Diego Canes Bar & Grill
14 November 2007 Vancouver Canada Commodore Ballroom
15 November 2007 Portland United States Roseland Theater
16 November 2007 Seattle Showbox SoDo
20 November 2007 Minneapolis First Avenue
21 November 2007 Chicago House of Blues
23 November 2007 The Vic Theatre
24 November 2007 Detroit Majestic Theater
26 November 2007 Montreal Canada Metropolis
29 November 2007 Washington, D.C. United States 9:30 Club
1 December 2007 Philadelphia Electric Factory
Europe
8 December 2007 London England Institute of Contemporary Arts
10 December 2007 Birmingham Custard Factory
11 December 2007 Newcastle Digital
12 December 2007 Glasgow Scotland The Arches
14 December 2007 Brighton England Concorde 2
15 December 2007 Bristol Anson Rooms
17 December 2007 Nottingham Rescue Rooms
18 December 2007 Manchester Manchester Academy
19 December 2007 Norwich The Waterfront
20 December 2007 London The Coronet

Notes
  1. This concert is a part of Radio 1's Big Weekend.
  2. This concert is a part of Siren Music Festival.
  3. This concert is a part of Lollapalooza.
  4. This concert is a part of Virgin Festival.
  5. This concert is a part of Paredes de Coura Festival.
  6. This concert is a part of Pukkelpop.
  7. This concert is a part of Lowlands.
  8. These concerts are part of Festival de Nîmes.
  9. This concert is a part of Rock en Seine.
  10. This concert is a part of Get Loaded in the Park.
  11. This concert is a part of Electric Picnic.
  12. This concert is a part of Connect Festival.
  13. This concert is a part of Virgin Festival.
  14. This concert is a part of Osheaga Festival.
  15. This concert is a part of Austin City Limits Festival.
  16. This concert is a part of Treasure Island Music Festival.
  17. These concerts are part of Parklife.
  18. This concert is a part of Voodoo Music + Arts Experience.
  19. This concert is a part of Vegoose.

References
  1. "M.I.A." M.I.A. Myspace. Retrieved 6 June 2008.
  2. "M.I.A. adds shows with The Cool Kids". Pitchfork Media. 1 October 2007. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 30 May 2008.
  3. "The Fader – Video: MIA, "Bamboo Banga"". The Fader. 29 May 2007. Retrieved 5 September 2008.
  4. Chinen, Nate (20 October 2007). "CMJ Music Marathon in Review". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 September 2008.
  5. Dodero, Camille (22 October 2007). "CMJ: This is Another Piece about M.I.A. at Terminal 5". The Village Voice. Retrieved 30 May 2008.
  6. Macneil, Jason (21 October 2007). "Concert Review:Kool Haus, Toronto". Jam! Canoe. Retrieved 25 August 2008.
  7. "The Fader – Stylee Fridays: MIA talks fashion". The Fader. 24 October 2008. Retrieved 11 November 2008.
  8. "M.I.A. adds U.S. dates to Summer Tour". Pitchfork Media. 28 June 2007. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 30 May 2008.
  9. "M.I.A. info – June 21st 2007 entry". MIAUK – M.I.A. Official Website. Archived from the original on 12 May 2008. Retrieved 6 June 2008.
  10. "M.I.A. UK Tour dates announced". AngryApe. 18 October 2007. Archived from the original on 18 March 2012. Retrieved 30 May 2008.
  11. "M.I.A. UK Tour Part 1". XL Recordings. Retrieved 30 May 2008 – via YouTube.
  12. "M.I.A. UK Tour Part 2". XL Recordings. Retrieved 30 May 2008 – via YouTube.
  13. Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam (1 December 2007). "Paper Planes (Official) Live Video". worldtown. Retrieved 10 November 2008 – via YouTube.
  14. Phillips, Amy (20 October 2007). "CMJ: Friday [Amy Phillips]". Pitchfork Media. Archived from the original on 25 October 2008. Retrieved 10 November 2008.
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