Arular Tour
Tour by M.I.A.
M.I.A. performing in Los Angeles, USA 2005
Associated albumArular
Start date2 February 2005
End date5 February 2006
Legs9
No. of shows
  • 41 in North America
  • 12 in Europe
  • 6 in Oceania
  • 3 in South America
  • 2 in Asia
  • 64 total
M.I.A. concert chronology

The Arular Tour is a global concert tour by M.I.A. performed in support of her first studio album Arular (2005). It took place from 2005 to 2006.

The tour featured dates across North America, South America, Canada, Europe, Asia and Australasia. M.I.A. performed sporadically near the end of 2004. One of M.I.A.'s first live performances in London took place in November 2004.[1] She also performed at an event in Puerto Rico and minor gigs in places such as Philadelphia and New York City in the U.S., as well as Hamburg and Berlin in Germany in 2004.[2] Her 2005 tour began with her North American debut performance at the Drake Hotel in Toronto, Ontario on 2 February 2005.[3]

Tour details

The Arular Tour setlist featured songs from her debut album Arular. Some mixes from her mixtape Piracy Funds Terrorism were also performed. M.I.A. did not follow the same setlist at every show. M.I.A. spoke in 2005 of wanting to make her live set "minimal," inspired by gigs of acts such as electroclash musician Peaches which she attended whilst travelling and filming a documentary on her.[4] M.I.A.'s concert following the Drake Hotel gig received a response described as "phenomenal" by organiser Jacob Smid, with attendees already knowing many of her songs.[3]

Sets were sometimes decorated with palm fronds. The stage featured coloured drapes, canvasses and flags she created with prints of her graffiti stencils, paintings, and her album and singles artwork. These featured pictures of anonymous rebel soldiers, tigers, tanks and guns amid jagged colourful patterns. Her stage attire featured similar prints. She wore many contrasting outfits, nearly every item of clothing hand made by friends such as Carri Mundane and herself.[1] In some shows, a video screen displayed images of tigers, looping fighter jets, maps of London and oil rigs.

Coachella 2005

M.I.A ended her set in the Gobi tent at the 2005 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival with the song "Galang", leading to an encore in response to crowd enthusiasm, a rarity for the festival and the first tent encore at Coachella.[5][6] Describing the performance she said, "When I played three years ago, it was such a crazy moment. It was my first festival and I had only done about five shows in my entire life...They dismantled the stage and had to put it back together because all the people started going, 'M.I.A! M.I.A!' I don't think I'd ever be able to do something like that again, because it was my moment."[6]

Later tour

Additionally, M.I.A. co-headlined tours with Roots Manuva and LCD Soundsystem during 2005.[7] Her dates from 10 May at the Commodore Ballroom, Canada to 12 June at the 9:30 Club, US were performed with LCD Soundsystem.[8] M.I.A. performed with backup singer Cherry and DJ Diplo on many dates. Spank Rock opened for M.I.A. on a few dates, as did DJ's Rekha, Marlboro and Contra who made appearances on some dates during the tour.[9] Concerts took place at club venues and music festivals. She joined Gwen Stefani on her 2005 tour and ended the Arular tour with performances in Japan in February 2006. M.I.A. performed several sold-out shows during her tour, with Aziz Ansari, Feist, David Byrne, Nas, Kelis, Matt Damon and Natalie Portman among those attending concerts.[10][11][12][13] Recording for her second album Kala followed this tour, which preceded the 2007 KALA Tour.

Set list

This is the set-list from M.I.A.'s sold-out concert at the club S.O.B.s in Manhattan U.S..

Tour dates

Date City Country Venue
North America
2 February 2005 Toronto Canada Drake Hotel
3 February 2005 Los Angeles United States Knitting Factory
5 February 2005 New York City Knitting Factory
1 May 2005[a] Indio Empire Polo Club
10 May 2005 Vancouver Canada Commodore Ballroom
11 May 2005 Seattle United States The Showbox
13 May 2005 San Francisco The Independent
14 May 2005 The Fillmore
15 May 2005 Los Angeles El Rey Theatre
17 May 2005 The Echo
19 May 2005 Chicago Metro Chicago
20 May 2005 Detroit Saint Andrew's Hall
21 May 2005 Toronto Canada The Opera House
22 May 2005 Montreal La Tulipe
7 June 2005 New York City United States SOB's
9 June 2005 Boston Avalon Ballroom
10 June 2005 New York City Webster Hall
11 June 2005 Philadelphia Transit
12 June 2005 Washington, D.C. 9:30 Club
Europe
16 June 2005[b] Hultsfred Sweden Hultsfred Folkets Park
17 June 2005 London England Fabric
18 June 2005[c] Barcelona Spain Fira Gran Via
23 June 2005 Norwich England The Waterfront
24 June 2005[d] Pilton Worthy Farm
25 June 2005[e] London Hyde Park
5 July 2005[f] Kristiansand Norway Odderøya
14 July 2005 Brussels Belgium Ancienne Belgique
15 July 2005[g] Ghent Vooruit
16 July 2005[h] Amsterdam Netherlands Melkweg
North America
7 August 2005[i] New York City United States Rumsey Playfield
Asia
13 August 2005[j] Chiba Japan Makuhari Messe
14 August 2005[j] Osaka Intex Osaka
Europe
26 August 2005[k] Leeds England Bramham Park
28 August 2005[l] Reading Little John's Farm
North America
19 September 2005 Athens United States 40 Watt Club
21 September 2005 Washington, D.C. 9:30 Club
23 September 2005 Boston Paradise Rock Club
24 September 2005 Montreal Canada Metropolis
26 September 2005 Toronto Phoenix Concert Theatre
27 September 2005 Detroit United States Saint Andrew's Hall
28 September 2005 Chicago Metro Chicago
29 September 2005 Minneapolis Fine Line Music Cafe
1 October 2005 Englewood Gothic Theatre
4 October 2005 Los Angeles The Fonda Theatre
5 October 2005 San Francisco The Regency Ballroom
South America
22 October 2005[m] Rio de Janeiro Brazil Museum of Modern Art
25 October 2005[m] São Paulo Arena Anhembi
29 October 2005[n] Buenos Aires Argentina Club Ciudad de Buenos Aires
North America[o]
16 November 2005 Winnipeg Canada MTS Centre
18 November 2005 Edmonton Rexall Place
20 November 2005 Vancouver General Motors Place
21 November 2005 Seattle United States KeyArena
23 November 2005 Portland Veterans Memorial Coliseum
25 November 2005 Fresno Save Mart Center
26 November 2005 Anaheim Arrowhead Pond
28 November 2005
29 November 2005 Bakersfield Rabobank Arena
1 December 2005 Oakland The Arena in Oakland
Oceania
22 January 2006[p] Gold Coast Australia Gold Coast Parklands
26 January 2006[p] Sydney Sydney Showground Stadium
28 January 2006 Metro Theatre
29 January 2006[p] Melbourne Princes Park
3 February 2006[p] Adelaide Adelaide Showground
5 February 2006[p] Perth Claremont Showground

Notes

  1. ^ This concert is part of Coachella.
  2. ^ This concert is part of Hultsfred Festival.
  3. ^ This concert is part of Sónar.
  4. ^ This concert is part of Glastonbury Festival.
  5. ^ This concert is part of Wireless Festival.
  6. ^ This concert is part of Quart Festival.
  7. ^ This concert is part of Ten Days Off.
  8. ^ This concert is part of 5 Days Off.
  9. ^ This concert is part of SummerStage.
  10. ^ a b These concerts are part of Summer Sonic Festival.
  11. ^ This concert is part of Leeds Festival.
  12. ^ This concert is part of Reading Festival.
  13. ^ a b These concerts are part of TIM Festival.
  14. ^ This concert is part of BUE Festival.
  15. ^ These concerts are supporting to Gwen Stefani's Harajuku Lovers Tour.
  16. ^ a b c d e These concerts are part of Big Day Out.

References

  1. ^ a b Frere Jones, Sasha (22 November 2004). "Bingo in Swansea: Maya Arulpragsam's world". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on 15 June 2008. Retrieved 30 May 2008.
  2. ^ "Are you lesbian? No I'm making music". pop (all love). 1 February 2005. Archived from the original on 25 December 2007. Retrieved 30 May 2008.
  3. ^ a b Peters, Mitchell (5 September 2005). "M.I.A." Pollstar. Archived from the original on 31 October 2005. Retrieved 30 May 2008.
  4. ^ Moayeri, Lily. "And Interview with Maya Arul a.k.a. M.I.A. – Arul on recording Arular". Remixmag. Archived from the original on 8 January 2009. Retrieved 30 May 2008.
  5. ^ "Coldplay, NIN Top Coachella With Emotional Performances". MTV. 2 May 2005. Retrieved 1 October 2007.
  6. ^ a b Eliscu, Jenny (28 April 2008). "My Coachella: M.I.A. Gets the Bodies Moving". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 14 December 2011.
  7. ^ Chekuru, Kavitha (25 July 2005). "M.I.A. Announces Headlining Tour". Pitchforkmedia. Archived from the original on 23 June 2008. Retrieved 30 May 2008.
  8. ^ E. Davis, Carolyn (26 April 2005). "M.I.A. Forges Her Own Path". MTV. Archived from the original on 26 July 2008. Retrieved 6 August 2008.
  9. ^ Inoue, Todd (12 October 2005). "Chairman M.I.A." Metroactive. Archived from the original on 10 October 2008. Retrieved 5 October 2008.
  10. ^ "M.I.A. story - Aziz Ansari featuring Eugene Mirman". azizisbored.com. YouTube. 23 February 2005. Retrieved 5 October 2008.
  11. ^ Feist (5 May 2005). "A Torch Singer with an ancient sound". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 August 2008.
  12. ^ Shapiro, Peter (17 June 2005). "Talking about her revolution". Times Online. London. Retrieved 12 August 2008.
  13. ^ Levy, Ariel (November 2005). "Natalie Portman will change your life". Blender. Archived from the original on 23 December 2005. Retrieved 12 August 2008.

External links

M.I.A.
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