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• M.I.A. at The Vic Theatre

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Neon brights, spandex and geometric patterns are no longer reminiscent of the ‘80s, and M.I.A. has made sure of that. This one-woman wonder hails from Sri Lanka and London and manages to look more badass in a shiny one piece bodysuit than most people ever will. Her show at the Vic Theatre in Chicago turned a sold out crowd into a wave of sweaty bodies and a mess of sequins.

After completely missing the opener The Cool Kids, I dashed for the coat check. No dice — completely full. (Okay fine, it wasn’t my jacket anyway.) Now it was bathroom time … and there was blood on the floor. The show had already not turned out as planned.

The main floor was tightly packed with glittered M.I.A. fans and a crayon box assortment of high top sneakers. We found our way to the back left of the theatre and dropped our coats off on a random bench with high hopes they would still be there when we returned.

She came out with a bang complete with a massive digital backdrop displaying everything from a twenty foot version of her face to brightly animated sketches of paper planes. The crowd rhythmically swayed and wiggled to the songs “Bucky Done Gun,” “Boyz,” “Galang” and “Bird Flu.” During the first half of the show, she shuffled girls from the crowd to dance on stage, and in the second half she gave the same favor to some lucky male audience members.

It was at this point in the show I almost got purposely clobbered by a huge man to my right. Apparently the setting of an M.I.A. show gave this man permission to beat up a girl. He was unsuccessful. I’m unrelenting at concerts.

After this minor distraction, it was all eyes on the mesmerizing creature on stage. She had brought a DJ and two spandex-clad dancers to the stage, but she held her own in a feathered sailor hat and white hot short shorts. The encore seemed much more delayed than usual, but it was worth the wait when the crowd began pulsing and screaming along to “Paper Planes.” M.I.A. once again proved her ferocity and talent and left us all with the energy of the gods and a new appreciation for DayGlo.