Nylon Blogs

“MIA! MIA! MIA!”

The crowd cheers as Junkie XL descends the stage of the Sahara tent at Coachella. Amongst a crowd of at least three-thousand music-fanatics, I make my way to the press pit to try to secure a spot for what is already one of the most talked about performances of the three-day festival. Held back by a hoard of security guards, I (along with a gaggle of photographers and music bloggers) try to push my way forward. After some heated discussions between the security staff and other photographers, we are eventually sandwiched between the long row of 5-feet high bases and the general barrier, which separates the wild crowd from the main-stage.

As soon as the first beat hits, mayhem ensues. A fight breaks out to my right; two girls tear at each other’s faces (I’m sure one walked away with a tuft of the other’s hair).”Bamboo Banga,” begins and M.I.A. walks to the front of the stage. She is wearing a white wig, which brilliantly reflects all of the neon lights, and is clad in some sort of frock that appears to be made of a criss-cross of black and colored reflector tape. As the music gets louder, the crowd continues to become more uncontrollable. People begin to hop the fence between the general audience and the press pit, and somehow what were empty spaces on the side-stage become filled with sweat-drenched teenagers.

When “Boyz” begins another surge of audience members surges forward. I, who had perched myself on the general barrier to take some pictures, am pushed off by kids trying to hop over.”Come on stage!,” yells M.I.A. “Everyone on stage!,” she commands. And with that, the energy is switched to full-volume. People flood the press pit and begin to climb onstage despite the wishes of the security staff. I duck as not to be hit by the people who attempt to jump from the general barrier onto the row of bases that line the front of the stage. As kids ascend the speakers, I give in. With a gigantic leap I throw myself on-top of one of the bases. I AM NOW DANCING ON STAGE WITH M.I.A..I try to maintain my balance as I stand on the row of bases next to M.I.A.. I realize my favorite pair of sunglasses are no longer on top of my head, but I don’t care; I am dancing on stage in front of a crowd of thousands to the music of one of my favorite artists — and I’m standing next to her! (Plus I found the sunglasses untouched afterwards, yes it was a miracle)

This is hands down the best performance I’ve seen (and been a part of) this weekend… and probably the best in the past year.Hats off to you M.I.A. — you killed it out there and was even nice enough to let me take your picture post-performance in the artist lounge area.

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 27th, 2008 at 5:50 pm and is filed under Press Play. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.