Spring Weekend Review: Girl Talk/M.I.A.

Girl Talk and M.I.A. are both innovators, and as such their Spring Weekend performances were showcases for the quirkiness that helped make them successful artists. However, only one of their performances was actually successful. Girl Talk is a mashup artist, and as such he taps into the simple pleasures of hearing familiar music tweaked to make it as hedonistically danceable as possible. Girl Talk’s show is far more about the music than about the spectacle—unless you’re incredibly enthralled by a dude holding up an iPod with a bunch of people dancing next to him, that is—and he certainly delivers. While it could be difficult to recognize where the specific beats that Girl Talk used came from, his vocals and melodies were far more identifiable and provided a massive amount of fun. Drawing primarily from pop and hip-hop, notable vocal hits included samples from Lil’ Mama’s “Lip Gloss” and Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer.”

Even when neither the beat nor the melody was recognizable, Girl Talk matched his samples perfectly and kept the energy level high. The man otherwise known as Gregg Gillis only spoke a few times, most notably to deliver a hilarious monologue on how awesome his live sound check was. While he played versions of album tracks like “Bounce That” from Night Ripper, they were altered like everything else about Girl Talk’s music, keeping the show fresh for both die-hard fans and newcomers. He also played some new work featuring vocal samples from current hip-hop hits like Flo Rida’s “Low.” Overall, Girl Talk was able to satisfy dance freaks, Top 40 fans, and everyone in between.

Girl Talk’s show was all about pleasing the crowd, but it was hard to tell who exactly M.I.A. was attempting to please with her performance. For some unidentifiable reason, her entire set was punctuated with sirens, the sounds of bombs dropping, and ear-splitting gunshots. The first five were cool. The next five were tolerable. The other five hundred were completely uncalled for. If they had any sort of point beyond being obnoxious and attention-getting, it was lost. A brief open letter to Ms. Maya Arulpragasam: You like gunshots. We get it. Sincerely, Brown University.

It’s true that M.I.A. is a massively talented artist with brilliant, catchy melodies and lyrics. However, she ruined much of her appeal by stretching intros out to interminable lengths and simply wasting time between songs. When songs are extended or delayed, there’s a fine line between creating suspense and frustrating the audience, and M.I.A. repeatedly crossed this line. The show incorporated a certain amount of what was meant to be provocative political rhetoric, but muddy acoustics and unclear messages made it difficult to pinpoint exactly what she was saying. For example, when one of her dancers led the crowd in a largely context-free chant of “Where were you in ’92?” most of the young crowd was probably thinking “Preschool?”

While M.I.A.’s set was often aggravating, there were some bright spots. The on-stage videos that accompanied every song were truly artistic, eye-catching and appealing, and the set featured some excellent dancing and dynamic performances from M.I.A. and her backup. The portions of songs that most closely resembled the album tracks were unimpeachable, especially big hits like “Galang,” “Boyz,” and the rapturous encore of “Paper Planes.” Unfortunately, while M.I.A. is a great artist, she hasn’t yet learned how to be a great performer. While musicians rely on creativity, M.I.A.’s show performance proved that there’s something to be said for restraint.