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. 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. Her 2005 tour began with her North American debut performance at the Drake Hotel in Toronto, Ontario on 2 February 2005.

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. 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.

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. 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. 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."

Later tour Additionally, M.I.A. co-headlined tours with Roots Manuva and LCD Soundsystem during 2005. Her dates from 10 May at the Commodore Ballroom, Canada to 12 June at the 9:30 Club, US were performed with LCD Soundsystem. 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. 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. 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.. "Pull Up the People" "Fire Fire" "Sunshowers" "Hombre" "M.I.A." "Amazon" "10 Dollar" "Bucky Done Gun" "Galang" "U.R.A.Q.T." "Bingo"

Tour dates Date City Country Venue North America2 February 2005TorontoCanadaDrake Hotel3 February 2005 Los Angeles United StatesKnitting Factory 5 February 2005 New York City Knitting Factory 1 May 2005IndioEmpire Polo Club10 May 2005VancouverCanadaCommodore Ballroom11 May 2005Seattle United StatesThe Showbox13 May 2005San FranciscoThe Independent14 May 2005The Fillmore15 May 2005Los AngelesEl Rey Theatre17 May 2005The Echo19 May 2005ChicagoMetro Chicago20 May 2005DetroitSaint Andrew's Hall21 May 2005Toronto CanadaThe Opera House22 May 2005MontrealLa Tulipe7 June 2005New York City United StatesSOB's9 June 2005BostonAvalon Ballroom10 June 2005New York CityWebster Hall11 June 2005PhiladelphiaTransit12 June 2005Washington, D.C.9:30 Club Europe16 June 2005HultsfredSwedenHultsfred Folkets Park17 June 2005LondonEnglandFabric18 June 2005BarcelonaSpainFira Gran Via23 June 2005NorwichEnglandThe Waterfront24 June 2005PiltonWorthy Farm25 June 2005LondonHyde Park5 July 2005KristiansandNorwayOdderøya14 July 2005BrusselsBelgiumAncienne Belgique15 July 2005GhentVooruit16 July 2005AmsterdamNetherlandsMelkweg North America7 August 2005New York CityUnited StatesRumsey Playfield Asia13 August 2005ChibaJapanMakuhari Messe 14 August 2005OsakaIntex Osaka Europe26 August 2005LeedsEnglandBramham Park28 August 2005ReadingLittle John's Farm North America19 September 2005AthensUnited States40 Watt Club21 September 2005Washington, D.C.9:30 Club23 September 2005BostonParadise Rock Club24 September 2005MontrealCanadaMetropolis26 September 2005TorontoPhoenix Concert Theatre27 September 2005DetroitUnited StatesSaint Andrew's Hall28 September 2005ChicagoMetro Chicago29 September 2005MinneapolisFine Line Music Cafe1 October 2005EnglewoodGothic Theatre4 October 2005Los AngelesThe Fonda Theatre5 October 2005San FranciscoThe Regency Ballroom South America22 October 2005Rio de JaneiroBrazilMuseum of Modern Art25 October 2005São PauloArena Anhembi29 October 2005Buenos AiresArgentinaClub Ciudad de Buenos Aires North America16 November 2005WinnipegCanadaMTS Centre18 November 2005EdmontonRexall Place20 November 2005VancouverGeneral Motors Place21 November 2005SeattleUnited StatesKeyArena23 November 2005PortlandVeterans Memorial Coliseum25 November 2005FresnoSave Mart Center26 November 2005AnaheimArrowhead Pond28 November 200529 November 2005BakersfieldRabobank Arena1 December 2005OaklandThe Arena in Oakland Oceania22 January 2006Gold CoastAustraliaGold Coast Parklands26 January 2006SydneySydney Showground Stadium28 January 2006Metro Theatre29 January 2006MelbournePrinces Park3 February 2006AdelaideAdelaide Showground5 February 2006PerthClaremont Showground

Notes

References

External links Official site M.I.A. The IGN interview, 2005