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M.I.A. promises free NYC show for HARD Fest ticket holders! (and here's another set of pictures from that show)

photos by Andrew St. Clair

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“The [Saturday night Governors Island HARD FEST] set started with “Steppin Up,” with M.I.A. backed by about a dozen power drills as part of the rhythm track: noise triumphant. But M.I.A.’s vocals were often so buried in echo, and the bass so bloated, that her lyrics just became more of the din, and the songs that she segued together like a disc-jockey set were barely distinguishable. Instead of a barrage, it was a morass.

Her set was cut short by thunder and lightning, which she attributed to God and answered with a last defiant gesture: rapping “Born Free,” which vows to speak her mind, a cappella as her backup group shut down. But an exodus from her set had begun well before the downpour.” [NY Times]

I was there and I have to agree about the sound. M.I.A. agrees too, and not surprisingly, has taken to Twitter to deal with the accusations, and the rain. About the sound she wrote, “money doesnt buy u shit! i thought more money means better sound guys in america///! i was wrong, the higher u go , they turn u lower!”, and “fuck technology! even the stage broke + parts of it fell off in the storm”. And about the rain, well, check out the Twitter screenshot above! Don’t have a Hard Fest ticket? Don’t worry because Maya also promises that “if u do me a lil dance , ill let u in too!” We’ll make sure to keep you posted when and if more details emerge.

In related news, the rained-on Modest Mouse show that happened one night earlier has been rescheduled, and the rained-on Williamsburg Waterfront show that happened one day later went on as planned, but later and in a different venue.

OK, so if you’re following along, you saw: “Die Antwoord steal the show while topless girl dances (video), M.I.A. spits on a photographer (pics), rain, lasers & more… (HARD NYC in review – part 1)” which was followed by “Die Antwoord played MHOW & Governors Island (pics, video)” which was followed by “HARD FEST NYC in pics (part 2.5) (Ninjasonik, Rye Rye, Theophilus London, MIA & more)“. That makes this post PART THREE, and it includes photos from the same artists as well as more crowd pics and Skream + Benga who played too. Those pictures, which include a shot of M.I.A,’s planned setlist, continue below…

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Ninjasonik

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Rye Rye

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Theophilus London

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Skream + Benga

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Die Antwoord

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and as I said above…

OK, so if you’ll following along, you saw: “Die Antwoord steal the show while topless girl dances (video), M.I.A. spits on a photographer (pics), rain, lasers & more… (HARD NYC in review – part 1)” which was followed by “Die Antwoord played MHOW & Governors Island (pics, video)” which was followed by “HARD FEST NYC in pics (part 2.5) (Ninjasonik, Rye Rye, Theophilus London, MIA & more)“.

So click those links for more pictures. The end.