Today Sat Sun
It is forcast to be Mostly Cloudy at 10:00 PM EST on February 10, 2012
Mostly Cloudy
4°/-8°		 It is forcast to be Chance of Snow at 10:00 PM EST on February 11, 2012
Chance of Snow
-2°/-3°		 It is forcast to be Chance of Snow at 10:00 PM EST on February 12, 2012
Chance of Snow
2°/-5°

10 Comments

news

M.I.A. Coming Back With Power Power

By David Topping

miacominback.jpg
The bands for both the University of Toronto and Ryerson’s frosh week concerts are all confirmed and good to go, and they’re all extraordinarily excellent.
At about 4:30 p.m. next Friday, September 7, the Hidden Cameras and Stars will play a free concert on U of T’s Back Campus (north of University College, at Devonshire Place and Hoskin Avenue) which is restricted to current students. While last year’s U of T frosh week saw Metric show up an hour late and totally underperform, adding an awesome and energetic live band like the Hidden Cameras to play off Stars’ more warm and reserved sound ought to work wonders. And after the party there’s the after-party: that evening, the orientation night party at Hart House (which will likely be far more rigidly restricted to current students) will feature DJ Spooky, DJ Dopey, DJ Serious, Thunderheist, The Carps, among others.
As they’ve done regularly in the past, though, Ryerson has once again one-upped U of T for its frosh concert, all thanks to one amazing woman: Mathangi Arulpragasam, a.k.a. M.I.A. On the same day as U of T’s concert––Friday, September 7––M.I.A. will be joined by You Say Party! We Say Die! and k-os on Centre Island. Unfortunately, it’s really only for Ryerson students: k-os’s MySpace notes that it’s a “closed campus show,” and it’s possible that anyone without a student card won’t even have a shot. If you know a guy who knows a guy who goes to Ryerson, you may still be able to sneak your way in; if not, U of T’s concert makes one hell of an impressive alternative.
Photo of M.I.A. from her website. Thanks Laura R. for the tips.

Comments

  • rocketeer

    This is probably the only time of the year I wish I went to Ryerson instead of UofT. That’s two M.I.A. (and k-os) concerts I’ll likely miss in the span of a week.

  • thestarkcontrast

    I have to say, last year’s Orientation show at U of T was possibly one of the most difficult things I’ve ever had to plan in my life (yes, I planned it – also, check out last year’s cool website at http://www.davidkopulos.com/design_sac.html).
    We’d booked Metric in early July to perform at 6pm, and were told in mid-August that they had subsquently been slotted in to play a show at UW at 3pm – in other words, we were royally fucked over by the logistics of getting a band and equipment from Waterloo to downtown TO in two hours. We pulled out all the stops – believe me we did, there were airplanes involved – to make sure they only arrived about 50 minutes late.
    Their tour manager told me after the show that Metric never does encores, which was really the only thing missing from a fairly decent evening, despite the length. But I’m surprised this year’s concert is open to the public – in 2005 and last year, the agents for the bands U of T got were very concerned that the concert would be advertised to U of T students only, and not promoted in the community at large.

  • David Topping

    U of T just sent out an e-mail to students saying that “the event is limited to current students of the University of Toronto,” but I’m not sure how they’ll actually be able to enforce that…
    (Nonetheless, I’ve updated the article with that information and a bit more about both U of T and Ryerson’s concerts.)

  • guest

    THESE EVENTS ARE LIMITED TO CURRENT UOFT STUDENTS, AND NOT OPEN TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC.
    University of Toronto Campus Police and other security staff will be present on site.
    This article is greatly misinformed, and misleading.
    Vita Carlino
    Orientation Coordinator
    University of Toronto Students’ Union
    Local 98, Canadian Federation of Students
    http://www.utsu.ca

  • canuck086

    Damn those are some damn good shows for the frosh kids going to the schools. when i started western in 2004, we had billy talent….oh how the times have changed

  • Marc Lostracco

    We’ve modified the text at UTSU’s request to mention that only U of T students are allowed to watch the show, but Torontoist is within our rights to report where and when the concert is happening.

  • guest

    York’s getting Bedouin Soundclash… I think we got burned. Last year we got Metric too, so at least it was exactly even..
    M.I.A.! Dammit.

  • guest

    Damn, I love Stars and Hidden Cameras. I don’t even remember there being a concert during my frosh year at U of T; I just remembered whatever SAC had planned sucked. Anyone remember what we got for Frosh 2001?

  • Johnnie Walker

    My frosh year at UofT, we “got” little-remembered RnB outfit InEssence; which is to say, they were listed in the Frosh guide as playing a show on Front Campus at 6pm. I remember walking by at about 1:30am and noted that people (maybe 12) were still waiting for the band, which had yet to arrive.

  • guest

    I went to this!
    M.I.A. kicked ass!