M.I.A's "Y.A.L.A." Video Is Kinda Awesome

She's an interesting gal, M.I.A. It would be easy to think she'd be on board with the YOLO craze, yet a track off her new album proclaims you can keep the party going....eternally. Samsara or no, "Y.A.L.A" (You Always Live Again) has her glammed up and rhyming 'contreau' with 'poncho'. It's just kitschy enough to make you cringe and just interesting enough to make you listen again.

Atlas Genius + Family of the Year + Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. Crystal Ballroom, Portland, Oregon November 9th, 2013

The night was packed! Doors opened at 8 with openers stating at 9. I arrived downtown at around 7 to find parking and grab a bite to eat and there was already a sizeable line waiting outside. A little after 8 my friend Katie and I went to get in and the line was around the corner and they had been letting people in by this point. What a crowd to rush when doors opened!

The crowd was fairly mixed between under/over 21.

The concert started promptly at 9 with Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. playing for 30 minutes. Their sound was electronic-ish/head bopping rock with a mix of 80's synthesizer in there too.The crowd was really into this band, jumping to make that springy Crystal Ballroom floor shake! At one point one of the band members went into the all-ages section of the crowd while singing a song to the delight of the under 21 year olds. Daniel Zott, asked the crowd if "they could dance as much as they screamed, it would be great." Neither disappointed.

I caught up with Daniel Zott at the merchandise table and asked him a few questions. When asked what he thought of the Portland crowd, he replied that they were the most energetic crowd he had seen the whole tour. With the band being from Detroit, I asked if the tour was wrapping up there, he said, "no, but they were doing a show there in a few weeks."

Family of the Year is not the name of the latest new sitcom out there but of the second opener of the night. They went on at 10 with a sound was almost reggae/alternative/indie rock all meshed to create a unique sound. The male and female vocals united beautifully live. The crowd was equally as pumped for this opener and as they started later, there were even more people to get things lively! They played 45 minutes. I was not loving the reggae/indie personally, their quality live was great.

I must say - I have never seen a crowd so pumped for 1 opener – let alone 2 openers!

Atlas Genius.... ATLAS GENIUS! Need I say anything more? This band rocked it! I wanted to move around and get pictures from all angles, but the crowd was so dense, it was impossible! Their stage looked like a laser light show it was so lit up and awesome.

This is the only concert I have been to where all acts started promptly on time! Atlas Genius was to go on at 11:15 and on the dot, they started. Second song in was, “If So”, followed by he title track of their album, “When It was Now”. Lead singer, Keith Jeffery, kept cheers-ing the crowd with his Red Solo Cup (I fill you up!) and gave shout out to both opening bands. He also joked (or maybe true) that he had played in Portland more than any other stop and was happy to be back in our town and was happy to put on a good show!

The show was nonstop sound – even some musical interludes that I swear were right out of Nintendo! They took the shortest bow off stage and came right back to finish the night with “Trojans” and the audience (myself included) went NUTS! They left the stage right before 12:30.

I find it impossible not to mention in this article that my parents knew of Atlas Genius before I did. With their “If So” song on the advertisements for HGTV’s “Cousin’s Uncover” my parents found the song and told me about them. This band not only pulls in the young teens , it has also seduced a fair number of baby boomers. For a 4 year old band from Australia – this is impressive task. It helps, of course, that they put on wild and amazing shows.