Mercury Music Prize Nominee M.I.A. Headlines Fall Tour Kicking Off With Central Park Concert

Mercury Music Prize Nominee M.I.A. Headlines Fall Tour Kicking Off With Central Park Concert

"Dancehall Superstar"? - Rolling Stone

"One tough, international groovebox enthusiast?" - Spin

"Mishmashed, electro-ragga grooves and conscious couplets?" - Vibe

"Grimy glitchy dancehall stomp?" - Blender

"Child-like and streetwise?" - URB

"A weapon of the future?" - Fader

"Good Shit" - Vice

"She's hard, boy. She's dope. I need to get with her bad. I'm into all that type of stuff. That brings something out of me." - Timbaland

Luckily M.I.A. is coming back Stateside September for a headline tour -- so go and translate the tributes for yourself.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050721/LATH120 )

First up is New York's Central Park SummerStage, an open-air show free to the people Sunday afternoon August 7. Then the Sri Lankin-born artist takes her globe-spanning beats and critically-acclaimed ass on the road as the mane-shaking main attraction in September and October.

Check out a show and see for yourself why she is worthy of 2005's Mercury Music Prize nomination. The prestigious British award is handed out each year to one artist only and is based solely on artistic merit. MIA made the shortlist with 11 others (among them Kaiser Chiefs, Coldplay and Bloc Party). Previous winners have included Franz Ferdinand, Badly Drawn Boy and PJ Harvey; this year's winner will be announced in London September 6.

She stole the show at Coachella and Glastonbury and received rave reviews on her spring tour with LCD Soundsystem. The new run promises the catchy tunes we all know and love and many new surprises. She has sold out every show thus far so buy your tix early.

August Sun 8/7 New York, NY, Central Park Summerstage

September Mon 9/19 Athens, GA, 40 Watt Club Wed 9/21 Washington, DC, 930 Club Fri 9/23 Boston, MA, Paradise Sat 9/24 Montreal, QUE, Spectrum Mon 9/26 Toronto, ONT, Phoenix Concert Theatre Tue 9/27 Detroit, MI, St. Andrews Wed 9/28 Chicago, IL, Metro Thu 9/29 Minneapolis, MN, Fineline

October Sat 10/01 Denver, CO, Gothic Theatre Tue 10/04 Los Angeles, CA, Henry Fonda Wed 10/05 San Francisco, CA, Grand Ballroom

More to follow ...

PRNewswire -- July 21

Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050721/LATH120 AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/ PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com Source: Interscope Records

CONTACT: National Press, Dennis Dennehy, +1-310-865-7934, fax +1-310-865-8565, d.dennehy@umusic.com, or Jennie Boddy, +1-212-841-8023, fax +1-212-841-8050, jennie.boddy@umusic.com, or Regional/Tour Press, Michael Glumac, +1-212-841-8052, fax +1-212-841-8050, michael.glumac@umusic.com, all of Interscope Records, for M.I.A.; or Lisa Gottheil of 2:30 Publicity, +1-212-253-2559, lisag@230publicity.com, for M.I.A.

------- Profile: Ent