Show review: M.I.A. "Secret" Warehouse Party at Lot 613

View more photos in Colin Young-Wolff's "M.I.A. 'Secret' Warehouse Party" slideshow.

Like spotting a sasquatch in the woods or a low-flying UFO over a mountain range, the announcement of M.I.A.'s surprise Los Angeles visit was met with disbelief. Could it be true that the politically outspoken Maya Arulpragasam, the critically-acclaimed queen of international beat-melding, sonic architect of Indi(e)an flick Slumdog Millionaire, and one of Time Magazine's "World's Most Influential People," was going to play a secret Wednesday night, warehouse show for 500 people Downtown?

Colin Young-Wolff

MIA at Lot 613

The mere rumor set online social media world ablaze with speculation and hearsay, and culminated in a long line of watch-ward looking, American Apparel enthusiasts who snaked down Fairfax Blvd. and waited for signs that Turntable Lab had tickets.

Colin Young-Wolff

Very few artists can get away with wearing Snuggies onstage; Maya is one

The show, also featuring local dubstepper 12th Planet, DJ Blaqstarr and M.I.A.'s music maestro, Million Dollar Mano, reportedly sold out in 20 minutes. The lucky few who snatched tickets--or finessed savvy ex-boyfriends, reunited junior high acquaintances, and label connections for handouts--met another long line outside the warehouse, just adjacent to the cut-and-pasted young-professional habitat, the Biscuit Company Lofts.

Colin Young-Wolff

Lot 613: frickin' packed

But for this rare glimpse of M.I.A. in her element--a small club setting recalling the days before Coachella 2006 and 2009, before constant rotation at Urban Outfitters the year neon came back, before Pitchfork demagoguery and covergirl status-- obstacles were of no consequence. You see that hoop, and you jump through it.