Live And In The Flesh
Aesop Rock - July 30, 2012
Yet another one of Hip Hop's finest checked off of the bucketlist! Not only did we experience Aesop Rock's true genius in person that night at the MOD Club in Toronto, we were also given the opportunity to meet the man himself and exchange a few words! What a perfect way to finish off a night out with Aesop Rock, Rob Sonic and DJ Big Wiz! This was our chance to see them live and we were so thankful we jumped at it by the end of it all.
The three had recently joined forces officially as Hail Mary Mallon and released their first studio album in April 2011, Are You Gonna Eat That? It seemed like the perfect crew for Aesop to bring along with him as he headed out on the road to promote his own recently released solo album that had come out on July 10th, Skelethon. It was clear he would have plenty of material to draw from throughout his fifteen year spanning career.
We made our way to Toronto that Monday with plenty of time to spare. We grabbed something to eat along with a pint before the show. Unfortunately we had a spare ticket to deal with, so we sold it off for $10 out in front of the venue. I'm sure someone else would have picked it up eventually as there didn't seem to be an empty space in the small 700 person capacity venue. We had seen Saul Williams at this very same venue four years earlier and were able to secure a pretty amazing spot at the side of the stage up in a small elevated section. The key was to get up there quickly enough to ensure no one else would be standing in front of us. We had a clear view of the entire stage and performance all night long!
Rob Sonic came out first to get the crowd warmed up with a few of his solo tracks, even treating us to a bit of his newer unreleased material from Alice in Thunderdome. DJ Big Wiz was also notably tearing up the turntables in the back like the true master he is. Aesop made it out on stage to eventually lend his support to a few of the tracks before he would make his way into a set of his own.
Aesop Rock started off with Leisureforce, the first track off of his sixth studio album, Skelethon. A couple more Skelethon tracks followed before they busted out a track off of the first Hail Mary Mallon album - Smock. We were losing our minds over how amazing these guys were translating live. The complexity of Aesop's rhymes seemed impossible to keep up with but he was blasting through one song after the next like it was nothing.
About a third of the way through Aesop's set they got to their track Racing Stripes off of the Skelethon album. It had come tradition every night throughout that tour that they would bring someone up on stage and give them an obscure haircut while Aes played through the song. Unfortunately neither of us was the lucky one to make it up on stage for an Aesop Rock haircut, but what a memory for the guy who did! Following that up was yet another Hail Mary Mallon track - Grubstake. I was glad we were getting the opportunity to check some of those tracks out live as the three of them don't normally make their way north of the border.
Before the night was over Aesop let us know that it was actually Brother Ali's birthday, and that he was wanting us to sing along with him to wish Ali a happy birthday via video which was awfully nice of him! The Aesop Rock set primarily consisted of Skelethon tracks, with a few Hail Mary Mallon and Rob Sonic tracks thrown into the mixture of chaos. Before wishing us farewell though, he would grace us with two tracks from his back catalogue to wrap up his twenty song set of incredible jams. Big Bang all the way back from his 2000 album Float, and a Daylight/Night Light mash-up from the 2001-02 pairings Labor Days and the Daylight EP. They offered to meet whoever wanted to stick around after the show over at the merch booth, so we decided to take them up on the offer despite the huge lineup and wait. How could anyone pass up that opportunity? After sharing our appreciation for all of his hard work and talent throughout the years we packed the night in and headed back to the hotel room where we were happy to crash before embarking on our journey home the following morning. Will I ever pass up the opportunity to see Aesop Rock live ever again? Not a chance!