Live And In The Flesh
El-P / Deltron 3030 - July 9 & 10, 2012
It had been five years since one of the biggest veterans of the Underground Hip Hop scene had released any solo material and luckily for us, the silence was over. Early 2012, El-P's latest release Cancer 4 Cure was released and not only did he drop one of the best Hip Hop albums of the year, he also produced Killer Mike's biggest album yet, R.A.P. Music, which had dropped the very same day that May. We had heard they would be bringing their Into the Wild Tour up through Toronto and knew that we couldn't miss this duo's first outing on the road together.
The Toronto tour stop brought them through The Hoxton, a small 100 person capacity venue down on Bathurst. We managed to get ourselves down there pretty early and hit up The Wheat Sheaf Tavern that was just across the street from the venue. The afternoon was nice enough to sit out on the patio so we decided to have a couple of drinks while we waited for a buddy to join us for a bite to eat. As we were waiting we could see Killer Mike coming out of the venue being interviewed by someone, we knew we were in the right place. After killing a bit of time we decided to head back to the car to grab our tickets to the show and on our way we approached El-P as he was casually strolling down Bathurst. We stopped him to shake his hand, exchanged a few words, and let him know we were on our way in for the show and that we had been looking forward to finally getting a chance to see him. Pretty incredible to run into a legend before a show like that.
It wasn't long before The Hoxton was full of fans anxiously waiting to see this sideshow circus in full swing. Mr. Motherf**king Exquire and Despot managed to get the crowd warmed up. I wasn't too familiar with them before the show but they were pretty solid openers. Despot was especially on point. They had us fired up and ready for Killer Mike's set. Killer Mike came out hard with some his latest material. Big Beast, Southern Fried, the crowd favourite Reagan, and he would even be joined on stage by El-P for the duo's track off of R.A.P. Music - Butane (Champion's Anthem). Mike even threw a few of his earlier tracks into the mix to bring his killer set to about 35-40 minutes long. The venue was hot and humid by then, but thankfully we were in the direct path of their industrial-sized air conditioning unit for the entire night. Killer Mike finished up his set and made his way through the crowd to the merch booth to chat it up during the break between sets.
El-P finally took the stage along with the entire Into the Wild crew, including two keyboardists, Trackstar the DJ and a guitarist. The stage was hitting max capacity down in that tiny little venue in Toronto and the crowd was going crazy! El-P started things up with the first track off of his latest Cancer 4 Cure album Request Denied, and followed by the second, and third tracks. Before long we knew we were getting his entire album live, from beginning to end exactly as it was meant to be heard! It was incredible! Drones Over BKLYN followed up with Oh Hail No featuring Mr. Motherf**king Exquire which was awesome. Killer Mike then joined in on the next track Tougher Colder Killer; it was definitely one of the highlights of the set for sure. The passion that these artists were showing ran deep, you could tell they were loving every minute of it just as much as the crowd. El-P wrapped up the album's twelve tracks and then decided to grace us with an encore featuring some throwback tracks and cult classics, even including Company Flow's Vital Nerve to wrap everything up. Fifteen tracks of energy-filled mayhem tore the roof off of The Hoxton that July.
El-P had proven what twenty years of experience within the underground scene meant. He had put any high-paid mainstream artist to shame. Finally seeing him perform his music live was more than I had ever expected from the guy. El-P was back with a vengeance and he had a new partner in crime, Killer Mike. The following year the duo would go on to form Run The Jewels, who have been continuing to take over the world. I'm glad we were able to catch them as they were just gearing up. We made it home around 3:00 am after our four hour drive home from the city of Toronto and tried to get rested up for Deltron 3030 the following night at the Ottawa Bluesfest.
Still feeling the adrenaline rush from the night before in Toronto, we jumped into the car and made our way down to LeBreton Flats in Ottawa for Bluesfest. There were quite a few big names on the bill that night. Snoop Dogg was headlining the main stage with Lauryn Hill playing the 8:00 pm slot on the second stage. We were more interested in the Electro Stage, hidden away at the opposite end of the park. We were able to get down there early enough to catch all three acts that were scheduled at that stage. Zeus, a Toronto-based indie rock band started things up at 6:00 pm. This was my first time hearing them and they were pretty decent. One of those bonuses that you get from hitting up these types of festivals.
Following Zeus up was Jurassic 5's Chali 2na. I had been listening to his solo material recently and was pretty excited to hear that he would be playing before Deltron 3030. You couldn't really ask for a better night than this at Bluesfest and the weather was perfect for it! Chali 2na played through quite a few of his solo tracks before ending his twelve song setlist off with two Jurassic 5 classics, Freedom and What's Golden as the sun began to set. Chali 2na's deep baritone voice was amazing to finally hear live, he certainly has a voice like no other.
There was a bit of a break between Chali 2na's set and Deltron 3030 so we grabbed some refreshments and took a stroll around the park. We caught a few Lauryn Hill tracks along the way, Everything is Everything smashed up with some of The Fugees material, Fu-Gee-La, Ready or Not. In my opinion, we'd caught the best part of her set which was perfect. We headed back over to the other stage to make sure we weren't going to miss any of the Deltron 3030 set.
Seeing as how Snoop Dogg was playing the main stage, most of the attendees that night were making their way over there for his show. Only the fans who truly knew of Deltron 3030 would be interested in passing up Snoop's show for this. Not to mention El-P and Killer Mike had decided to make a last minute stop through Ritual Nightclub in Ottawa, which had thinned the crowd out even more so. Still, there had to have been a few hundred crowded around the stage awaiting the return of Deltron Zero and Automator. It had been twelve years since Deltron 3030 had released their first self-titled album which had received quite a cult following by this point in time. We were all anxious to see what they would have up their sleeves. Upon arriving back to the stage we had noticed that there were some extra members taking care of soundcheck. Deltron 3030 had brought along a string and brass section, and would even be accompanied by some backup singers. This would end up being a Hip Hop show in a league of its own!
By now the sun had set and the stage lighting had dimmed. Kid Koala got things started up with his outstanding turntable skills as the members of the Deltron 3030 orchestra took the stage. Bouncing back and forth between three turntables, Kid Koala was lighting them up all night long! Dan the Automator was the conductor for the evening, complete with a tux and conducting wand. Last but not least Deltron Zero (Del the Funky Homosapien) entered stage left. Things had just got real! Their State of the Nation intro finished up and they broke into a classic off of their first album 3030 followed up by Things You Can Do. Deltron 3030 then started to reveal some of their new material. Canadians would be some of the first to hear all of this new music, as this tour took them all across the country before embarking on the rest of the world with their much anticipated follow up to Deltron 3030, and Ottawa was their second stop! Kid Koala, a Montréal native I'm sure had something to do with it. The first new track played was fittingly called The Return. Another new track, City Rising From The Ashes came next. Everything worked so well with the strings and brass instruments, and the backup vocalists were spot on. I was somewhat glad that Snoop Dogg had kept away some of the less interested folk and left this show to the true fans. Throughout the entire show they had a huge LED screen behind them which displayed some futuristic artwork from the upcoming album release to go along with the music. Deltron 3030 bounced back and forth between old tracks and new throughout their seventeen song setlist, and would even come out to surprise everyone with an encore featuring Clint Eastwood, a Gorillaz cover.
These two shows definitely made for one of the best Hip Hop doubleheaders that we've been lucky enough to attend over the years. El-P and Killer Mike blowing us away the first night, and having Chali 2na and Deltron 3030 follow it up the night after couldn't have worked out any better. Living between these major cities had proven its worth yet again with providing the opportunity to experience so much amazing live music.