Tech N9ne usually gets his rightful praise these days, but the duo of him and Krizz Kaliko often goes underrated. There were a couple more openers I wasn’t familiar with before Tech N9ne & Krizz Kaliko eventually took the stage. The whole crew took the stage and they had some head-nodders. Next, Marmel Entertainment made a return, as I had not seen them perform in over a year. He had a guest MC with him dressed in a Venom costume, and they rocked some club tracks together. Calgary’s own Johnny Mega returned for his third ever performance in Ontario, and I had last seen him perform at The Rockpile as an opener for ¡Mayday! back in July. They were followed by Tall Ship Klik, a group that had a couple short guys around my height introduce the two MCs who had to be at least seven feet tall.Īfter the tall guys rocked the house with some traditional Hip-Hop (I remember they had a dope lyric like “I sold my Macklemore CD at the Thrift Shop”), some familiar faces took the stage. They showed a lot of versatility, rocking the crowd with a track called “Turn Up” and closing their set with a more emotional, introspective track. having no vision), which gave the crowd more incentive to make noise. Their name is in reference to the male MC in the group being legally blind (i.e. A couple of 19-year-old MCs came on next, as a group called Reject Visions.
He sounded dope, but the lyrics were hard to pick up for first-time listeners. Smooth was the first artist to take the stage after I arrived, and he hit the crowd with some rapid-fire raps. There were several opening acts before we got to see Tech N9ne. By the time I got inside, RYIT Squad was already on stage, and they were gone by the time I got a drink.
When I got to the venue, the parking lot across the street was already filled to capacity less than an hour after the doors had opened. Thankfully this was a 19+ event, which meant that alcohol could be consumed anywhere in the club, as opposed to being barricaded off in the back for the Phoenix’s all-ages shows. This would be my fourth time in 2015 at The Phoenix Concert Theatre, as I had previously seen Logic, Raekwon and Earl Sweatshirt all perform here earlier in the year. The Rockpile’s presence would still be felt though, as the show would be hosted by Stacee Brizzle & DJ Auzzie Skratch, and would have plenty of familiar local artists including Marmel ENT, Robbie G & Molly Gruesome. For 2015, rather than selling out two shows at the smaller venues, Tech N9ne has upgraded to the larger Phoenix Concert Theatre for one big show. His 2014 tour saw him do two sold-out shows, one at each of The Rockpile’s West & East locations at the time. Since last year, Tech N9ne released his fifteenth album in May of 2015, Special Effects, and is already gearing up to release his sixteenth album in November, a sequel to 2014’s Collaboration album, Strangeulation.įor Toronto, 2013 saw Tech N9ne do two shows at The Rockpile during his Something Else tour. Tech seems to work like a machine, in recent years having at least one new album each year to release, and always having a hectic tour schedule so he can reach as many fans in person as possible. This would be my third consecutive year catching him live, as Tech N9ne has consistently released new music to allow him to constantly alter his set lists every time he tours. Within a week of being exactly one year since his last show in Toronto, Tech N9ne has returned on yet another tour.