Review: 88-Keys Live in Toronto

It was already a pretty cold and frustrating night in downtown Toronto thanks to parking, the weather, and some at the door inconvenience. Big ups to Trevor at Koch Canada who always holds it down and always irons all the wrinkles out and another big shout out to contest winners Dave, Faris, and Jim. I headed in expecting a packed house with a lot of energy, only to see a room of maybe 25-50 people at Revival; the same venue that was packed for Black Milk (concert review here). It was a pretty upsetting sight and as a supporter of great hip hop and talented musician, DJ, producer- 88-Keys- I couldn’t feel more sympathy for the artist giving their 110% up on stage.

Even with only a handful of people in the crowd, opener Matisse gave a very J-Live-esque performance. On a multitude of instruments, he delivered a variety of sounds, flavours, and styles and it wouldn’t matter if he was the only one in the room; he was still giving it his all. His voice was extremely soulful and hit every corner of the room; the only shame was that there weren’t enough people to experience his talent. I urge everyone to visit his site as soon as possible (at the bottom) and listen up.

Shaun Boothe may be better known for his former moniker Rikoshay, regardless, he gave a pretty dope performance. Anybody who’s heard Shaun knows that he’s dope on the microphone, but the spunk and creativity from his “The Reporter” performance, both lyrically and visually, was quite a surprise. Perhaps feeling the effects of a lacking crowd, he unfortunately only did about 2-3 tracks.

By the time 88-Keys came out, the crowd was scattered throughout the room, but 88-Keys did his thing behind the turntables. I remember when I first saw 88; he was crowd warmer for Common and Q-Tip‘s 2K Sports Tour. He had such a likable personality about him. He was very funny, involving, and he loves his music. Spinning some joints off of his debut album, The Death of Adam (album review here), kept the crowd moving (including a dope remix of “Stay Up!”). He got everyone involved; it was like a private session with its intimacy and interaction. The dude is a class act, a showman, and a music lover. You have got to respect that.

Visit the following links for more information on the artists mentioned:

• 88-Keys on MySpace
• Matisse on MySpace
• Shaun Booth on MySpace

Editer’s note: A very special thanks goes out to Junior and Keez from The Real Frequency for hooking us up with pics and video from the show! Make sure you check out Arcee‘s video interview with 88-Keys… extremely dope!