It’s been 20 years since one of Canada’s sharpest lyricists, Shad, entered the music business. The emcee hailing from London, Ontario has built one of Canadian Hip-Hop’s most celebrated discographies, spanning 7 albums and a few mixtapes and EPs that have seen him earn several Juno Award and Polaris Prize nominations over the years, his most recent being the aptly titled Start Anew released in late 2025. On the theme of reflecting on his beginnings and embracing fresh starts, Shad kicked off his 2026 by embarking on a Canada-wide tour to celebrate both his 20-year milestone as well as the new album, performing in smaller venues across the country that he previously rocked in the early days of his career. Wrapping up the tour would be this last stop in Toronto, where Shad would be performing at The Mod Club for the first time in almost a decade.

While Toronto had consistently gotten at least one concert from Shad every year throughout the 2010s, his touring has seemed to slowed down in the 2020s so far, with this being his first time back since 2022. With some time having passed and the new album rollout being accompanied by a full national tour, the hype was high going into this one, as the Toronto tour date was sold out well in advance. Not only would fans get to hear some of the new songs get performed live for the first time, but Shad was also on social media taking fan requests from his 20-year discography ahead of his performances, giving fans an opportunity to help shape the show. This felt more like an event compared to the typical Shad performance Toronto is used to seeing.

The Mod Club was quick to fill up as Shad had some talented artists opening for him. Each show on the tour had a different set of local openers, and for Toronto, we’d get to see a couple collaborators who both make guest appearances on Start Anew: Jon Kabongo and Datsunn. With DJ T.Lo on the turntables, Jon Kabongo would set off a 7-song setlist with a track produced by T.Lo himself, “OMW,” getting the energy levels high from the beginning. His setlist would feature familiar joints from past times we’ve seen him perform live, including “Free Me” and “Still Rich,” and he’d also throw in some new songs from 2025, getting the couples in the building two-stepping to “Perfect Time” and closing out his set with “No Money No Problems.” Kabongo got some good energy out of the crowd and was effective in warming up the stage.

Hailing from Windsor, Ontario, singer-producer Datsunn would be next on stage, and he’d set up an MPC to play some live instrumentals. Aside from his production on Shad’s new album (on the song “Islands“), this would be my first time experiencing his music. It was dope seeing him create smooth, soulful beats live on his MPC, but then he blew minds when he started singing at the same time, laying down some RnB/Soul styled vocals that he’d also use in his samples. He got a big reaction out of the crowd, getting the ladies grooving to songs like “Reminiscing,” and he’d close out his set by bringing out special guest Zillie Holiday to rap over his beats, previewing a new album they have coming out in the near future.

There would be short breaks between performers, but things moved along smoothly and on-time, as DJ T.Lo returned to the stage behind the turntables, along with Ian Koiter on keyboard and bass, and pretty soon Shad himself would join them!

Setting the tone appropriately, Shad would kick off his setlist with a fan favourite off the new album, the steady-paced lyrical exercise known as “Bars and BBQs.” Spitting every lyric word-for-word with no backing vocals, Shad locked in and nailed his verses effortlessly, with the crowd cheering and making noise for every dope quotable in his verses. He’d then pick up the energy with what’s become a staple at the beginning of his setlists, 2018’s “The Fool Pt. 1 (Get It Got It Good),” putting some positive vibes in the room before taking a moment to speak on celebrating 20 years of support from the fans. On that note, he’d hit us with some decade-old classics, getting hands waving to “Fam Jam (Fe Sum Immigins)” and “Stylin,” with an alternate second verse that kept fans on their toes. Always one to put the emphasis on his lyricism, Shad would spit an acapella freestyle that had us hanging on every word, before going in with another Start Anew cut, “Slanted.”

With all of the songs performed thus far being somewhat expected, either as essential classics or as standouts off the new album, Shad would next pull out a deep cut off of 2010’s TSOL album that the diehard fans definitely appreciated, “A Good Name.” Making a rare appearance onto a live setlist, Shad used the track to introduce where his name comes from, highlighting his family’s Rwandan heritage. After that sentimental moment, he’d go right back into spitting bars, performing the quotable-filled Danny Miles collab, “That’s All, That’s It,” followed by another Start Anew standout, “Rain.”

Going even further back in time, Shad would next take us to 2007, calling it an objectively better time to live in as his next song, “The Old Prince Still Lives At Home,” was originally written as a comedy rather than intending to reflect the economic reality many are now living in. The crowd was 100% with the performance, shouting out every quotable line with Shad and going through the routine of clapping out a beat for him to rap the third verse over; it was especially dope seeing Shad dedicate the verse to his two daughters, who he shouted out in the lyrics before they were even born and were now there to see him rap about them in person. With the ’07 classic having a more intimate vibe to it, getting the crowd directly involved in the performance, Shad would next pick the energy up again with some hype tracks, doing one verse each from “Keep Shining” and “Peace/War,” the beats getting the crowd moving.

Now reaching the part of the setlist where he’d do some songs the fans requested, Shad would pull out another throwback from 2007’s The Old Prince album that was heavily requested, bringing out special guest Andrew Forde to play violin as they performed “Brother (Watching).” This was actually a dope callback to the last time Shad performed at The Mod Club in 2016, when him and Andrew Forde did this same performance together, with Forde’s live violin adding some more texture to the throwback track. Forde would of course rock the violin breakdown at the end of the track, and it would transition smoothly into a hype performance of “Yaa I Get It.”

A couple days before this concert, I had shared a Throwback Thursday post on Instagram with footage of Shad performing “Yaa I Get It” at The Danforth Music Hall in 2014, and it seemed like him and DJ T.Lo may have been inspired to recreate that moment, as they performed the song with the exact same beat switches throughout the verses that saw Shad rapping over Jay Electronica’s “Exhibit C,” Pusha T’s “Numbers On The Boards,” and Kendrick Lamar’s “Rigamortis.” He’d even complete the song by spitting the final verse acapella, putting on a display of lyrical excellence; “The most commitment, no other pro is so proficient / the coldest spitting, Rakim, North Pole edition, listen!!”

The hype moments would continue as Shad next brought Jon Kabongo back onto the stage to perform their Start Anew collab together, “K.I.S.S.,” each of them nailing their verses. Just as Shad spit the bars “I don’t just sample soul, I am it like D’Angelo,” DJ T.Lo dropped the beat to what sounded like D’Angelo’s “Lady Remix,” to which Shad performed a dope rendition of his own throwback “I Don’t Like To.” Seeing the song performed over the alternate beat had the crowd extra hyped, and they’d stay engaged as Shad went on into the classic “Rose Garden,” doing a soul clap as the track wound down.

With this being in the middle of Black History Month, Shad would take a moment to acknowledge black excellence while speaking on the message behind his next song, “Black Averageness,” which is about being worthy of freedom and dignity without needing to be excellent. After rocking the 2021 TAO standout with good crowd participation, he’d then start winding down the setlist, performing another fan-requested throwback with “Exile” and closing out with the celebratory “All I Need.” Shad & crew would then leave the stage, but the crowd stayed cheering, and they’d quickly return for an encore set.

When Shad was taking fan requests leading up to this show, one song I personally threw in the hat was a deep cut off of the DJ T.Lo-produced Boarding Pass EP that I had never seen him perform live before, “Fire.” While he didn’t exactly perform the track, he did reference some of the rhyme schemes and re-worked some of those bars as he performed an acapella freestyle when he returned to the stage, spitting that he’s “Black Canada’s most magnanimous host slash panelist; both” to set it off. It ended up being dope seeing him bring that same competitive spirit from “Fire” to an all-new, authentic freestyle verse, making it yet another unique display of lyrical excellence. The humble brags, wordplay and punchlines were on full display as he had the crowd cheering with every bar he spit. The freestyle would wind down as he introduced pHoenix Pagliacci mid-verse, who would join him on stage to perform her featured vocals on the TAO single “Out of Touch.”

This would be the true end of the show despite fans sticking around and cheering for another encore. Overall, this was a dope celebration of Shad’s 20-year music career, although some fans may have wanted to see more from him considering the milestone. Shad’s debut album, When This Is Over, was completely left off the setlist, and there were a handful of classics skipped over, but otherwise the setlist had good representation across all of Shad’s discography fit into one hour on stage. The special guests, whether expected or making surprise appearances, all made dope contributions to the performance, and Shad’s engagement with the crowd was top notch. You go to a Shad concert wanting to hear bars, and Shad definitely delivered on that, whether it was through spitting raw freestyles or serving up classic verses.

Although the tour is over, we’ve seen in Hip-Hop that 20-year anniversaries are just one of many milestones quality emcees reach, and as one of Canada’s best emcees, Shad is bound to have more musical celebrations for years to come.

Check out this playlist of concert videos from all the times I’ve seen Shad perform over the years!

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