Summertime in Toronto is in full effect and The Phoenix Concert Theatre is bringing some of the best of Hip-Hop’s old school to its stage this season! In a series of concerts that will see Souls of Mischief perform later in July and Tha Alkaholiks hit the stage in August, The Phoenix would be kicking off their summer lineup with this show headlined by Digable Planets.

Digable Planets are of course one of the groups who helped popularize that Jazz-infused, alternative style of Hip-Hop in the early ’90s, along with others like A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, The Pharcyde, and the aforementioned Souls of Mischief. The trio consisting of emcees Butterfly, Doodlebug, and Ladybug Mecca burst onto the scene with their 1993 album Reachin’ (A New Refutation Of Time And Space), quickly earning a gold plaque and Grammy award for their single “Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat).” They’d go one to release one more album in 1994, Blowout Comb, before disbanding for good. While their active years were short-lived, their impact on Hip-Hop has been long lasting, with these two albums capturing a style and sound that brings you right back to what many consider the golden era of Hip-Hop.

Having done a few reunion tours over the years, Digable Planets have now embarked on their 30th Anniversary tour for their sophomore album, Blowout Comb, with this stop in Toronto being just the third show of a tour that will see them reach fans across the east coast of North America, followed by a few dates in Europe before returning for North America’s west coast in the fall. For me personally, this would be my first opportunity to see them perform live.

Although doors opened at 7pm, it would be a while before anyone hit the stage. DJ Starting From Scratch, who’s set to be hosting most of these Phoenix Concert Theatre Hip-Hop shows this summer, would be spinning records from the elevated corner platform of the club for nearly three hours. He had us vibing to many artists with similar styles to Digable Planets, with plenty of Native Tongue records being played, and just seeing the empty stage with an entire band’s worth of instruments set up had the anticipation levels high. Eventually an artist named K-Victoria came out to perform two songs, including her latest single “DJ My Body,” which has its music video partly filmed in Toronto.

K-Victoria’s R&B set came and went quickly. She brought some good energy to the stage and had a nice vocal range, but it felt like a blip on the radar with the way her 5-minute performance was followed by another 20 minutes of waiting. Eventually the band that would be backing Digable Planets would start to make their way to the stage, with Carlos Overall setting off an instrumental introduction with a solo on his electric saxophone.

Carlos would slowly be joined on stage by his bandmates, including Kassa Overall on drums, Darrius Willrich on keyboard, and brothers Thaddeus Turner on guitar and Gerald Turner on bass guitar, as they built up the instrumental together. There was also what looked like an MPC in the corner that Butterfly would occasionally tap on throughout the performance. After playing a dope instrumental to set things off, the band would be joined by the members of Digable Planets, who came out as their verses dropped on track 1 off their first album, “It’s Good To Be Here.” From the very beginning, you could tell this was going to be a special performance, as the live instrumentation gave the group a different energy compared to just playing the record.

After a quick nod to their debut, Digable Planets’ setlist would dive right into their Blowout Comb album, performing tracks 1-3 in order with “Slowes’ Comb/The May 4th Movement Starring Doodlebug,” “Black Ego,” and “Dog It.” Butterfly looked like a conductor on stage with the way he had the band in sync with him, pulling back the sound with a wave of his arm to let the raps shine on the verses. Not only did the live instruments give the songs a different vibe, but the group’s vocals also put a new twist on these songs, with some parts that feel like background vocals on the record being brought to the forefront. The crowd was definitely feeling the vibe, as the group jumped ahead on the album to perform “Graffiti,” and the fans had their hands up for the hook.

With Hip-Hop as a culture recently turning 50 years old, Digable Planets wanted to give a nod to some of the pioneers of the music, and so they’d perform a cover of Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five’s “The Message,” and would turn it into a mashup with their own song “Where I’m From.” The mashup was a highlight of the concert, as Digable Planets rapped their original verses from “Where I’m From” over the instrumental from “The Message,” and then brought in Melle Mel’s hook between each verse. After the band did a masterful job of bringing “The Message” to life and making the mashup feel perfectly in-pocket, Digable Planets would take a moment to introduce each band member before continuing on with a fan favourite off of Blowout Comb, “9th Wonder (Blackitolism).”

While this was the Blowout Comb 30th Anniversary Tour, Digable Planets made sure not to neglect their debut album, doing several songs off of Reachin’ for the next segment. They had the crowd dancing to “Escapism (Gettin’ Free),” which included a dope saxophone and guitar segment, and had everyone clapping to the beat as they performed “Pacifics.” Other highlights from the segment include the band speeding up the tempo for Butterfly’s last verse on “What Cool Breezes Do,” and flipping the instrumental to Ice Cube’s “It Was A Good Day” midway through “Nickel Bags.”

There would be a few covers and instrumentals before the wind-down of the setlist, as they had the crowd turned up for a cover of A Tribe Called Quest’s “Can I Kick It?” followed by Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight.” The Turner brothers would get to shine with a standout guitar and bass solo where they took the front of the stage, and Digable Planets would return with another Blowout Comb favourite, “Jettin’.” Closing out the setlist would of course be their biggest hit, “Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat),” and the performance of the song summed up everything that makes a Digable Planets show great; the instrumental built up one instrument at a time, really putting emphasis on every layer of the production, and of course the three emcees nailed their verses and got the crowd involved. After leaving the stage, the band would motion to the crowd to make noise if they wanted one more song, but most of the fans started to clear out, likely feeling fulfilled after seeing the Grammy award-winning hit get performed live.

Overall, seeing Digable Planets perform live with a full band was incredible to witness. With most of their songs sampling Jazz records to make the beats, it felt natural seeing them performed with live instruments, and this allowed them to enhance the performance with alternate tempos, different mashups, and improvised sections. It was truly a raw performance, as every note was played with a live instrument, and even vocal samples that would normally be chopped up on turntables were performed by the emcees themselves, all bringing together a synergy on stage that sets the live show apart from simply playing the albums.

Although this concert was celebrating Blowout Comb‘s anniversary, the setlist was nearly split equally between both of Digable Planets’ albums. There were a few Blowout Comb joints left off the setlist that I was hoping to see, including “Borough Check” (RIP Guru) and “Blowing Down,” but overall we still got a dope selection of songs that covered the Digable Planets essentials. With their discography being so short, Digable Planets can sometimes be considered underrated as a group, but the way they execute their live show on stage is on par with the greats from their era and definitely something to see if they come to your town.

The Blowout Comb 30th Anniversary Tour is just getting started! Full list of dates and tickets can be found here.

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