It’s an annual tradition for the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) to take over Toronto’s Exhibition Place during the last weeks of summer, filling the streets with plenty of rides, carnival games and other family-friendly attractions, and they’ve stepped things up in the music department to celebrate their 90th anniversary. Collaborating with North By Northeast (NXNE), the 2026 edition of the CNE would have a dedicated stage to showcase local, emerging artists throughout the 2+ weeks, and taking over The Bandshell would be the Bell Soundstage, where internationally-known artists and Canadian icons of all genres would make headlining performances. The festival is set to feature headliners including Shaggy, Finger Eleven, Lights, Bif Naked, The Trews, and Tom Cochrane to name a few, but opening night would be for the Hip-Hop heads, with Lupe Fiasco set to headline the first Friday night of the 2026 CNE.

It’s been well over a decade since Lupe Fiasco last performed a full-length concert in Toronto, and it feels like his touring north of the border has been scarce over his entire 20-year career. The Chicago-based emcee first emerged with a prominent featured verse on Kanye West’s 2005 single “Touch The Sky,” and went on to release what many heads consider back-to-back classic albums, with 2006’s Food & Liquor and 2007’s The Cool. His early work somehow struck a balance between the underground and mainstream appeal, as he’d have dense, complex wordplay and storytelling that fit the “backpacker” aesthetic while also having platinum-selling hits with catchy, Pop-oriented hooks. Off the success of his first two albums, Lupe would make his Toronto debut at the Wakestock Sports & Music Festival at Toronto Island Park in 2007, and would open for Kanye West on The Glow In The Dark Tour in 2008, performing at Molson Amphitheatre (now known as RBC Amphitheatre).

Although Lupe Fiasco quickly became known as one of the wittiest lyricists Hip-Hop has ever seen and a Grammy award-winner off his debut, record label politics would hinder his career trajectory; his third album Lasers infamously needing a fan-organized petition and protest outside of Atlantic Records’ New York City offices to get a release date, followed by his subsequent major-label albums seeing declining sales before he eventually went independent. He’d only return to Toronto two more times during this run, performing at the Kool Haus on his Lasers Tour in 2011, followed by an exclusive York University alumni event in 2012. He’s gone on to branch out into academics, becoming a Professor in Rap Theory & Practice and other courses in literature for various American universities, while maintaining a presence in Hip-Hop’s underground with new album releases. Lupe continued to tour for each new album released, his most recent being 2024’s Samurai, but except for a halftime performance at a Raptors game in 2021, he never returned to Toronto on those tours. For many fans like myself who couldn’t make it to any of his previous concerts in Toronto, the 2026 CNE would be a long awaited first opportunity to see Lupe Fiasco perform live.

After spending the afternoon exploring the CNE grounds and getting some food, we made our way to the Bandshell stage, where Canadian artist Cadence Weapon would be the first to set off the performances. Hailing from Edmonton but having spent time living in Montreal, Toronto, and now Hamilton, you could tell Cadence Weapon was honoured to represent Canada and open up the CNE’s 90th anniversary celebrations. He’d kick off his setlist with a track off of his Polaris Prize-winning album, 2021’s Parallel World, performing “On Me” with his raw raps setting the vibe. Although he’s considered a veteran in the Canadian music industry, with songs in his setlist like “Conditioning” going back to 2012, much of Cadence Weapon’s setlist would be focused on his latest album released earlier in 2026, Forager.

Cadence Weapon had the crowd vibing throughout his set, getting good crowd participation with some soul claps, and having the crowd learn his hooks in real time to shout back at him. Highlights included him reflecting on performing at the same Wakestock Festival with Lupe Fiasco all those years ago, getting the crowd moving to some Kaytranada production on “My Crew (Woooo),” and the way he got a lot of hands waving in the air for his closer, “Fall 2012 Couture.” Cadence Weapon was solid in warming up the crowd with his half-hour time slot on stage, and after another half-hour break to get the stage set up for Lupe’s band, it would be time for the headliner.

With this being my first live Lupe Fiasco experience, I was pleasantly surprised to see that he had a whole band backing him to bring his instrumentals to life. Lupe’s band seemed to be handpicked with musicians from different cities, including Miami’s own DJ Smokey on turntables, Tokyo’s Bubby Lewis on bass, and Los Angeles’ Eric Hammer on guitar and Bam Alexander on drums. The band would set it off by playing the instrumental from the intro to the Food & Liquor album, building anticipation for the man himself to come out, and pretty soon Lupe Fiasco would grace the stage to massive applause. He’d waste no time diving into decade-old new music that wasn’t yet released last time he performed in Toronto, getting hands waving to 2012’s “Around My Way (Freedom Ain’t Free).”

We all knew Lupe had a lot of catching up to do with his Toronto fans, with 15+ years of new music potentially being performed here for the first time, but he’d casually say “we may as well start from the beginning, right?” before taking it back to day one with the classic “Kick, Push.” The crowd was hyped from the beginning, shouting out lyrics and even adlibs for Lupe as he performed all three verses of the song and had us chanting along to the hook. He’d then get into some relatively newer songs, performing 2025’s “SOS (Substance Over Style)” and pulling out a joint from his 2022 Drill Music in Zion album with “NAOMI.” The loud bass would sometimes drown out Lupe’s vocals on these songs, but you could tell he was spitting his verses raw. He’d then take a moment to quote the great KRS-One in saying Hip-Hop is when you bring together knowledge and movement, making a speech that led into a fan-favourite from 2007, “Hip-Hop Saved My Life.”

Once again, the fans went all-in singing that hook and shouting out adlibs as Lupe performed the classic record, and he’d mention the possibility of returning next year for a 20th anniversary tour for The Cool. He’d then jump between albums and projects with each song he performed, dedicating the title track off of Samurai to the late Amy Winehouse, getting the crowd to jump along with him and his guitarists to the Neptunes-produced “I Gotcha,” and nailing a rapid-fire, Punk-Rock styled rendition of “Go Go Gadget Flow.” Not only were the fans fully engaged with his performance, but Lupe would take a moment to engage with them, spotting some vintage merch some fans were wearing, along with vinyl records and CDs some were hoping to get autographed. He’d then pick out a fan in the crowd to rap directly towards as he pulled out another Drill Music in Zion joint with the bounce-inducing “AUTOBOTO.”

While the energy levels were at the highest they’d been all night, some of the most hype moments would come next, as Lupe pulled out some of his biggest guest verses on other artists’ songs. The live instrumentation really brought to life that Rock-styled production Pharrell Williams and The Neptunes have on their N.E.R.D. projects, the energy getting cranked as Lupe nailed his verse on “Everyone Nose (Remix),” getting the crowd jumping and chanting along to the hook: “all the girls standing in the line for the bathroom!” He’d then get everyone to put both hands in the air and reach in anticipation of what was his first impression for many fans, performing Kanye West’s “Touch The Sky.” Seeing energy like this, one had to wonder what could have been if Lupe, Kanye and Pharrell actually finished making that Child Rebel Soldier project back in the late 2000s.

After those incredibly hype moments, Lupe would slow it down and do a segment of songs for the ladies, getting the crowd to sing along to the Trey Songz chorus on “Out Of My Head,” and got an even bigger reaction with the smooth, soulful “Paris, Tokyo.” From here on out, it felt like Lupe was improvising the setlist, as he’d go back to his DJ and talk over the gameplan with his bandmates between songs. A fan in the crowd shouted out for him to do “Dumb It Down,” and right on queue Lupe and the band performed that ’07 classic. He’d stick to that ’06 – ’07 era for a bit, performing one verse each from “He Say She Say,” “Hurt Me Soul,” and a personal favourite, “The Coolest.” He’d also throw in a Lasers cut with “Words I Never Said,” but cut the song off midway through the first verse in favour of more joints from The Cool and Food & Liquor.

After another personal favourite of mine, “The Instrumental,” Lupe and the band would pull out some anthems that got the crowd singing along. Everyone joined in to help cover that Matthew Santos chorus on “Superstar,” and Lupe would extend it by freestyling a 4th verse, complete with Toronto shoutouts and references, before one last singalong of the hook. He’d then do his big finale with the Grammy award-winning classic, “Daydreamin’.” Having never seen Lupe perform live before, I didn’t think the song could be done justice without Jill Scott there to perform her powerful vocals, but Lupe and the band made a vibe out of it with their loud guitars, compensating with a guitar solo in place of Jill’s breakdown towards the end of the song, and Lupe giving his verses some added energy to match his bandmates. He’d then take a moment to shoutout each member of the band, indicating the end of the show, but the fans were loud chanting for an encore, and so they stuck around for a couple more songs.

Having seen some Japanese Cartoon merch in the crowd earlier, Lupe decided to pull out an obscure joint by his Punk Rock band that even longtime fans like myself may have been unfamiliar with. Regardless, it was a high-energy performance that spoke to the diverse range Lupe has as a musician, and you could tell he was excited to be able to pull this one out and have at least some fans in the crowd recognize it. He’d then close out the concert with a song that was made for encores, “The Show Goes On,” getting the crowd singing along once again. Before leaving the stage, Lupe would take a moment to shoutout his band members and give them each a moment to shine, with Bubby Lewis and Bam Alexander getting to perform solos on bass guitar and drums respectively, and Lupe would close out with a freestyle rap thanking the Toronto fans, the CNE staff, and even personally thanking a security guard near the front of the stage.

As a fan who’s waited 20 years to see Lupe Fiasco perform live, this hour and a half on stage was an incredible time from beginning to end. I could go off naming songs from every album that I would have liked to see on the setlist, but with limited time on stage, Lupe still put on a great show touching on most of his discography. With much of his critical acclaim coming from his first two albums, it’s understandable that most of the setlist pulled from them, especially considering he was on The Food & Liquor 20th Anniversary Tour prior to this festival date in Toronto, and will hopefully come back next year for The Cool 20th Anniversary Tour. The way Lupe uses his band to bring a different style and sound to his classic records makes his live performance a special thing to witness, and I’m sure the Toronto fans will want to see him back soon.

Lupe Fiasco will be joining Gym Class Heroes on a USA tour this fall, dates and tickets can be found here.

Meanwhile, the CNE continues in Toronto through to September 7th; full list of performers can be found here.

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