Opening for Shad @ Hollywood Theatre

A couple of weeks ago, I had the time of my life opening for Shad at his sold-out Vancouver tour stop at the iconic Hollywood Theatre. I got to share the bill with a dope artist The Blue and his crew. This was an especially meaningful night for me, getting to kick off 2026 by opening up for my favourite artist. I’ve been a fan since watching The One In Front Of The Garage on YouTube in 2008, decompressing from an afternoon of shooting hoops with my high school homies at The Cage. I was joined on stage by two good friends, in music and in life, DJ Slippee and Alvin Brendan, and even more friends and family rocking with us in the crowd. I definitely felt the love from the audience, especially the fans that came to see me, old and new. We kicked off our set with a couple of favourites before spending the rest of the set playing unreleased material off the upcoming Home, Grown album. This was the biggest stage I’ve been on since coming back to being an artist and it feels good and grounding to say that I left that evening feeling like I belonged on it.

CBC even invited me to chat about the show and my music! It feels affirming that people outside of my circles see me, my music, and my story. Here’s the audio interview with Stephen Quinn on Early Edition and the text version. I also got to chat about it with Cazimi on Beats, Eats and Moarrr.

I was grateful and fulfilled to be there, to do my thing and to celebrate Shad’s 20th anniversary and new album. You know I soaked up every moment of that evening, both as a fan and fellow artist. We’ve come a long way from getting called up to finish The Old Prince Still Lives At Home at his 2013 CBC Nooners set. Now, to finish this album!

*Concert photos by Miller Matthews