Grieves, Curci, and Nobi & Khingz @ Lee's Palace

Photos and video featuring local MCs Myer Clarity, Soo Casa, Tommy Belmont, and 4G

Mar 30, 2025

Grieves @ Lee’s Palace. *All photos and video by yours truly.*

Kicking off their Family Roadtrip Tour at Toronto’s Lee’s Palace, Seattle indie rap mainstay Grieves and his tourmates Curci, Khingz, and Nobi brought out a number of local MCs to open the show. I unfortunately missed Tommy Stonie, who was on first, but I ended up catching seven sets anyway. Ranging from 4G’s playfully agro stage presence to Myer Clarity’s scruffy lady’s man persona, I got a quick lesson on a variety of great hip hop happening in my own backyard - an unintended musical blind spot for me, admittedly.

I had a chance to speak with Khingz online yesterday after the crew arrived in Cleveland for their next tour stop, and he took a moment to share his appreciation for the openers, but also mentioned how bizarre their visit to Toronto had been - likening it to the surrealism of an episode of Atlanta. Complete with Canadian border security blasting “Euphoria” by Kendrick Lamar (one of his more searing Drake diss tracks) and “randomly running into a pack of naked men running through our hotel hallways at 3am”, it does seem like a bizarre introduction to Toronto. You wouldn’t know it from his fiery set with Nobi, though - their animated stage presence and chemistry lit the place up. Curci shared in the enthusiasm and even wore a Sex Bob Omb tee shirt in honour of the fictional band from Scott Pilgrim Vs The World, much of which takes place at Lee’s Palace.

For his part, Grieves commented on how it was probably a bad idea to plan an actual road trip tour, having just driven from Seattle to Toronto - and related travelling through North Dakota to “driving past a racist brick wall for eight hours”. This being his first show in our town since well before the pandemic - Grieves was feeling reflective and told a long story in between songs about how he started seriously dealing with his mental health and turned down a major label deal after having a panic attack while in a meeting with Warner Brothers. I appreciated the realness of his lively performances interspersed with storytelling.

“I know I’ve made a lot of sad music,” Grieves said late in the set, “but I swear I’m not a sad guy” - indeed, I always considered him to be more introspective than emo. Grieves has lived and come out of it all healthier and seemingly, happy. As a fellow heavy-hearted fellow in his early forties, you love to see it.