K-OS Mashes Up Led Zeppelin, U2 and David Bowie at Canadian Music Fest

Posted on Mar 12th 2010 11:15AM by Drew Berner
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"This is like when hip hop and rock 'n' roll get married," Toronto rapper K-OS mused just before he and his band launched into a mashup of his 2002 hit 'Heaven Only Knows' and Led Zeppelin's 'Stairway to Heaven' on Thursday night.

On the second night of Canadian Music Week / Canadian Music Fest, K-OS thoroughly rocked Toronto's Opera House. Throughout a set laden with chart-toppers like 'Sunday Morning' and 'Crabbuckit,' K-OS took his kitchen-sink hip-hop and fused it with hard rock -- the former tune was given a mosh pit-worthy bridge arrangement, while the latter was seamlessly interwoven with riffs from U2's 'Sunday Bloody Sunday' and David Bowie's 'Space Oddity.'
The result was an airtight, lively set that had people bouncing and rocking from the first drum hit to the last.

Anticipation was high from the outset, as the venue was packed to the rafters for opener Saukrates -- more than two hours before the main attraction took to the stage. The tone for K-OS' set was locked in early, as the rapper was welcomed to the stage by the strains of 'Tom Sawyer' by Toronto prog-rock heroes Rush. The band stuck mostly to K-OS' latest album, 'Yes!' as well as his biggest hits -- no deep cuts were dug up on this night. But that was exactly what the crowd was looking for -- a party vibe and some familiar tunes with a rocking new twist.