Swollen Members - North American Tour - Calgary AB (09.23.10)
Posted by Bill Wannop on 10.06.2010
Swollen Members rocked a sold out show in Canada on a tour promoting their upcoming release Dagger Mouth! Their constant energy and crowd interaction made it one of the best small venue hip hop shows in recent memory!
Swollen Members are a Canadian hip hop group consisting of rappers Mad Child and Prevail, and their producer Rob the Viking. They have been putting out records independently since the 1990’s, however recently member Mad Child had some trouble with substance abuse, which caused a three year lapse in releases from the group. After his recovery the group decided to sign to Subnoise Records, and are readying their second release on the label, Dagger Mouth, expected to hit stores in February. As well a solo album from member Mad Child which deals with his substance abuse problems, titled Dope Sick, is also stated for release in 2011. To hype their upcoming releases, they have begun a North American tour, starting first in their homeland of Canada, and ending in the United States. For a list of tour dates or to get information on Swollen Members visit SwollenMembers.com
I had the chance to catch the show in Calgary Alberta Canada on September 23, 2010.
First off in Canada, Swollen Members are huge, so the venue was packed giving a great atmosphere for the show. The venue for their show was not the greatest, as unless you were right at the front of the stage, you had an obstructed view. As well the opening act was very forgettable, I was unable to catch his name, but he could not get off the stage fast enough, and wasn’t advertised anywhere so he was most likely a local act.
When Swollen Members finally took the stage however most of these issues were forgotten do to the unbelievable energy of the group, and most notably Prevail. To start off the show, Swollen opened up with the opening track off their latest album Armed to the Teeth, coming out to Reclaim the Throne a perfect track which is upbeat with classic Swollen Members content.
Following the opening energy they kept the show moving playing Watch This followed by the rapid fire track Meltdown and Certified Dope both off of Armed to the Teeth. During Certified Dope, Mad Child got the crowd moving by getting them to yell out Certified Dope at various times throughout the chorus, before they banged out their verses from the tight song off of Prevails solo album which featured the Souls of Mischief.
The show kept up the lightning pace when they broke into probably their biggest hit, Breathe which featured Nelly Furtado on the hook. Instead of Nelly belting out the hook, Prevail held the microphone toward the crowd and had everyone singing along, making for a great moment.
The set list consisted mostly of tracks off their most recent album Armed to the Teeth, moving into Warrior, before playing Red Dragon and then getting into the guitar heavy track Porn Star. A couple tracks from Black Magic were mixed in there as well with including the title track and Deep End before moving into another popular single Bring It Home. They ended out the set by playing some classics including Lady Venom and even snuck in a Nirvana mash up song to finish the evening in great fashion.
Having been to many hip hop shows before, I can tell you that Swollen Members put everything into their shows. The song selection was pretty much perfect, in sticking with the newer tracks that were full of energy and mixing in a few older classics. They didn’t really play any slow tracks and with tracks like Certified Dope and Breathe they kept the crowd involved at all times. Prevail again showed his lyricism when he spit out over a two minute long freestyle which had the crowd eating every punch line.
Swollen Members know exactly what the crowd wants and gives it to them, and any fan of hip-hop who goes to a show will undoubtedly have a great time and leave being a bigger fan then when they arrived. While the show itself was pretty much perfect, there were some issues. The lack of stage set or banner always seems to be an issue for me as I feel that a big name band should have some sort of stage set or at least a banner displaying the label or their name. As well the opening acts were pretty dismal, and with the group not hitting the stage until late in the evening made the crowd somewhat restless and impatient. The last thing was the lack of a merch booth. Again I have been to a couple hip-hop shows where the groups performing do not have any place to buy shirts or cd’s which to me is crazy it is basically easy money for the band. While these are minor issues they did hurt the overall feel of the show.
At the end of the day if you are in the mood for an energy filled hip hop show, go to Swollen Members. They will have you jumping all night, have great stage presence and will keep the crowd involved throughout the night which will leave you more then satisfied.
The 411: Swollen Members played a packed house, and didn't leave any fans disappointed. Their constant energy and fan interaction coupled with their excellent song selection made this one of the best hip hop shows I have ever been to. If you are a fan of hip hop and Swollen Members are in your area, you will not be disappointed!
Swollen Members are a Canadian hip hop group consisting of rappers Mad Child and Prevail, and their producer Rob the Viking. They have been putting out records independently since the 1990’s, however recently member Mad Child had some trouble with substance abuse, which caused a three year lapse in releases from the group. After his recovery the group decided to sign to Subnoise Records, and are readying their second release on the label, Dagger Mouth, expected to hit stores in February. As well a solo album from member Mad Child which deals with his substance abuse problems, titled Dope Sick, is also stated for release in 2011. To hype their upcoming releases, they have begun a North American tour, starting first in their homeland of Canada, and ending in the United States. For a list of tour dates or to get information on Swollen Members visit 
The show kept up the lightning pace when they broke into probably their biggest hit, Breathe which featured Nelly Furtado on the hook. Instead of Nelly belting out the hook, Prevail held the microphone toward the crowd and had everyone singing along, making for a great moment.
