Maestro Fresh Wes

The Festival Tent, Halifax NS July 12

BY Matthew RitchiePublished Jul 17, 2012

As the 44-year-old king of Canadian hip-hop, Maestro Fresh Wes, jumped across the stage wearing all black with a conductor's baton in hand, the multi-faceted rapper launched into a selection of hits from his nearly three-decade-long career.

Taking a break from a summer filming the CBC sitcom Mr. Dee while in the city, Wes plundered his back catalogue, playing well-known tracks "Stick to Your Vision," "Let Your Backbone Slide" and "Drop the Needle," as well as a sample of the songs from his upcoming Orchestrated No1se LP, his first release in more than 12 years.

Maestro Fresh Wes repped his Canuck heritage proudly, with instrumental breakdowns between songs featuring Rush, the Guess Who and the Trews, the latter of which he said will be featured on his new record alongside Nova Scotia's own Classified and the Juno Award-winning Shad.

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