Montell Fish & His Aliases Take Over Toronto’s Danforth Music Hall: Charlotte North American Tour

The city of Toronto was one of Montell Fish’s last stops on his North American tour. If you’re an R&B music lover, this is an artist you either know about already or definitely need to know about. Montell Fish, born in Pittsburgh, started getting attention back in 2015 when he started posting on YouTube (like many of the successful artists we know and love have done.) His career skyrocketed, however, when his songs “Talk 2 Me” and “Fall in Love with You” became viral hits, with the latter reaching over 400 million streams on Spotify.

The night kicked off with New York rapper, CLIP, dancing onto the stage to Paramore's “That’s What You Get." It surely got my attention as a diehard Paramore fan myself! CLIP’s single release of “Sad B!tch” during the 2020 pandemic is what made her career take off. “Sad B!tch” has over 9 million streams on Spotify and highly contributed to what seemed like an overnight success for CLIP. It likely had to do with the lyrics being quite fitting during the pandemic and all the emotions it brought with it. 

CLIP had lots of energy on stage, she was dancing to every beat and had a huge smile on her face for most of the set. You can tell she feels comfortable and at her best when she’s performing on stage– her great energy was contagious. CLIP even jumped into the middle of the crowd while the DJ played “FIEN” by Travis Scott and Playboi Carti. This really got the Toronto crowd pumped with adrenaline as everyone jumped to the hit song, anticipating Montell Fish’s arrival.

Montell Fish then took to the stage, starting off with his song “DISTRACTION,” a perfect opening song to the show. It set the tone for the night and matched the aesthetic of the stage. The stage looked like a living room, dressed with a carpet and some dimly lit lamps. It added a very fitting dark and gloomy mood to the Toronto venue. 

I found out about Montell Fish from his hit song “Hotel,” off his 2022 album Her Love Still Haunts Me Like a Ghost. Thankfully, it was on the setlist and I was able to experience that song live. Montell Fish has a powerful and beautiful voice, and he showcased it perfectly that night. He was also interactive with his fans in the front row and showed his love and appreciation for them between songs. One notable part of the show for me was when he performed a little snippet of “Sure Thing” by Miguel right after his song “Pretend Lovers.” The tracks seamlessly blended together and it sounded beautiful— “Sure Thing” is a 2010 classic R&B throwback, so it was nice to hear Montell Fish cover a bit of it!

I learned that night that Montell Fish builds certain characters behind each project and album. The most well-known one, named “dj gummy bear” (stylized in all lowercase), is a mythical and youthful version of himself. Montell Fish has released music under “dj gummy bear,” with “2 seater” becoming a viral song of his. That night, fans were telling me that there is an entire book written by Montell Fish and his team of lore for the character. “dj gummy bear” has his own separate style, he wears a mask, and is a way for Montell Fish to experiment with his sound. I think that is such a cool way to go about creating art. I can completely get behind the notion of wanting to play different characters depending on the concept and themes surrounding the particular project. It’s also just fun for the fans as well!

Montell Fish ended the magical night with a fan favourite, “Fall in Love with You,” and I’m convinced every single person in the crowd was singing along with him. Toronto cheered loud for Montell Fish and left the venue beaming. The North American leg of the tour is coming to an end by late October, but the artist is bringing the Charlotte tour to Europe this December! If you reside in Europe, I would highly recommend snagging some tickets to catch him and his many aliases live at the Charlotte tour. Below you'll find the tour setlist to get you prepared!