HHV Recap | Eminem @ Squamish Valley Music Festival 2014 | HIPHOPVANCOUVER.COM

Words by: Brendan Lee
Photos by: David Dalley

It’s hard to express how long Vancouver(ites), British Columbians, or even all Canadians west of Ontario have been waiting for an Eminem performance on this side of the Hudson Bay. On Sunday, August 10, 2014 the friendly folk of the true north traveled great distances, across many plains, in large numbers to witness history. Slim Shady performed in BC for the first time in almost 15 years, at the beautiful Logger’s Sports Ground for the Squamish Valley Music Festival. Suffice to say, dreams came true that night; nostalgic teenage dreams fuelled by purple pills, emotional angst, and a zero fucks given mentality.

It’s hard to put into words the feeling of seeing someone as iconic as Eminem stepping to the stage. Some in the crowd were overjoyed with tears, many were speechless, but most were grinning ear to ear jumping around like it was a House of Pain concert, for lack of a better reference. From the second the curtain dropped on the Eminem show, to the Relapse and Recovery and to the final Encore, Marshall Mathers aka Slim Shady and the thousands of his adoring stans and fans in attendance maintained an Infinite amount of energy. It was electrifying. It was a truly monumental performance that has left everyone buzzing.

He played an onslaught of fan favourite songs that many of his dearest fans could probably only have ever dreamed of. Before Em stormed the stage, a short film played out like a prequel to “Bad Guy” from The Marshall Mathers Lp 2. It was shown on the big screens and just as the audience became antsy, he dropped into the track, which is a sequel to the acclaimed song from the 2000 hit “Stan.” He then wasted no time jumping into older material playing “Square Dance” and “Won’t Back Down.”

As previously mentioned and as most people have already heard, his set was pretty damn amazing. Even if you’d been living under a rock for 20 years and never heard of Eminem before, you would have to agree that his performance was polished and truly unique. The production value was immense, as his stage setup cut no corners with a giant boombox screen that pumped out some pretty intense visuals.

Some memorable highlights included hilarious banter between himself, Mr. Porter and the “Vancouver” crowd; a medley performance of his biggest hits in “My Name Is,” “The Real Slim Shady,” and “Without Me”; a special guest performance with ~~Rihanna~~ fellow Detroit emcee Royce Da 5’9″; and an unbelievable encore performance of the motivational 8 Mile single “Lose Yourself.” He graciously thanked the crowd for coming and for all of the support through the years, and stepped off the stage to a roaring, ecstatic Squamish Fest. His long awaited performance somehow exceeded the high expectations. As Em says himself “Why be a King, when you can be a God?” All praise to the almighty Slim Shady. Check out the shots below and please stand up.

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