Earlier this year, in April, DJ Shadow announced that his iconic debut album, Endtroducing (1996), turns 30; to commemorate this occasion, he will celebrate the milestone with an 18-date North American tour honoring the acclaimed record's 30th anniversary. Starting September 24th in San Diego, CA, at the Sound and ending November 1st with a two-night stand in Fort Worth, TX, at Tulips, DJ Shadow wants to celebrate this achievement with all his devoted fans the right way. After reviewing the announced tour dates, I noticed the October 24th date was slated for Atlanta at one of my favorite venues in Atlanta, The Eastern.

For the last part of this tour, DJ Shadow also announced that for opening support, DJ D Sharp and King NTG would have the honor of warming up the crowd with their fiery and raw blend of hip hop. Plus, as a bonus for Atlanta hip-hop fans, local Atlanta MC Day Tripper was added to this bill a week prior to the show. Let us dive into the openers for this tour date and begin with the aforementioned Day Tripper.

Day Tripper

Day Tripper is a lyricist/singer/songwriter from Hickory, NC, who now calls Atlanta, GA, their home base. Day Tripper has released fourteen (14) LPs and two (2) singles since their debut release, Year One, which was released October 1, 2004. All Year vol. 2 is Day Tripper’s latest release from September 9, 2026, while All Year Vol. 1 was released earlier this year in April 2026. Two more notable releases that I have enjoyed are All is Full of Love, which pays tribute to Bjork’s Homogenic album, and BroadKast, which is an homage to everyone’s favorite sons of Atlanta, Outkast.

Kicking off the evening festivities, Atlanta’s very own Day Tripper came out on fire with an elevated level of intensity with his opening set for the fans who came early. Starting his set while DJing some killer tracks, Day Tripper took the microphone midway through his set to give the crowd some ice-cold verses from his catalog. I love it when local talent gets the opportunity to shine brightly on a larger stage than they are normally accustomed to performing on. This evening, many people who may not already know Day Tripper and his music were introduced to one of the dopest underground MCs in Atlanta. Day Tripper performed some tracks from The Difference Machine’s album Some of Us Never Die and also a few tracks from Day Tripper’s solo album Creativity is Free. Art Isn’t. As an added bonus, Day Tripper brought out on stage to perform a few tracks off their solo album was none other than Atlanta’s very own Gretzky Da Sumo.

You can show both Day Tripper and Gretzky Da Sumo some love and support by streaming their music via Bandcamp, Spotify or check out some of the music videos available online on YouTube!

DJ D Sharp is a hip hop DJ/turntablist/producer from Oakland, California. For over a decade, DJ D Sharp has also been well-known as the official DJ of the NBA team, the Golden State Warriors. DJ D Sharp has released three (3) LPs or mixtapes, two (2) compilations, and three (3) DJ Mixes since 2007. You can show DJ D Sharp some support by following his official Bandcamp page and streaming some of his music today!

King NTG (formerly known as Nio The Gift) is a lyricist/singer/songwriter/Grammy Recording Academy member from Richmond, CA. After taking a seven-year break in 2017, King NTG re-emerged in 2024 with a new creed for his life and career – maintain a spiritually driven lifestyle, produce profanity-free lyrics, and mentorship-focused lyrics for his fans. King NTG has released three (3) LPs, three (3) singles, and three (3) music videos since his rebirth in 2024. You can stream King NTG’s latest release, The New Standard (2026), with DJ D Sharp by following this link to Apple Music.

DJ D Sharp & King NTG

DJ D Sharp and King NTG took the stage at The Eastern with a hyped crowd that came early to see this energetic and passionate set from these two West Coast hip hop legends. This would be my first time seeing either DJ D Sharp or King NTG perform live, and I soon realized that I have been missing some fire. Throughout this set, I enjoyed each track as both DJ D Sharp and King NTG took command of the crowd with some bangers like "Carpe Diem", "Cause and Effect", "No Place Like Home", and my personal favorite "Father Hood." I highly recommend giving DJ D Sharp and King NTG a listen and keeping them in your rotation, especially their collaborative album titled The New Standard. Together, DJ D Sharp and King NTG are trying to implement a new standard in hip-hop, and I am all for it!

Check out this fiery set from DJ D Sharp and King NTG below:

"Like That"

"What You Want"

"Carpe Diem"

"Cause and Effect"

"S.A.F.E."

"Don't Forget About Me"

"No Place Like Home"

"Plain Sight"

"Father Hood"

"Run It Up"

DJ Shadow is a hip hop/trip hop/electronic/turntablism/experimental DJ and record producer from San Jose, California, who has been active since 1989. DJ Shadow, whose real name is Joshua Paul Davis, has released seven (7) LPs, five (5) EPs, seven (7) live albums/mixes, one (1) remix album, seven (7) compilations, and thirty-five (35) singles. I would be remiss if I did not also mention the album entitled Psyence Fiction (1998), from the group Unkle, which is a side project from DJ Shadow and James Lavelle with multiple guest stars such as Richard Ashcroft, Thom Yorke, Mike D., and Kool G Rap, to name a few.

I remember the day I first heard DJ Shadow’s debut record, Endtroducing, in 1996; I was floored at the masterful level of production and multi-layered sampling that this unique record embodied. And then just a few years later, in 1998, DJ Shadow’s collaboration with Unkle was released during the height of the trip hop movement, with such classic trip hop records like Massive Attack - Mezzanine, Morcheeba – Big Calm, Hooverphonic – Blue Wonder Power Milk, Portishead – Roseland NYC Live, and Esthero – Breath From Another. If you are not familiar with these albums, I recommend taking a deep dive and immersing yourself in the trip hop genre.

DJ Shadow

DJ Shadow took the stage at The Eastern slightly after 9 pm, and the crowd went wild as DJ Shadow went right into "Best Foot Forward / Transmission 1." Knowing that we were all going to hear "Building Steam With a Grain of Salt" > "The Number Song" > "Changeling" > "What Does Your Soul Look Like (Part 4)" got me very hyped for these songs to be performed live. DJ Shadow even broke down the initial process behind this anniversary tour, the complications with planning this large event, and the level of expectations that he had for this momentous tour.

DJ Shadow traveled down memory lane and discussed the pitfalls that he encountered during the infancy of this tour. One major setback was not being able to readily find the saved music samples and recordings that were saved on multiple forms of removable media. But in time, DJ Shadow was able to locate the saved disks and hard drives that stored these samples and beats from Endtroducing. And with that part of the process complete, DJ Shadow was back to planning this extensive 30th anniversary tour for Endtroducing. I thought it was a special moment to listen to DJ Shadow describe this extensive process that was undertaken to complete this tour.

DJ Shadow

Nonetheless, DJ Shadow did not hesitate to bring the fans in attendance what they came to The Eastern for, and that was performing Endtroducing in its entirety. Walking around the venue, you could see lots of smiles, people dancing carefree, and folks just vibing to the music. This is what it is all about, going to a concert and getting lost in the sauce. I thought it was epic hearing "Midnight in a Perfect World," "Napalm Breathe / Scatter Brain," and "Organ Donor" live. The complexity of each sample and Shadow's beats on this phenomenal record is easily one of the all-time greats in the trip hop genre.

For tonight's encore, DJ Shadow came back full force, starting with "Six Days", which is one of my favorite tracks off The Private Press (2002). DJ Shadow would perform a blistering six-song encore that would feature "Soul Days" and "Scale It Back" among other classic tracks from his discography. Personally, I was waiting for the time when "Nobody Speak" was performed, and low-key I was hoping for a Killer Mike appearance. Closing out the encore, DJ Shadow saved the best song last, and it was well worth the wait!

Check out DJ Shadow’s entire setlist from The Eastern on 10/24/2026 below: