Cut Chemist and Chali 2na Buena Vista Tickets, Ivy Ballroom at the Surf Hotel, 09 Sep 2026

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Venue

Ivy Ballroom at the Surf Hotel

Buena Vista, CO, US

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Additional details

Doors open: 20:00

Price: US $55.00

Concert in your area for Electronic and Hip-Hop.

Find out more about Electronic and Hip-Hop.

Cut Chemist biography

Cut Chemist (born Lucas Macfadden) has helped redefine the role of the DJ in modern music through his work with Jurassic 5 and Ozomatli. He has a history of taking turntablism and crate-digging culture into more experimental territory. His solo works bridge underground hip-hop, global music exploration, and avant-garde composition. In his music you will find influences from all over the Globe as well as from different parts of time. His travels to Cuba, Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Spain, Italy, France, Japan and beyond have directly affected how and what he performs. His latest release "Simetachin" is an Ethiopian, Afrobeat-Electronic song, sung by Derib Zenebe; which speaks to the wide array of genres Cut Chemist gets involved in. When touring, his performances range from raging festival sets to intimate sit-down listening sessions; each one with an intention of connecting with his audience through music like it's a conversation.

Despite the fact that Lucas MacFadden made his musical debut about half a decade or so before the internet became a major part of life for a hell of a lot of people on this planet, Cut Chemist is a great signifier of the way music tastes are changing in day by day. Thanks to the instant access that the internet allows us we’re becoming far more open minded about the music we listen to. As a result musical “tribes” and people defining themselves by the music that they listen to are slowly becoming a thing of the past.

It’s now reasonable to assume that the folks that you see wearing Beatles t shirts quite possibly listen to Slayer as much as they listen to Kendrick Lamar and, as it is in the case of Cut Chemist, the musician famous for playing hip hop has successfully dabbled in ska-punk and bossa nova as well. His origins come from the L.A based group Unity Committee, who joined with another group, Rebels of Rhythm to form legendary rap group Jurassic 5. MacFadden served as the groups producer, helming every album of theirs save one, leaving the group in 2006 but returning to the fold when they reunited in 2013.

While being a prolific and experienced DJ, it was during his time in Jurassic 5 that he was introduced to remixing, a skill he was developing alongside his peers DJ Shadow and Liquid Liquid, he has since done work for the likes of Roots Manuva and Jem. Just before the turn of the century he joined the Latin funk band Ozomatli as their turntablist during his downtime from his main band, but by the mid 2000’s he’d completely struck out on his own, releasing his debut solo record “The Audience's Listening”. This was the kind of record that took three and a half years to make, with one of those years alone spent clearing the sheer amount of samples on it.

The album was a massive critical success and since then he’s branched out into acting, with bit parts in Juno, Up In The Air and Jennifer’s Body. In June 2007 He also headlined a concert with DJ Shadow at the Hollywood Bowl, making them the first turntablists to ever do so and has generally become one of the most well respected names in the DJ community. He knows as well as anyone how to put on an amazing live show as well, so he’s one to be seen as soon as possible.

Live reviews

To me, being a DJ takes special talent, and the DJs, such as Cut Chemist, are true artists. They don’t just spin a turntable and place a few scratches here and there, they perform perfection, every single scratch is well placed and has meaning, serves a purpose.

Cut Chemist is not just a great DJ; he is also a great turntablisist, under the turntablism genre. I first saw Cut Chemist perform back in the late 1990s and I left with a new found respect for DJs who perform at even a tenth of Cut Chemist’s skills. The performance I attended had the stage filled with electric lights that pulsed to the music and a foggy feel that set the pace for the audience. Interaction with the audience was best and the audience fell in step with the sound, scratches and all.

My next goal is to see Cut Chemist collaborate and perform live with other artist, I have heard him play with other artists in the past, especially his work with Jurassic 5 and I know that to see it live would be pretty amazing. I would especially love to see Cut Chemist work with a few dance artists, spinning and mixing while they bring the crowd to their feet with their dance moves.

Anonymous

I first heard about Chali 2na from Jurassic 5, and thought I should check out some of his solo work being such a big fan on the band. His rap and his hop sound is original, and his lyrics are cleverly constructed and poignant. After listening to his music for several years, when I finally saw that he was touring, I knew I couldn’t miss my chance to see him live.

I loved the fact that he sang with a live band rather than a DJ or backing tracks, and they were an incredibly talented bunch. He was also great at interacting with his band, inviting them to perform solos, and letting them improvise around his vocals. It was awesome to hear this, as it’s not something that you’re able to uncover in a recorded version of a track.

He opened the show with the title track from Fish Outta Water, and encouraged everyone to sing and dance along, which he achieved without much difficulty! By the end of the first song he had already won over the entire audience, and everyone was cheering non stop. Chali 2na played a phenomenal set, and was great at pleasing and reading the audience. It was a great show, and I highly recommend checking it out!

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