JPEGMAFIA – The Fillmore – Minneapolis MN – October 8th 2026

JPEGMAFIA at the Fillmore on October 8th was an energetic night filled with moshpits, costumes, and lots of flashing lights. Walking into the show downtown was quiet, but that changed the second I walked into the venue. Immediately I saw a merch line wrapped around the venue and JPEGMAFIA’s young fanbase energetic and ready for the show to come. Since releasing his new album Experimental Rap JPEGMAFIA has furthered his reputation with experimenting with sounds showing his ever changing voice within the modern rap scene.
The first act on stage was Matt Proxy. Matt is a hometown rapper from Minneapolis. Not only offering support for tonight’s bill, but for the entire tour. You can guess how his set went. Minneapolis showed up. Even though he is a younger artist it felt like he’s been performing for a decade with the amount of energy he was able to pull from the audience. The lighting fit the music perfectly. Flashing red and white lights made it seem like he was almost teleporting on stage. This set the tone for the night and made it clear just the kind of show that we were in for.

Redveil was next and boy has he had a year. He released an album late 2025 titled Sankofa with great fan enjoyment. Originally from Maryland his national tour earlier this year familiarized many Minneapolis music fans with his work. Luckily for me I was able to catch this show earlier in the year and a full review is available here: Redveil at Fine Line 3/6/26. Since he was supporting JPEGMAFIA tonight we got a heavier set with sprinkles of r&b and soulful ballads throughout his short time on stage. His set offered a great contrast at times that gave the moshers a second to catch their breath for the headliner.

When JPEGMAFIA took the stage the lights went out completely and just as it was for the other acts it stayed dark. This gave the crowd brief glimpses of JPEG and his backing band. Yes, he brought a backing band on stage. This practice is a dying art in the rap performance scene. Lots of sets feature a backing track and even backing vocals, but JPEG had neither which made his set feel more personal and like a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Throughout the night JPEGMAFIA challenged my ears with his experimental sounds. Songs that switch between a more traditional rap melody and stuff that I can only describe as Flying Lotusish. It’s clear that JPEG wants to challenge the status quo. When an artist can create a new sound that fans can resonate with at the rate they do with this music, you know they are doing something special.

As the show ended and the fans started to funnel out of the venue you could tell who had been moshing. Seemingly everyone left this show with more energy than they entered in with and JPEGMAFIA reinforced his reputation as the most experimental artist in the modern rap scene.