South Burlington is worth the drive. Higher Ground’s Showcase Lounge — the more intimate room in the complex — is exactly the kind of close-quarters space that makes sets like this one land the way they should. Wednesday, September 9, Wax and DJ Hoppa bring their co-headlining tour to Higher Ground with support from Grieves. All ages. Doors at 7:30 PM.
About Wax
You probably know Wax from “Rosana” — the 2012 YouTube release that hit 29 million views and introduced a lot of people to a rapper who had already been grinding for years. Michael Jones, out of Dunkirk, Maryland, is technically a rapper, but live he is harder to categorize: he opens sets behind a DJ desk, mixing tracks while playing synth and keys, then moves into rapping over looped compositions with the crowd fully locked in. A stint on Def Jam, roughly a dozen albums, and a number-one placement in Europe later, he is still one of the more interesting live acts in underground hip-hop.
He comes to this tour with fresh material on both ends. His most recent solo record, Lifetime Achievement Award (May 2025, Bishop Records), is a vinyl-only, all-analog album produced by Kush Mody — drawing on Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon and D’Angelo’s Voodoo as touchstones. And now there is Highway Hotel — a full collaborative album made with DJ Hoppa during their rolling 2024 US and Canada tour, featuring Wax’s twin brother Herbal T among the guests. Hoppa runs independent label Broken Complex and brings a real musician’s background to the booth: piano, drums, bass, and guitar before he ever touched a turntable. This is a road-tested creative partnership, not a hype-man situation.
Grieves opens.
Venue Info
Higher Ground is at 1214 Williston Rd. in South Burlington, just off I-89 — an accessible drive from Burlington and a reasonable run from further south in the North Country region. The Showcase Lounge is the more intimate of the venue’s two rooms, which suits a set built around interaction and close listening. Visit highergroundmusic.com for door policies and any updates.
Tickets & Pricing
Tickets are available now through Ticketmaster. All-ages show. Doors at 7:30 PM on Wednesday, September 9, 2026.