I went to see The Roots again recently. I can't think of any other groups I have seen in recent years that can keep me entertained no matter how many times I see one of their shows. I am constantly amazed at how they manage to have so many different versions of their songs and performances. I have never once been bored at one of their concerts. My son is at the age now where I want to take him to see them and experience a group of brothers actually playing instruments and being creative within the realm of hiphop. While they were missing their normal bass player Hub, they had a tuba player filling in.....and he rocked it. A freakin' tuba solo at a hiphop concert and even the thugs were rocking to it. I was impressed. My favorite part of the show is always when they perform 'You Got Me'. I have not heard them perform that song the same way twice and each time it is that much better. Their guitar player did a Jimi Hendrix style solo, broke into a rendention of 'My Favorite Things', and then proceeded to do a George Benson impression....and he rocked it. Black Thought of course was the vigilant assassin on the mic and ?uest Love (aka musical genius) did his thing on the drums. They played songs from every album they have produced and showcased their knowledge of currrent and classic hiphop with a freestyle jam session over other artists beats....and they rocked it. A Roots concert is one of the few events where I have seen all ages, gender, and races come together and just enjoy themselves without the unspoken tension or segregation floating through the crowd.
Badu performed too and I was caught off guard and impressed with the amount of "rear end" she possesses. Once I got past my natural male curiosity I was able to soak in her show and guess what......she rocked it. I was especially pleased to be able to witness her perform 'The Healer' and 'Green Eyes' live despite the fact she was doing some performance with exercise balls and making them kiss during the song. Don't ask. You really had to be there.
Good stuff. Real music is still alive. Now if we can just get Tribe and BlackStarr back together and Maxwell and D'Angelo back in a studio. A friend of mine did tell me that Maxwell has some serious heat recorded already though and it is unbelievable.
1 comment:
so it's taking me a minute to realize "richmond dude" is really a link to your blog. i had tix to see badu/roots last friday but moms came to town and i gave them up. after reading your post, i now regret it. i've seen the roots a few times and you're right, they're always original. my best performance was at the album release party for phrenology and jill scott came on stage to perform "you got me." luckily they did the same version for dave chappelle's block party and i have it on my itunes. it's the best 9:57 minutes of music ever.
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