Last night’s Roots gig was by no means the best show I’ve seen by the Philly hip-hop crew, but it was definitely the most energetic and insane. It’s as if they were a hyperactive kid who’s been stuck in a car for four hours — or the “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon” studio for four months.

I missed the first 45 minutes of the two-hour-plus blowout (filing a news story on Taste of MN), but they reportedly played some new tracks early on. After that, it was just one long marathon of funk. My god, they just kept playing and playing, as if proving there’s no such thing as a commercial break in the road life of the Roots. Songs didn’t really start or end, they just sort of popped up sporadically, including ”Step Into the Realm,” “You Got Me” and “The Next Movement.” Granted, they’ve always been a jam band, but this took it to a whole other level. They also threw in more cover-song snippets than usual, from a much wider range, including “Sweet Child o’ Mine,” Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song,” George Thorogood’s “Who Do You Love?” (just kidding… RIP Bo Diddley) and “Never Can Say Goodbye” (and RIP MJ). I’d say the jukebox format definitely showed the influence of their Fallon gig. One other sign of their new TV stardom: More frat-boys at the sold-out show. Ah well, welcome aboard, and hold on tight! 

This entry was posted on Friday, July 3rd, 2009 at 9:17 am and is filed under Concerts, Main. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.