I’ve gotten to see the Roots live several times, often for free, since I moved to Philadelphia. That was four albums ago, when the posters for Phrenology were plastered up and down Broad Street eventually found their way into dorm rooms. That record and the one following it didn’t hit like the phenomenon did in ’99 and before, yet the Roots crew has always lived up to its reputation for a live show. They have evolved into a full fledge production, and tend to be unmatched.
I picked up tickets for the Roots Pre-Picnic show, for which the line-up boasted about a quarter of what the actual picnic was holding other than the headliner. Though I try to avoid paying 35 bucks for a show at TLA, I wanted to see what kind of heat new names like Santogold would bring. She was about to go on as we rolled in six deep.
Appearing as a less physically attractive and tiredly formulaic copy of MIA, Santogold took the stage flanked by two dancers dressed as PE-style Black Panthers, whose occasional choreographed break from ‘statue’ to ‘spaz-dance’ was about the only interesting thing about the set. Santi herself lip-synched most of the set, one clearly crafted for ready-made fans by producers in place for this former label exec to live a rockstar dream. The absolutely garbage set confirmed my suspicion that the former A&R for Epic Records would put out something sugary and contrived, taking up valuable airtime that would have been better deserved by a an original and talented discovery.
I spilled my Yuengling. All over the floor of the upstairs bar. I forked over another $5.75 for a new one and resumed my spot next to my head-shaking boys. Somehow, the next act was even worse. Janelle Monae, a fledgling on Diddy’s Bad Boy label (yes, you can smell the shit already) was fan-fared by pre-made signs, obviously handed to concertgoers who had never heard of her, which bore her name and ridiculous haircut. The patronizing effect of obviously pre-produced beats with the façade of a real band not even playing their instruments had one of my boys laughing and comparing it to a show by the robot animal band at Chuck E. Cheese. Every song was at best a weak take on Southern style pop coined by Andre 3000. She was a pretty bad performer to boot.
Finally (finally!) the Roots took the stage and murdered shit. No surprise there. Not many of my favorite old tracks were played, but we got an extra-fast version of “The Seed”, a pretty standard version of “Don’t Feel Right” and, most notably, a dub version of “You Got Me” that had my drunk ass smiling hard. The sousaphone player kicked it on stage the whole time, supplementing the bass lines in a unique way. Extra long jams on “Jungle Boogie” and “Super Bad” rang for ages, and a nice mid-set break for Black Thought gave singer Bilal a chance to tear it up for a second. A great set with well-placed surprises.
In brief, it looks like the Roots are partially surrounded by trash, even though they themselves are still holding it down. And not all of their new affiliates are worthless; Wale’s new ‘Mixtape About Nothing’ is one of the best thematic hip hop works since the Automator/Prince Paul days. But I will be weary of who the crew endorses from here on out.
The last crowd-level incident that occurred that night had us laughing; ?uestlove, as usual, tossed his sticks into the crowd, one of which my boys Brian O dove for, battled a 350 pound dude over, got it loose and fell back knocking over the guy’s girlfriend. Brian bolted into the crowd while the gigantor kept his girl from hitting the ground. It all happened fast, right in front of us and we were all losing it for a minute.
All those mentioned above, plus a multitude more, will be at the very first Pemberton Festival, located in Pemberton in British Columbia, an area most-known for Whistler Mountain and drunken donkeys roaming the streets (maybe not the last one).
It’s being put on by Live Nation, which explains why they got so many names involved with the inaugural show that include Coldplay, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, The Flaming Lips and My Morning Jacket (entire lineup after the jump).
It’s also the first “European-style festival” that Live Nation has put together from scratch, which means I expect it to be pretentious and exclusive in the coming years.
Not familiar with Canada? Find Vancouver (it’s north of Seattle) and drive north. If you end up in the middle of nothingness, you’ve gone too far.
I was searching through my Inbox last night and came upon a week old email touting DNA6 as one of “Canada’s Hottest New Indie Bands of 2008.” But the thing that caught my attention was a line in their press release that said the group has the ability to make new fans after each of their live shows.
After reading more, I discovered this was a hip-hop group that found a way to mix up the sounds of rock, soul, funk, and jazz. I know…it sounds insane.
But it’s a kind of controlled insanity and after listening to their second full-length album “Human Condition,” I was convinced of two things: Canada always seems to have some unique hip-hop going on (Swollen Members and early Buck 65) and DNA6 have knocked Jurassic 5 off their rap-for-people-who-don’t-like-rap pedestal.
Check out the track at the bottom of this post and you’ll get what I mean. The album, and this is assuming you’re the kind of person who still listens to albums all the way through, is an evolution of sorts, with the group jumping from genre to genre and mixing up their sound from track to track. It’s a great start for a group I’m convinced will be around for a while, assuming they strive to never repeat themselves.
Right now they are only on tour in Canada, so if you’re there, lucky you. For the rest of you, enjoy “All The Things You Do” at the bottom of the post
3/11 - Vancouver, British Columbia - The Plaza Club
A cry of Hellllllllllllllllllllo Brooklyn pierced the early evening air. It was on. The sold out crowd at McCarren Park Pool was ready for the Beastie Boys’ first ever Brooklyn show.
McCarren Park Pool opened in July of 1936 in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. It was one of ten public pools built in New York City during the Great Depression with funds from the Works Progress Administration. McCarren is the size of three Olympic pools combined- which puts its capacity at around 6,800 swimmers. It cost a million dollars to build.
Thursday (August 9th) night was another story- there hasn’t been water in McCarren Pool since 1983- and currently the facility is home to a series of summer films and concerts. I arrived just before the show began and decided to grab some dinner. Local Williamsburg establishment Warsaw had a food tent at the venue and they were serving pirogues- they were excellent. I got my hot plate just as the show began, and managed to down the entire thing before “Root Down” was over. Well I thought- I’ll wash these down with a beer. Brooklyn Brewery was manning the beer tents- it all seemed very appropriate. After purchasing two beer tickets (the beers looked small) I spent the rest of the Beastie’s opening set in line to buy beer (about an hour). Good times.
That being said, positioning was such that I could still see and hear everything. Mike D, MCA and Ad-Rock were high energy- to say the least- and kicked out set featuring a fair number of their hits including “Pass The Mic,” “Paul Revere” and “Body Movin.” Rev Run (of Run DMC) made a guest appearance on “Check It Out” which was also cool. The boys were joined by regulars Mix Master Mike on the turntables and Money Mark on keys. The set also featured a fair number of instrumental cuts from the Beasties’ new record Off The Grid. Truthfully- I felt the set could have been a little lighter on the instrumental stuff- but at the same time- I respect that the guys were excited to play their new record.
The encore was preceded by a sweet Mix Master Mike breakdown- during which he wore a robot helmet- which I think improves any situation. It also proved be a harbinger- the encore kicked off with the robotic “Intergalactic” followed by “Sabotage” and the appropriate closer “No Sleep Till Brooklyn”. It was hard to believe that in their twenty plus years together the native New Yorkers had never played Brooklyn. Hopefully- unlike my time in the beer line- it was worth the wait.
All music and videos posted on this site are here in support of the artists. If you find anything that should not be posted, please let us know and we'll remove it immediately.
