The vibe, the show, the people -- all off the chizain for the Roots.
I know I'm a little late getting this up. I had a crazy weekend, but here it is:
I haven't seen a bad Roots concert yet. When Black Thought started singing "Don't Say Nuthin" at 11:15 p.m. the 500 or so people at Grand Central surged toward the stage Thursday night. The band played a set similar to the one at the Forum earlier this year. I figured they would play more tunes off their new album "Game Theory." The hip-hop band did perform "Here I Come" and "Can't Stop This."
That was enough for the crowd which was much more excited about staples such a "You Got Me," "The Next Movement," and "The Seed." I've got pause for "The Seed" because instead of playing the song like the album, they started with "Black Betty" and then morphed into "The Seed" - blazing.
One of the highlights of a Roots show is their set-ending medley. In past years they've rocked out with heavy metal jamming, but more recently they've stuck with R&B and hip-hop. After giving us a smidgen of "Shake, Rattle & Roll," they went into "Gold Digger," "Get By," "It's Goin' Down" and several other songs. ?uestlove banged out "Smooth Criminal" on the drums and singing the high-pitched "woo! yeah!" a la Michael Jackson. It was hysterical.
Fans cheered and sang with all of it. The free hour-long show was part of Tanqueray gin's effort to expand its brand. They had their pitchman Tony Styles making the rounds posing for pictures with fans and being seen. Other notables in the house included Panther Kris Jenkins (he's such a teddy bear) and Drew Carter; along with singer Calvin Richardson, Power 98's Terri Avery, V101.9 Chirl Girl and most of the Power 98/V101.9 crew and the Dixie's Tavern crew. Before I forget, big thanks to Jean Herreria. He let me use his camera and e-mailed me the photos after my camera died on Thursday. I left my spare battery in the car and there was no way I was leaving the show to go get it. Thanks again Jean!
Did you go on Thursday night? What did you think? Post your replies below?
Friday, October 20, 2006
The Roots concert - whoa Part II
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2 comments:
welllllll after an hour and 45 minutes of standing in the muggy ass night I decided free was still too much to pay to get in.
I was quite disappointed. Why the hold up? Why this intentional "we're so hot we have a line" BS in Charlotte?
Never doubted the Roots would bring it. Just hate that over an hour in line made it so I missed them.
Actually the songs the Roots performed from the new album were "Here I Come", "Don't Feel Right" and "In the Music". The atmosphere of the event was perfect...the women Models were..."Oh MY"
Being a diehard Roots fan I got to take advantage of them performing some of their new hits along with some old...but as always they never go back far enough. One of my boys got a chance to ask Tariq "BLACK THOUGHT" if they would be performing any songs from Illadelph Halflife (album #3 out of #9) He stated "I don't the crowd would know any of those songs" What a shame...For those who were there I hope you enjoyed the show...The ROOTS are truly one of the treasures of HIP HOP and one of IF NOT the best Bands in the Music Industry.
I don't know what they like about Charlotte but they should keep coming back.
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