Any list of the tightest bands in the world would be incomplete if it didn't include The Roots.
The endlessly versatile Philadelphia-based hip hop crew are equally at home going on extended jazz runs — as was heard to notable effect during "Mellow My Man" early on in the ACL set on Saturday evening — or in the day job serving as the house band for Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, or backing seemingly everybody from Jay-Z to John Legend when they want some live-band cred for a record, or recording a nigh-endless string of essential albums of their own.
In any case, there weren't a lot of tubas on stage at ACL, but it's guaranteed that none were funkier than the one featured in The Roots' set. Which is the point: It takes a band whose tightness is unquestioned, and whose versatility can be taken for granted, to pull off what The Roots accomplished onstage on Saturday.
On record, The Roots have settled into a role as hip hop's conscience. They're elder statesmen releasing records like last year'sUndun, a concept album about a murdered teen from the Philly projects, and which was the latest in a string of socially-aware albums. Live, though, it's a different story. This is a high-energy party band, and it makes them an explosive festival act. Drummer ?uestlove (who played Saturday with his iconic afro braided down into cornrows) barely so much as lowered his sticks; a horny song like the 2003 single "Break You Off" flows effortlessly into 1997's hymn of romantic devotion, "You Got Me," and that song's minor-key guitar line still somehow seems designed to get heads nodding and hands in the air. It takes that sort of greatness to pull off some of the left-field moves the band went for. An extended tuba solo during a hip hop show is one thing; the band launching into a cover of Guns N' Roses' "Sweet Child O' Mine" is another, but what the hell? We're partying out here!
It's the rare hip hop show these days where the emcee doesn't need to so much as address the audience to get them to put their hands in the air and wave 'em like they don't care 45 minutes into the set.
But that's what The Roots have been able to deliver for almost two decades now, and they don't show any signs of slowing down.
The RootsPhoto by Jessica Pages
Photo by Jessica Pages
Photo by Jessica Pages
Photo by Jessica Pages
Tancho Sushi offers affordable omakase.
Photo courtesy of Tancho Sushi
