Concert Review of The Roots: A Musical Journey That Exceeds Genre

The Roots have not put out a studio record since 2014 and have not been in Australia since 2013; however, their shows quickly sold out and they became the hottest ticket in town. They were also touring with Talib Kweli, who last toured Australia in 2016 and last was in Brisbane further back than that. So, having them both on the same bill was a monumental hip hop show for Brisbane. The sold out venue was roughly 3,000, which was perfect for the show. Enough people to have some crazy energy and a party, but low enough that it was still intimate and you could vibe with the band.

Let’s start with Talib Kweli. He strode out onto the stage about 20 minutes late with black leather, sunglasses and high as a kite. Having said that, his 45 minute set was wall to wall energy and he had the crowd eating out of the palm of his hand. There were some big hip hop heads in the crowd and jumped on his opening cover of a Danger Doom track Old School Rules. He jumped into an old classic Never Been in Love and followed that with Beautiful Struggle. He then led some sing alongs with Sister Nancy’s Bam Bam and other reggae tunes played by his DJ, while he talked to the audience how he gets high everyday. This was a ton of fun and he was impressed with the audience’s musical knowledge. He ended the show with a shout out to Mos Def and a high octane rendition of Definition and Re:Definition. His energy was contagious and the crowd was hyped for The Roots. Excellent opening act and one of the true hip hop greats that has a ton left in the tank.

Next the stage was engulfed by the entire 10 piece band…yes, 10 piece…that makes up The Roots. Founding members Questlove and Black Thought came out on stage first with huge reactions from the crowd. Questlove was wearing a large white cap over his dreads with a white robe, like some drumming god sent from Olympus. Black Thought rocked the gold chains, with 70s action hero sunglasses and an Eagles jersey. The rest of the band filed in with black t-shirts and various leather jackets. The band consisted of a tuba, two guitars, bass, keyboard, trumpet, sax, a DJ with and electro drum kit, and of course Questlove and Black Thought.

Right away the band jumped into The Pros, which is a pretty deep cut to start a show with; however, the energy radiating off the band was enough to get the crowd in a frenzy. They quickly moved into covers of I got my Mind Made Up, Jungle Boogie, which was out of this world, and Soul Makossa. These funky jazz tracks really let the band breathe and gave everyone some opportunities to shine. The brass was really doing work with the sax really popping off and the tuba adding some deep bass. This first 20 – 30 minutes really laid the foundation of the show, which was full of deep cuts, funk covers and a wall of jazzy funk sound.

The band never took a break and seamlessly flowed from one track into the next, often creating a space where you were never sure where one song ended and the other began. This created an endless funk party that you were swept into and you felt like one of the band. Deep cuts and funk covers continued until we hit the first big hit, which was a slightly sped up version of What They Do where Black Thought was on point in delivering bar after bar to the audience’s loud approval. The next big hit came shortly after with Dynamite!, which included some choreographed dance moves by the guitarists and tuba player behind Black Thought, who paced the stage like a caged lion.

From the middle of the show on, different members of the band would walk off stage to get very high and dance back on stage. Black Thought was always accompanied by a cloud of smoke reminiscent of the industrial revolution whenever he came from off stage. As the band got higher and higher, which they let the audience know about when they said “Raise your hand if you’re high,’ the songs became longer and had more solos. However, these solos were never indulgent and often led to some great covers. For example, a tub solo led to a guitar solo, which led to a cover of The Immigrant Song by Led Zeppelin and Get Up Stand Up. The only way the band could pull off such long solos and not lose the entire shape of the set is that they are very talented and work tightly as a group. This is a very tight band that can pick up and drop songs within seconds and have all 10 members on the same page at the same time…at all times. The Roots were one of the tightest and most locked in bands I have seen in a long time.

Some standouts were when Talib Kweli came out, wearing the concert t-shirt, and did Clones with Black Thought. They worked really well together and the audience savoured another moment with Kweli. The show ended with The Seed and Men at Work, which were both high octane and featured many breaks for band members to take a bow and the crowd to lose its mind.

This was less a concert and more a two hour long song that took you to musical heights you have never been to in a concert. It felt like The Roots invited us to their house and then played a concert just for us. This was further underlined by the 30 minutes they stayed on stage taking selfies, signing random pieces of stage equipment, Questlove throwing drumsticks to the crowd and the bands overall generosity to the fans. An amazing show that lived up to all the hype.