Still in its infancy, the 2nd Annual Roots Picnic solidified itself as a contender for Best Summer Music festival with a lineup that was so jam-packed, organizers may want to consider spreading out next year’s event over two days instead of one. The Roots kicked things off opening for themselves, a remarkable feat considering how many times the group performs live throughout the year, and on NBC’s Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, and because they were also going to perform later that night with Public Enemy and close out the day’s festivities with a third performance. At this point, even diehard fans have to wonder how long they can continue at this pace.
But for this day, there was no rest for the weary. The sun-soaked weather and delicious food vendors serving up Philly’s hometown classic cheesesteaks rounded out a full slate of performances from groups specifically curated by The Roots for their fans. Outdoors, Santigold, a Philly native, made her hometown proud, swinging through her hits, from “Unstoppable” to “L.E.S. Artistes.” And Antibalas, New York’s acclaimed Afrobeat orchestra, blasted the audience with a politically charged set that included a plea to the government to indict former Vice President Dick Cheney.
Inside the tent, Francis and the Lights, an alt-funk band from New York kicked things off with music from their independent EPs, A Modern Promise and Striking. And while Francis’ band rocked the crowd, it was the leader’s erratic, spastic dance moves that got the mostly skeptical crowd jumping up and down by the end of the performance. Kid Cudi riled devout followers with cuts off his critically acclaimed mixtape A Kid Named Cudi. Dressed in a pair of black Air Yeezys, a trucker cap, T-shirt, and sagging jeans, Cudi threw down with a mic in one hand and a red cup of beer in the other as he toasted the crowd between songs. Asher Roth, who was decked out in a throwback Larry Bird jersey, held the momentum—he had the crowd rocking out to favorites from his recently released debut, Asleep in the Bread Aisle (Universal Motown). Watching the two perform back-to-back was the perfect appetizer for their upcoming Great Hangover tour.
Although The Roots were listed as the event’s grand finale, the real draw was their performance alongside Public Enemy. Together, with help from members of Antibalas, the groups ran through P.E.’s classic album, It Takes A Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (Def Jam, 1988). Chuck D ripped through the songs with the energy of a man half his age, and Flavor Flav, rocking an orange polo knit, jeans, and white sneakers, looked ever the hype man, running around the stage, pumping up the crowd. This was not Flava Flav from VH1’s Celebreality lineup, this was the man who once angrily shouted, “Burn Hollywood Burn,” which, it’s worth mentioning, was another highlight of what was an unforgettable set. With The Roots support, “Fight the Power” and “Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos” sounded as fresh—and relevant—as the day they were recorded. While older audience members rapped along word for word, younger fans danced like they were at a Soulja Boy Tell’Em concert.
By the time the sun set and the weather cooled down, The Roots closed out their set by combining forces with TV on the Radio for an endless jam on the Grammy Award–winning “You Got Me” from their album Things Fall Apart (1999, MCA). The crowd was half the size by this point, but the energy never wavered.
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Above photo by M. Kennedy for GPTMC
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