Show Review : The Roots @ MTL Jazz Fest

Hip-Hop’s last standing group deliver another scorcher of a show to the Montreal Jazz Fest audience. The Roots Live are a sure thing, like Michael Jordan with the last shot in the 4th quarter…

It was the fourth time I’ve seen the Philly group so it would only be normal that I approached the show a little bit nonchalantly right? Given the high price tag for the show and also the fact that they tour almost every year, I was expecting the crowd to be sort of blasé and not show up in record numbers. Big, big mistake.

I don’t remember seeing the Metropolis (one of the biggest venues in Montreal) so rammed with people. I think it just confirms the notion that The Roots are hip-hop’s exception: a group that is built on live performances rather than studio albums. Instead of touring every four years, they record an album and then they tour it around the world. Which pretty much means that they are touring and/or recording non-stop.

How do you really describe a Roots show? Well quite simply the deliver the most energetic and musical hip-hop has ever seen, no contest. The make up of the band has changed quite a bit since they started out but the two pillars (Questlove and Blackthought) remain strong enough to keep it together. The set list was mainly focused on the new record “How I Got Over” with a few classics like +10 minute renditions of “You Got Me” and “Mellowmyman” and a great tribute track to Fela Kuti. I think that for the second time in a row that i’ve seen them, the guy who stole the show was the tuba player; aptly named Tuba Gooding Jr.

My one and only constructive criticism is that it seems that The Roots never tour with vocalists, they just pick one of the musicians to sign the hooks (in this case the lead guitarist). I would just personally love to see Cody Chesnutt or Jill Scott in there…