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My review (+ Pics) of The Roots @ Carling Academy Bristol 26/11/2004

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On The Edge of Insanity:
I'd been looking forward to this gig for a long time, just because The Roots have such a good reputation for putting on really dope live shows. Got to the venue pretty early, got a drink, and walked down to the stage. There was a lot of rock music being played, and it didn't really feel like your normal hiphop gig.

About twenty minutes after I got there, a DJ came out, and introduced, and I quote "the most hardworking women in british hiphop", Estelle. I had seen her live once before, and she hadn't really impressed me, but this set was a lot tighter, despite practically no crowd participation from the people who were in the venue at the time. She played some album tracks, a couple of covers of Bob Marley and Tina Turner tracks, and then as expected managed to get the crowd going a bit on "1980" and "Free". Overall her set was pretty good, and she left to a decent ovation.

About half an hour later, Questlove, Martin Luther, and the guys on the keys, bass, and bongos came out to a large ovation from the crowd. They started to do some quick soundchecks, and then brought out Black Thought to get the show going. All I can say is that The Roots definitely know how to get a crowd rocking. Despite the fact that I was a little annoyed at the bias towards playing tracks off of Phrenology and The Tipping Point, rather than their earlier material, every track they did was played to perfection by the group, and their little changeups to other beats in the middle of songs can't fail to impress anyone. Black Thought kept some good participation going with the crowd, and all the solos that each member of band was allowed were all really dope. They did a little session where they started playing other famous hiphop tracks such as "Get By", "Lean Back", and the tribute to ODB through playing "Shimmy, Shimmy, Ya", and then went on to do White Stripes and Black Sabbath tracks. Martin Luther also got his time to shine, doing a couple of solo tracks that both sounded really tight, and seriously made me consider checking out his album. Every song was playing brilliantly, highlights definitely being "The Next Movement" (man I forgot how dope this track is), "The Seed 2.0" (with Martin Luther doing Cody Chestnutt's part), and "Don't Say Nuthin", which actually sounded a lot better played out live than the studio version did.

Overall, despite the fact that they played a lot of more recent stuff which I haven't really listened to in depth, The Roots put on one hell of a show, and definitely showed that a hiphop band can work brilliantly, especially in a live atmosphere. If they ever come by your way, definitely check them out, even if you're not really into their studio output, because they definitely know how to rock a live show.

Pictures:

Estelle:


The Roots:



Black Thought:


Martin Luther:


Questlove:

Bramsterdam (see ya):
Props man,

I dont listen to the roots much but I always hear good stuff about them and that they know what they're doing. Glad you enjoyed their show.. shit I wish my crappy city had concerts with artists I like.

worldwidedj.com:
Hi rasta

I was there to, got there  a little late , about 8ish, suprised to find they had already started...not into the rock style tracks really, but still feelin the energy in their live performance...would have loved to have heard "what they do" from illadelph half life

im an old stick in the mudthough i guess

good review....do u do this on the regular?

Leggy Hendrix:
damn, u were pretty close...i was quite near the back, we couldnt be arsed getting there early to listen to estelle so we went to the pub for a while, then went in about 10-ish...


was a pretty dope show...i thought the solo shit they did was hot...but i was hoping for more shit from Do You Want More and Illadelph...



EDIT: my bad, i didnt read the title properly, i went to the gig on the 27th at the Carling Academy in Brixton...

Kill:
sounds dope, i'ma see them in about three weeks, lookin forward to it alot 8)

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