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

[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

[Kill]

I dont listen to the roots much

you should. it's not 'underground' but going from what i know about your taste i have little doubt you would like them

[On The Edge of Insanity]

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?

Yeah, I was hoping for more Illadelph and Do You Want More ish, but I wasn't gonna complain because they put on a good show regardless. I do reviews to all the gigs I go to, which is normally like once a month, unless loads of dope artists come over at the same time, you can check them by searching for my posts on here, and you should find some of the rest of them.

Paradox, how was Brixton Academy, I've never actually been there, had a mate at Bristol Uni so it was cheaper for me to go to the Bristol gig rather than the London one.

[Kill]

^^ btw, do you know how long it took me to figure out who you are after the name/sig change?

[Leggy Hendrix]

Paradox, how was Brixton Academy, I've never actually been there, had a mate at Bristol Uni so it was cheaper for me to go to the Bristol gig rather than the London one.

Brixton was pretty good, was my first time there, and compared to my previous gig (Kweli @ The Jazz Cafe) its huge...probably holds 2-3 thousand...the sound was pretty good, only thing was, with us not arriving til 10-ish, the whole place was already packed...and it cost £2.40 for a bottle of water

[On The Edge of Insanity]

^^ btw, do you know how long it took me to figure out who you are after the name/sig change?

Lol, was wondering if anyone had realised the change.

Paradox man, u going to Foreign Exchange/Little Brother @ the Jazz Cafe at the end of January?

[Leggy Hendrix]

^^ btw, do you know how long it took me to figure out who you are after the name/sig change?

Lol, was wondering if anyone had realised the change.

Paradox man, u going to Foreign Exchange/Little Brother @ the Jazz Cafe at the end of January?

all being well yeah i'll be there...im just keeping an eye on ticketmaster to make sure that i get tickets...i'll need to check out my uni schedule too but i really dont want to miss it...you planning on going down to it?

[On The Edge of Insanity]

^^ btw, do you know how long it took me to figure out who you are after the name/sig change?

Lol, was wondering if anyone had realised the change.

Paradox man, u going to Foreign Exchange/Little Brother @ the Jazz Cafe at the end of January?

all being well yeah i'll be there...im just keeping an eye on ticketmaster to make sure that i get tickets...i'll need to check out my uni schedule too but i really dont want to miss it...you planning on going down to it?

Yeah definitely man, just waiting for the tickets to go on sale.

[Bramsterdam (see ya)]

I dont listen to the roots much

you should. it's not 'underground' but going from what i know about your taste i have little doubt you would like them

Haha, I do have exceptions for a few non underground artists.  Any recommendations for the roots??

[On The Edge of Insanity]

I dont listen to the roots much

you should. it's not 'underground' but going from what i know about your taste i have little doubt you would like them

Haha, I do have exceptions for a few non underground artists.  Any recommendations for the roots??

Check their first two albums Do You Want More? and Illadelph Halflife, they are their best in my opinion.

[Bramsterdam (see ya)]

Alright I get around to it this week downloading them, thanks man.