The Roots at Bear Creek Music Festival 2013

The Roots - Bear Creek Music Festivla 2013

The Roots – November 16, 2013
Live Oak, FL @ Big IV Stage – Bear Creek Music Festival

Introduction by Bee Getz

The Roots - Bear Creek Music Festival 2013

The Roots – November 16, 2013 (Part 1 of 3)
Live Oak, FL @ Big IV Stage – Bear Creek Music Festival

Hand Clapping Song [The Meters cover] > The Fire > Please Don’t Go > Get Busy > Jungle Boogie [Kool & The Gang cover] > Drums & Percussion > Jungle Boogie coda [Kool & The Gang cover], Table of Contents Part 1, Step Into The Realm > What They Do

Captain Kirk Douglas - Bear Creek Music Festival 2013

The Roots – November 16, 2013 (Part 2 of 3)
Live Oak, FL @ Big IV Stage – Bear Creek Music Festival

Who Are You & Who is Your Crew? > Break You Off > You Got Me Intro > You Got Me > Captain Kirk Douglas guitar solo > Shame On You > Love To Love You Baby > Spottieottiedopaliscious > Shame On You > You Got Me > Sweet Child O’ Mine [Guns N Roses cover] > Bad To The Bone [Bo Diddley cover] > Who Do You Love > You Got Me > Immigrant Song [Led Zeppelin cover] > Welcome To Jamrock [Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley cover] > You Got Me

Black Thought - Bear Creek Music Festival 2013

The Roots – November 16, 2013 (Part 3 of 3)
Live Oak, FL @ Big IV Stage – Bear Creek Music Festival

Thought @ Work > How I Got Over > Here I Come > The Seed 2.0 > Move On Up [Curtis Mayfield cover] > Men @ Work [Kool G Rap cover] > Outro

Words by Bee Getz:

As a child, I would watch Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror” video and wonder why people would be so overcome with emotion that they would cry hysterically, faint and be carried out of the crowd lifelessly. That mystery was solved, twenty-five years later; when the ‘Legendary Roots Krewe from Philly’ obliterated Bear Creek’s Amphitheater Stage. After living out a dream (thanks to festival curator Paul Levine, who arranged for me to bring my hometown heroes onstage), I assumed the position riding the rail directly in front of emcee Black Thought. The entire Amphitheater was packed to the gills, people were screaming the band’s name with a vehemence! Ahmir ?uestlove Thompson led ‘The Illa-Fifth Dynamite Foundation’ as they launched into a gargantuan run of classics; “Table of Contents” gave way to “Next Movement,” ‘Hot Hot Music’ filled the dank air. The following seventy-five minutes was a whirlwind of unparalleled hip-hop fury: Capt. Kirk, Kamal Gray, Knuckles, Tuba Gooding Jr., Ray Angry and Mark Kelley followed their leaders thru the swamp and beyond. Roots chestnuts like “Proceed,” “Step into a New Realm” and “Mellow My Man” were delivered with vigor, the songs and style fresh to def.

See Black Thought on tha red carpet, steppin’ outta spaceships
Wit’ a glass of Chiraz, and two ‘around-the-way’ chicks!
©Black Thought of The Roots

The Roots - Bear Creek Music Festival 2013

A cauldron of my personal favorites was set ablaze; “Thought@Work”(with the “Apache” breakbeat and Beatles “Hey Bulldog” lick taboot!), the iconic Kool G Rap tune “Men at Work,” a jungle-infused “You Got Me,” Jr. Gong‘s “Welcome to Jamrock” and a ‘Fantastic’ excursion through “How I Got Over,” “Here I Come” > “The Seed 2.0” > “Move On Up” > “The Seed 2.0.” Yet it was during the undeniable Game Theory banger “Get Busy” that Riq Gz, aka “Black General Two-Fi’teen” (that’s Name, Rank, & Serial) asserted himself as the greatest emcee in the game, while simultaneously breaking down ‘The Concept’ of The Legendary Roots Krewe with one severely ill opening verse:

My squad half-Mandrill, half-Mandela
My band ‘bout seventy strong, just like Fela
We part Melle Mel, part Van Halen
And we represent Illadelph, where we still rebellin’!
©Black Thought of The Roots.

Legendary as advertised. Indeed, this writer is from Philadelphia; but please don’t get it twisted, this was fucking nuclear! The Roots headlining set on Saturday night is immediately on the short-list for greatest in the festival’s storied history.

The Roots - Bear Creek Music Festival 2013

Black Thought – MC
Questlove – drums
Frank Knuckles – percussion
Captain Kirk Douglas – guitar, vocals
Damon “Tuba Gooding Jr.” Bryson – sousaphone
Mark Kelley – bass
Kamal Gray – keys
Ray Angry – keys

AUDIO: Schoeps mk21/cmc6 > Sound Devices 788 by Steve Bazley
VIDEO 1: Canon G20 by FunkItBlog
VIDEO 2: Canon Vixia HF21 by FunkItBlog
VIDEO 3: Canon HF100 by Michael Allen

FULL AUDIO DOWNLOAD IN FLAC FORMAT: TORRENT or MEGA

The Roots at Lowlands Festival 2011: Pro-Shot VIDEOS

Now that The Roots are on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon they can’t log 100+ days a year on the road like they used to. However, they apparently still manage to sneak in weekend trips to Europe for festival gigs like this.

Here, I bring you a full ~60 minute pro-shot tv broadcast video of The Roots at the Lowlands Festival in Biddinghuizen, Netherlands on August 21, 2011. At this point in time, The Roots were bass-less. Owen Biddle, their bass player since early 2008, had just left the band and they hadn’t yet picked up new bass player, Mark Kelley. Not to worry, Damon Bryson, aka Tuba Gooding Jr., holds the low end down on sousaphone.

This video initially appeared as a DVD download over at dimeadozen.org. I took the liberty of splitting it and posting to youtube so a wider audience can enjoy it. So enjoy…

Also, pay special attention to video 5 of 5, where Black Thought blacks the f— out spitting Kool G Rap’s “Men @ Work” verses. Absolutely ridiculous.

The Roots (1 of 5) August 21, 2011
Biddinghuizen, The Netherlands @ Lowlands Festival
Intro > How I Got Over > Here I Come > Mellow My Man:

The Roots (2 of 5) August 21, 2011
Biddinghuizen, The Netherlands @ Lowlands Festival
Mellow My Man (continued) > Drums > Mellow My Man > Jusufckwithis > Fantastic > You Got Me Intro:

The Roots (3 of 5) August 21, 2011
Biddinghuizen, The Netherlands @ Lowlands Festival
You Got Me > Sweet Child O’ Mine > Bad To The Bone > You Got Me > Immigrant Song / Monster:

The Roots (4 of 5) August 21, 2011
Biddinghuizen, The Netherlands @ Lowlands Festival
Immigrant Song / Monster (continued) > Get Busy > Jungle Boogie > The Next Movement > The Seed:

The Roots (5 of 5) August 21, 2011
Biddinghuizen, The Netherlands @ Lowlands Festival
The Bottle (Gil-Scott Heron cover) > Move On Up (Curtis Mayfield cover) > Men @ Work (Kool G Rap & DJ Polo cover):