VIDEOS: The Roots – Phrenology Tour 2003 – 4 shows with 4 different guitarists

When The Roots embarked on the world tour for their 5th album, Phrenology, in early 2003, they had entered one of their most experimental stages (just as Common had recently done with his Electric Circus album, released only 2 weeks after Phrenology.) The Roots had fully embraced the jam band aesthetic; with guitar now an integral part of their live sound each band member took time on stage for extended solos and improvisations every night. At the same time, their sound was as tight and hard hitting as any funk/soul revue you can remember. At the top of their game, they consistently rocked crowds and impressed critics.

Questlove

With 10 years of hindsight, we can look back and see just how on point this group was as they paved the way for the next generation of hip hop and soul musicians. On the 10 year anniversary of the Phrenology tour I present four broadcast videos of The Roots from 2003, each with different lineups and guitarists.

First up is their homecoming show at New York City’s Roseland Ballroom near the end of the tour. This show featured a slew of surprise guests, including Nice & Smooth, Brand Nubian, and Special Ed. Watch the full video below in 2 parts, download the DVD, or download the full audience audio recording.

The Roots
March 14th, 2003
NYC, NY @ Roseland Ballroom
TV broadcast (pro-shot) > VHS (very low generation) > DVDR

DOWNLOAD DVD TORRENT HERE

DOWNLOAD AUDIO TORRENT HERE

01. Rock You
02. Thought At Work
03. Swept Away
04. The Next Movement
05. Quills
06. Proceed
07. Act Too… Love of My Life
08. Panic!!!!!
09. What You Want
10. Water
11. The Seed (w/ Cody ChesnuTT)
12. Silent Treatment (reggae version)
13. You Got Me
14. Drum & percussion duet
15. Peter Piper [Run DMC cover]
49min04sec

Black Thought – MC
Questlove – drums
HUB – bass
Kamal – keys
Scratch – human beatbox
F. Knuckles – percussion
Ben Kenney – guitar

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Next up is a video from their European Tour just a few weeks later. By this point, guitarist Ben Kenney had left to join Incubus on bass. Having been with The Roots since the summer of 2001 when he filled in on bass while HUB was out, he switched to guitar in mid-August of 2001, then departed in mid-March of 2003.

For this short European tour, Vernon Reid & Martin Luther both held down guitar duties. By May of 2003, Captain Kirk Douglas stepped in on guitar and has been in the band ever since. Presented for the first time with upgraded audio, you can watch this video on youtube, download the DVD, or download the broadcast audio.

The Roots
March 23rd, 2003
Koln, Germany @ E-Werk
TV broadcast (pro-shot) > PAL VHS (low generation) > DVDR (Panasonic in flexible record mode) > Sony Vegas Video 10.0 (audio upgrade) > DVDR

DOWNLOAD DVD TORRENT HERE

DOWNLOAD AUDIO TORRENT HERE

01. Rock You
02. Thought @ Work
03. Swept Away
04. The Next Movement
05. Quills
06. Bass solo
07. Sacrifice
08. Double Trouble
09. Improv Jam (w/ Roy Hargrove & Vernon Reid)
10. Fuck All My Enemies interlude > You Got Me
11. Drums & percussion duet
12. Keyboard solo
13. Hip Hop 101
14. Human beatbox solo > Hip Hop 101
73min46sec

Black Thought – MC
Questlove – drums
HUB – bass
Kamal – keys
Scratch – human beatbox
F. Knuckles – percussion
Vernon Reid – guitar
Martin Luther – guitar, vocals

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Next up is a broadcast video from the North Sea Jazz Festival during the summer of 2003. This video features both Martin Luther and Captain Kirk Douglas on guitars. And by this point, Scratch had departed from the group.

The Roots
July 11, 2003
The Hague, Netherlands @ North Sea Jazz Festival

DOWNLOAD DVD TORRENT HERE

Part 1 of 3:

01. Swept Away
02. The Next Movement
03. Quills
04. Love of My Life
05. Interlude I
06. Water
07. Interlude II
08. Break You Off
09. Bass solo
10. Guitar solo
11. Interlude III
12. You Got Me
13. Drum & percussion duet
14. Keyboard solo
15. Hip Hop 101
57min43sec

Part 2 of 3:

Black Thought – MC
Questlove – drums
HUB – bass
Kamal – keys
F. Knuckles – percussion
Martin Luther – guitar, vocals
Captain Kirk Douglas – guitar, vocals

Part 3 of 3:

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Finally, I have a short broadcast video from the Hurricane Festival in Germany on June 21, 2003. This video features Captain Kirk Douglas on guitar.

The Roots
June 21, 2003
Scheessel, Germany @ Hurricane Festival

01. Thought @ Work
02. Questlove interview
03. Thought @ Work (continued)
04. The Next Movement
05. Questlove interview
06. The Next Movement (continued)
07. Quills
08. Questlove interview
30min35sec

Black Thought – MC
Questlove – drums
HUB – bass
Kamal – keys
F. Knuckles – percussion
Captain Kirk Douglas – guitar, vocals

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P.S. I also recently uploaded 4 audio recordings of Cody ChesnuTT from his 2003/4 Headphone Masterpiece tour when he opened for The Roots. Download them here.

The Roots – Philly’s 4th of July Jam ft. Queen Latifah, Common, Daryl Hall & Lauryn Hill

The Roots with DJ Jazzy Jeff & Brass Heaven 7/4/12 Bustin’ Loose (Chuck Brown cover)

The Roots with DJ Jazzy Jeff & Brass Heaven
plus special guests Queen Latifah, Joe Jonas, Common, Daryl Hall & Lauryn Hill
July 4th, 2012
Philadelphia, PA @ Benjamin Franklin Parkway – Philly’s Fourth of July Jam
SBD > Livestream webcast (unknown kbps) > Cool Edit Pro > WAV > CD Wave Editor (tracking) > MP3

FULL SHOW MP3 DOWNLOAD LINK: HERE

SET ONE:
00. The Star Spangled Banner (Naturally 7) (not recorded)
00. ??? (Naturally 7) (not recorded)
01. Theme From Rocky / The Fire (ft. Naturally 7) >
02. Paul Revere (Tribute to MCA & Chuck Brown) [Beastie Boys cover] >
03. Bustin’ Loose [Chuck Brown cover]

04. Queen Latifah interview
SET TWO:
Queen Latifah enters:
05. Mercy Mercy Mercy [Joe Zawinul cover] (inc. Living For The City quotes) (ft. Queen Latifah)
06. Poetry Man [Phoebe Snow cover] (ft. Queen Latifah)
07. California Dreamin’ [The Mamas & The Papas cover] (ft. Queen Latifah)
08. Joe Jonas interview
SET THREE:
Joe Jonas enters:
09. Just In Love (with Joe Jonas)
10. Fast Life (with Joe Jonas)
11. When You Look Me In The Eyes (with Joe Jonas) >
12. Hello Beautiful (with Joe Jonas & Nick Jonas)
13. Burning Up (with Joe Jonas & Nick Jonas)
14. See No More (with Joe Jonas)
15. Common interview
SET FOUR:
Common & Skillz enter:
16. DJ Jazzy Jeff solo (with Skillz) > Go (ft. Common)
17. Common freestyle > Celebrate (ft. Common) >
18. I Used to Love H.E.R. (ft. Common) >
19. Love of My Life (ft. Common) >
20. Microphone Fiend [Rakim cover] >
21. U.N.I.T.Y. (ft. Queen Latifah) >
22. Juicy [Notorious B.I.G. cover] (ft. Common) >
23. Just Another Day (ft. Queen Latifah) >
24. Ladies First (ft. Queen Latifah) >
25. The Light (ft. Common)

26. DJ Jazzy Jeff interview
SET FIVE:
Daryl Hall enters:
27. Eyes For You (Ain’t No Doubt About It) (ft. Daryl Hall)
28. Maneater (ft. Daryl Hall)
29. Rich Girl (ft. Daryl Hall)
30. Sara Smile (ft. Daryl Hall & Queen Latifah)

31. You Make My Dreams (ft. Daryl Hall)
32. I Can’t Go For That (ft. Daryl Hall)

33. Michael Nutter (Mayor of Philly) interview
SET SIX:
34. The Next Movement
Lauryn Hill enters:
35. Lost Ones (ft. Lauryn Hill)
36. Ex-Factor (ft. Lauryn Hill)
37. Ready or Not (ft. Lauryn Hill)
38. Fu-Gee-La (ft. Lauryn Hill)
39. Could You Be Loved [Bob Marley cover] (ft. Lauryn Hill)
40. Doo Wop (That Thing) (ft. Lauryn Hill)
41. Interviews with Naturally 7 and Questlove

The Roots:
Black Thought – MC
Questlove – drums
Frankie Knuckles – percussion
Kirk Douglas – guitar
Damon Bryson – sousaphone
Mark Kelley – bass, keys
James Poyser – keys
Daniel Jones – keys

Guests:
DJ Jazzy Jeff – turntables
Brass Heaven:
Jeff Bradshaw – trombone
Rick Tate – sax
Korey Riker – sax
Matt Cappy – trumpet
Christopher Stevens – trumpet
Queen Latifah – vocals
Adam Blackstone – bass
2 unknown guitar players
3 unknown background vocalists
Joe Jonas – vocals
Nick Jonas – vocals
Skillz – MC
Common – MC
Daryl Hall – vocals, guitar, keys
Paul Pesco – guitar, vocals
?? – guitar (same guy that played on Queen Latifah set)
Lauryn Hill – vocals
Doug Wimbish – bass
?? – guitar
?? – keys
?? – turntables
3 unknown background vocalists

Brought to you by: Funk It & It’s All The Way Live

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):