CONCERT REVIEW: Roots Picnic @ Festival Pier 6/4

"I got a DUI last year and I don't give a fuck!!!" a fan screamed into the microphone, "...Fuck my shoes! Fuck my shoes!!!!!" He foisted a pair of sneakers, tied together by the laces, into the air as if providing proof. Did he plan on throwing them up to the stage? Did he think the stage was the same as electrical wires? The crowd screams in approval. Yes, his shoes can shove it! At this point, I don't know what's happening.

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CONCERT REVIEW: Roots Picnic @ Festival Pier 6/4

POSTED: Monday, June 6, 2011, 4:00 PM

Filed Under: Music | Concert Review concert photos

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“I got a DUI last year and I don’t give a fuck!!!” a fan screamed into the microphone, “…Fuck my shoes! Fuck my shoes!!!!!” He foisted a pair of sneakers, tied together by the laces, into the air as if providing proof. Did he plan on throwing them up to the stage? Did he think the stage was the same as electrical wires? The crowd screams in approval. Yes, his shoes can shove it! At this point, I don’t know what’s happening.

In the moments leading up to this grand declaration, the lead singer of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros was so frustrated with the sound that he cut off a song, turned to his band, and asked if they should go. It was some weird bass thing that reverberated on and on and came up when they weren’t playing as well. Within in instant of asking his peers what they should do, he heard someone shout “I love you!!!” This changed his mind. He sent love back and said, to paraphrase, Fuck It! Let’s make a song off this sound.

This year, the Roots Picnic had its share of sound issues, much to the artists’ chagrin. Amanda Diva, the MC, complained about it. Black Thought kept getting handed new mics. But for the most part, it was a day of artists and fans being so stoked that nobody gave a fuck.

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros are a psychedelic folk collective that dresses far too much like good old-fashioned down home country people to actually be from such places. Lead singer of the L.A. outfit, Alex Ebert (no, there is no Edward Sharpe,) hopped off stage and went into the audience as soon as the set began. When he actually started singing it wasn’t too long before he turned to the audience again. Story time! Sneaker guy was the first story. Then a girl told us that it was her motherfucking birthday. Weed, the word “fuck,” and surprises were in abundance. It was a lot like the movie State Property in this regard… more on that later.

Story time wasn’t the first pleasant surprise at the Roots Picnic, but before I move on to what else surprised me, here’s a quick summary of what didn’t. Dismemberment Plan and Ariel Pink both gave solid sets. Black Thought and DJ J Period made a live mixtape in the tent and it was fire. No shocks there.

The first surprise of the day was seeing T. Mills. I had never heard his music before. He has a total rapper-turnt-sanga vibe a la T-Pain, only he raps like Drake and sings like an autotuned pop-rocker. The sound is literally every bit of current pop radio (minus maybe Taylor Swift) regurgitated into one. He’s tatted up with gauged ears; he wears a faux hawk with a side rattail curling down the back. I went to check out the song he closed with on YouTube. One of the top comments on “She Got A…” is “the awkward moment when the white kid says ‘I fucked this white girl.’” Yeah, those were my thoughts too.

In the set after Edward Sharpe, I was absolutely taken aback to watch Esperanza Spalding put her double bass to the side. She played electric bass on every song with exception of “Precious,” the opening number. Backed by The Roots, she showed us all how funky she can be. I wasn’t expecting them cover Weather Report or Michael Jackson, but they went there, jamming their way through “Predator” and cooling it down to “I Can’t Help It.”

Wiz Khalifa reminded everyone why he named his album Rolling Papers. After telling the crowd they sounded great, he wiped his face with a towel and added, “I must be high as fuck.” He was elated to smell weed from crowd onstage. The smell had been going all day, enough for Amanda Diva to joke that she was getting contact high, but for Wiz, the Taylor Gang devotees seemed to be burning even more. I’ve never taken to Wiz’s music, but couldn’t help but be impressed with his charisma and energy. He also proved that he is a man after every Philadelphian’s heart (speaking of which, no Amber Rose sighting.) He brought out Young Gunz and the crowd lost it. Chris and Neef broke us off with “No Betta Luv” before Wiz brought Beans out too. Beanie was even bigger and scruffier than I remembered. He performed “Do It Again” and Freeway joined him for “Roc da Mic.” By the time they were done, I would’ve given anything for them to do “What We Do” and all I wanted was to be a teen again. Thank you, Wiz.

Ending the night was the two-hour Roots/Nas set. They did new jawns and classics (including stuff from Things Fall Apart and Illmatic,) and there was no way the band could lose. It was epic, as everyone knew it would be. If they put the set on a CD, I’d buy it — partly to hear Nas rhyming over a live funk medley again, partly to hear The Roots’ touching rendition of “The Bottle” again, which Black Thought sang himself. But mostly, I’d buy it because someway, somehow, The Roots managed to make “Made You Look” sound more dastardly (and better) than the original. I want that on my iTunes. This out of everything stunned me most of all. Not much of anything is missing on “Made You Look.” The song is damn near perfect. The Roots understood the song beyond the break and wound up giving it an arrangement so dope that even the Incredible Bongo Band themselves would consider playing the song differently. Who could’ve known that if a sousaphone anchored the bassline, it would it punch the song up to the next level? A song that already had more knockout than Tyson? ?uesto and the Roots knew. God bless you, Tuba Gooding Jr. Black Thought and ?uestlove have confirmed that an orchestral concept album is in the works. Based on Saturday, I can’t wait.

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