THE ROOTS @ Metropolis

By Döc Holidæ - Phantastiq Cypha - 03/25/2007

I wasn’t sure how to prepare myself for The Roots; some people told me to listen to their music all day then enjoy how much more powerful they are live. Others were telling me to not listen to any music, like going to a buffet: eat light and then gorge yourself on it all. I decided to listen to CJLO in the day and then had some music I felt linked well with The Roots on my iPod -- you know, Talib and Mos and maybe some Common topped off with a little Erykah Badu. I got to Metropolis early and found a spot near but not too close to the stage, to make sure I could see everything in one eyeful. There was a DJ playing on stage, spinning tracks on CD turntables -- not the best idea because some of his tracks were skipping, which took away from the moment. At one point, the song stopped dead and the crowd booed pretty hard. Luckily he dropped some Aretha Franklin and everything went back to normal.

The people were getting anxious; you could hear everyone talking about how good the show was going to be and how great they’d been before. All of a sudden, bright lights appear to my left and everyone turns. We can hear brass instruments and the crowd parts as security, followed by The Roots and a band make their way to the stage. If you don’t know the band, The Roots consist of Black Thought, ?uestlove the drummer, Kamal the keyboard player, Hub the infamous bass player, Capt. Kirk the guitarist and F. Knuckles the percussionist. The energy was deafening as Black Thought uttered the band's intro; to be honest I don’t think I could hear for the first five minutes. Once my hearing kicked in though, it was one of the most amazing representations of hip hop music. I won’t start naming the tracks they played; if you know The Roots, the titles aren’t important, the content is.

The show starts out with tons of brass and ?uestlove drumming. The stage is lighting up and going black as ROOTS sign flashes in the background. ?uestlove’s drums are lit as the room goes dark and the music quiets and then BAM: it's back. The show was like that for a solid 90 minutes.

What made the show even more amazing was the way they cut it up into separate sections, like numerous bands jamming together for one show. We had Brass Heaven, led by their trombone player, with saxophone, trumpet and the sickest, skinniest tuba player you’ve ever seen. Then ?uestlove, Capt Kirk and that same Tuba Player did a tribute to an Eric Clapton song "Sunshine of Your Love". Hub did a solo that not only had people in awe, one girl next to me was crying. Tears were rolling down her face as if it was the most emotional moment in her life. After that I wasn’t sure what to expect next, I myself was a little overwhelmed by all the content being thrown at me. I know I said I wouldn’t discuss song names but when they preformed "The Next Movement" and "In the Music", those were the loudest tracks, at least to me. When they reached the end, the crowd noticeably wanted more and that’s what we were given. They officially ended off with a soul train line, introducing everyone that was on the stage: Brass Heaven, The Roots and some backstage people who had been helping out on their tour.

All in all, I can’t even start to explain how great the show was. It was live, powerful and the crowd that The Roots attracted was so diverse that it makes you appreciate how music can bring people together.

The Roots live show in Montréal held at Metropolis gets a Category 4.5 Storm Watch.

[Tune in to Phantastiq Cypha every Friday from 9am to Noon.]