All that was missing was the kitchen sink.

The Roots true to their name took the Starlight Ballroom on a journey that wandered throughout the history of music.

The Philadelphia crew by all accounts have always played by their own rules and last night, Wellington saw what happens when you throw the hip-hop rulebook away. Adhering to their live instrumentation philosophy (drums, percussion, guitar, bass, keyboards, sampler), The Roots put on a show that covered almost every sub-genre of hip-hop. They mixed bits of East Coast word play, West Coast bounce, and even some Southern-style booty rap. Think that’s a contrast? Obviously it wasn’t enough for the band as tribal drumming, guitar thrash, and a bit of classical was thrown in for good measure.

The night was never about individual songs, it was about sound or more precisely grooves. Wherever they went the audience followed, a sea of bodies moving at the will of MC Black Thought.

Call and Response: Everybody say ‘Hell Yeah’

A highlight of the set was their ability to morph song structures, their own and others, to make completely new grooves. Their were sly nods going out their peers, some subtle; Outkast-ain’t nobody dope as me………’ some reverent Prince-‘this is what it sounds like when doves……’ and some ironic Nelly-‘it’s getting hot in here….’

When they did play songs straight it was equally impressive as ‘break you off ‘and ‘the next movement’ flowed smooth. It was predictably Seed 2.0 that brought the house down as a thousand arms raised to the roof.

The idea of the Roots as a collective also was rammed home as each of the band members had their moment in the sun. Bass player Hub’s solo was a crowd favourite in the fine tradition of Juan Nelson from the Ben Harper’s backers The Innocent Criminals. While Guitarist Ben Kennedy, looking pimp-tastic mellowed the crowd with some soulful singing and later on some guitar work Pink Floyd or Santana would’ve been proud of. Drummer ?uestlove also took time out to grab a mic and amp the crowd up. His crowning moment though was a 10-minute drums and percussion ‘freak-out’ that ended with a flurry of cymbal crashes and booming toms.

Eclectic, such a cliché nowdays, but the word really does apply to The Roots, as they bounced along from one song to the next you never knew where they were going to take you.

Are y’all having a good time?

It made this nigga wanna move : )

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