The Roots conquered nearly every genre of music while they entertained the crowd at the Bonnaroo Music Festival in Tennessee on Saturday and Sunday. Early Sunday morning Questlove, The Roots drummer, brought out D’Angelo for his first U.S performance in over 10 years.
The crowd at Bonnaroo cheered as The Roots effortlessly transitioned from hip hop into jazz and from soul to fist pumping rock during the almost two hour long SuperJam.
The Roots told their fans they had a special guest and after a few songs Questlove paused to make the quick introduction.
“I’ve been waiting 12 years to say this: Ladies and gentlemen, D’Angelo,” Questlove exclaimed as the R&B singer came on to the stage. The legendary crooner had spent most of his time doing shows in Europe, but for the first time in 12 years he graced a stage in America. D’Angelo accompanied The Roots for nearly an hour as they opened up with the Jimi Hendrix hit “Have You Ever Been (to Electric Lady Land).”
Being ever so diverse, the band switched from Jimi Hendrix to the Beatles to Led Zeppelin’s “What Is and What Should Never Be.” It had been rumored that D’Angelo would make an appearance in one of the music tents in Manchester, Tennessee, but many fans assumed it to be just a rumor. The crowd went crazy when they actually heard the neo-soul singer/songwriter and his sultry voice.
Many people in the large audience admitted that they didn’t know much about The Roots other than their gig as the house band on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, but by the end of the show they had certainly been converted to fans.
According to USAToday, at the end of the set the crowd chanted together screaming, “One more song! One more song!” When their request for another song wasn’t met, Questlove came to the mic to explain. “We don’t know any more songs. We crammed all those songs into, like, six hours (of rehearsal). The dinner break was The Roots’ main set,” he said as he chuckled a bit.
Throughout the night the band also performed hits by Guns N’ Roses, Bo Diddley, Band of Gypsys, and the Funkadelics.
