Unless you have been to an actual music festival, you my
friend have never witnessed music being appreciated at the highest level of
appreciation possible. Over this weekend, June 2nd and 3rd
(I went to Wired Fest on the 1st but it didn’t have nearly half of
the effect, therefore I wont be writing about it), I attended the 5th
Annual Roots Picnic hosted by Philadelphia native rap group “The Roots”!
When I tell you it is a whole different world being at a
music festival versus attending a concert, it is truly psychedelic. From its
start at12pm on the first day until 10pm
the second night, the performances gave me life. The lineup for both days were as
follows:
- KontraBand
- Reda
- Grand Prize Winners from Last Year
- Shabazz Palaces
- Kids These Days
- Danny Brown
- OCD: Moosh & Twist
- Tune-Yards
- The Roots
- Wale
- De La Soul (backed by The Roots)
- Selah Sue
- Quadron
- Gianni Lee
- Jessi Teich
- Chill Moody
- Diplo
- Major Lazer
- Rakim
- The Roots and..
- Kid CuDi…who unfortunately, did NOT show up (-_-).
Over
the course of these two extremely long, yet entertaining, days I found music
that I never would have been exposed to! It was truly an experience and opened
my heart and ears to new AMAZING music that many people do not know about or
care to know about. Out
of all these acts, the ones that struck me the most were definitely Shabazz Palaces
Oh the stories! Okay so after their
performance, I got to meet Shabazz Palaces (pictured below) and they turned out
to be extremely chill and down to earth! The next day I googled them to learn
more about the type of music they make, when they started etc. To my complete
and utter surprise, the lead singer of Shabazz turned of to be “Butterfly” of
the legendary group Digable Planets. You could only imagine my face after
coming to the harsh realization that I actually met this guy and didn’t even
know it! But their music is awesome, I highly suggest giving their music a
listen.
Kids
These Days…that is exactly what they are! They are the hipsters that every
person on Tumblr and Instagram is trying to be! They are a group composed of 7,
6 guys and 1 girl. The music is a mix of indie rock, hip hop and some blues
(kudos to the girl!). Amazing, just give them a try and see for yourself.
KontraBand,
Moosh & Twist and Chill Moody are all music acts from the 215 (philly!)
that had something special about them. KontraBand had such an old school feel
when they performed and their music clashed together just perfectly, engraving
the most soulful sound! Moosh & Twist are two teens that are overly
energetic and tremendously enthusiastic when they perform! Chill Moody, who I
had a chance to meet and take a picture with, was also a definite standout.
Each and every one of them have amazing potential to go out into the music
industry and change it for the better!
Okay,
Tune-Yards! To be 100% real and honest, I already had preconceived notions
about this group before seeing them live. After seeing the video for “Bizzness”
months before this show, I thought they were incredibly…weird! But live, O…M…G,
it was a completely different world! It was like being warped into a time zone
where great music is actually made and composed right in front of you and every
tap on the drum was perfectly in synch with the strum of a guitar! If anyone
has ever had their doubts about Tune-Yards, watching their live performances on
YouTube is something I definitely suggest, its amazing!
The
biggest upset of the entire festival was definitely the absence of the Wizard
himself, Mr. Kid CuDi. Mobs of CuDi lovers (myself included) were furious and
extremely distraught by him not being there because, to be honest, he was one
of the reasons that the crowd was so incredibly large! All in all, the entire
festival was a huge success and something I can definitely see myself becoming
a committed audience member of!
Not saying anyone else wasn't worth watching, because I was hooked from beginning to end, these were the acts that had an impact on me musically! As a side note, Major Lazer definitely had the most upbeat performance out of every SINGLE act! Crazy wild!
Miscellaneous
Highlights: I TOUCHED WALE, I SHOOK HANDS WITH RAKIM and I MET “BUTTERFLY” of
DIGABLE! (Oh, I was definitely on a high.)
