Constitution Hall, 1776 D St NW, Washington, DC 20006
I went with NeeNee to see The Roots. We walked from Farragut West - it was cold and windy. It was my first time at Constitution Hall since my sister's high school graduation (mine was there too). I consciously decided not to take notes.
Wasalu Muhammad "Lupe Fiasco" Jaco opened.
I'm not familiar with his songs. He had Simon Sez as his DJ and performed with another rapper (possibly Dusean "Bishop G" Dunbar?). Their performance didn't impress me - I prefer bands. At one point, his underpants were almost completely out of his pants. His set was about 30 minutes. I noticed my friend Thomas Sayers Ellis taking pictures on stage and in front of the stage.
Chuck Brown & the Soul Searchers
Sweet Cherie and Brad
Mighty Moe and JuJu
Doug Crowley, unknown guy, Mark, Brad, Sweet Cherie, Kay Kay (facing the camera)
Bryan, Sweet Cherie, Brad, Mark, unknown guy, Chuck
Little Benny
Sweet Cherie, Chuck
Little Benny
Chuck, JuJu, unknown guy, Little Benny
JuJu, Kay Kay
JuJu
All pictures taken by and Copyright - Thomas Sayers Ellis
The line up was: Chuck Brown (vocals & guitar), Sweet Cherie Mitchell (vocals & keyboard), Anthony "Little Benny" Harley (vocals), Bryan Mills (Sax & keyboard), Brad Clements (trumpet), Mark (trombone), Doug Crowley (bass), Vince Evans (keyboard player), William "JuJu" House (drummer), and Mighty Moe (congas).
Kay Kay was there, but didn't perform due to time constraints. There was also a young guy who played the tambourine, he probably also was a vocalist who didn't get to perform also due to time constraints.
The set list was typical for Chuck, but it was nice and tight musically. They performed (not sure of the order), Earl Hagen's Harlem Nocturne, Chuck-led Hoochie Coochie Man, Chuck-led Slick Rick's La Di Da Di, Chuck-led Duke Ellington's It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That GoGo Swing) - the crowd responded, "Doo wop doo wop doo wop", Chuck-led Lionel Hampton's Midnight Sun, Chuck-led James Moody's Moody's Mood for Love, Chuck-led Louis Jordan's Woody Woodpecker, Sweet Cherie-led Mis-Teeq's Style, Little Benny-led "Hey ay, Ho oh", Little Benny-led Cat in the Hat. Chuck also did call & response, NeeNee knew all the lines. Chuck said they had to leave because they were out of time. I went up and said hello to Sayers during their set.
The Roots
The line up was: Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter (rapper), Kirk "Captain Kirk" Douglas (guitar & vocals), Leonard "Hub" Hubbard (bass), James "Kamal" Gray (keyboards), Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson (drummer), and Frank "Knuckles" Walker (percussion). The horn section was members of Brass Heaven, led by the trombonist Jeff Bradshaw. I don't remember the names of the other members, but there was a trumpet player, a Sax player (he had multiple Saxes), and a Sousaphone player.
The band came walking up to the stage from the middle aisle. There were no less than three band members playing cowbells, thanks Bruce Dickinson!
Their instruments were completely separate from Chuck's - Chuck's band was entirely on the stage floor, whereas Questlove's main drum kit (turquoise with lights in the drums) and Knuckles' percussion were on risers.
The Roots sign above and behind the band was lit up - it was green on the left, turquoise in the middle, and Purple on the right. It occasionally flashed, and sometimes just the S flashed.
I'm not sure of the set list (even though I'm a big fan of The Roots, I'm not good at identifying their songs). I recognized Proceed, Love of My Life, Break You Off, The Next Movement, The Seed 2.0, and I found video clips someone posted on youtube for Game Theory intro, Game Theory, Proceed, Pre-bass solo, Bass solo, and Star. I really enjoyed their Hip Hop 101 (including a song featuring Edgar Winter's Frankenstein, Incredible Bongo Band's Apache, Yung Joc's It's Going Down, Jay-Z's Show Me What You Got, Gnarls Barkley's Crazy, Nappy Roots' Slums, and more). Hub had a true solo, culminating with him playing the bassline from the Sugarhill Gang's Rappers' Delight (from Chic's Good Times). Brass Heaven performed James Brown covers with Questlove playing on a different drum kit, this one on the stage floor, off to the left. Black Thought said they were going to play a song written forty years ago by Bob Dylan. He talked about how the song, which was written about Vietnam, is appropriate for the Iraq war and that the Government was getting us to fight their battles for them. Captain Kirk lead a performance of Bob Dylan's Masters of War, together with the Sousaphone and Questlove (when he soloed, the spotlights would turn on and off at the hits to accent them), it alternated with Jimi Hendrix's Machine Gun. They later performed Kool & the Gang's Jungle Boogie. Kamal's daughter Kamia? was onstage, and she and he at one point skated across the floor wearing roller skates; Kamal played on a portable keyboard at this time. At the end, they did intros, which the various members standing in two lines, with the person being introduced walking in the aisle between. When it was Questlove's turn, Knuckles got on the drum kit, and they performed Tom Jones' It's Not Unusual during Questlove's intro.
This was my first time seeing Knuckles play, since I was unable to see him from my seat last year at the Warner Theatre. I was a bit disappointed: he didn't play the congas much; rather he spent most of his time playing the drum sampler. He played with sticks the entire time.
Thankfully it was warmer on the walk back to the Metro than it was walking to Constitution Hall.
