Friday at Ram's Head Live (Part 2 of my brthday celebration)
Ram's Head Live, 20 Market Pl, Baltimore MD 21202


I got in line at 7 PM. I made a mistake: you could pick one of two lines and the one I picked got in later. I got in at 8:12 PM and Estelle had just started:

Estelle had a background behind the stage lit up: Estelle and then Shine below it.

Estelle - in progress at 8:12 PM
The line up was: Estelle Swaray (vocals), female vocalist, 2 male vocalists, bass player, keyboard player, drummer, DJ.

Estelle
1?) Wait a Minute (Just a Touch) - it had a light crank
2) No Substitute - it had a light crank
Estelle talked about a couple of ex-boyfriends leading up to:
3) More Than Friends - it had a light crank
Estelle joked about how the guys in the audience would think of her singing another such song...
4) Come Over - a male fan was invited up onstage to dance with Estelle, girls yelled, she said, "The last guy who came up started to break dance."
5) 1980 - Estelle had the crowd wave their arms, Travis McCoy sat in and rapped, then Estelle said, "Thank you, Travis"
Estelle said the next song was her tribute to Tina Turner, the Supremes, etc.
6) Pretty Please (Love Me) - it cranked
7) American Boy - Estelle said, "You may know it", fans sang it, her backup vocalists danced
She was done at 8:46 PM. I liked her performance and how she personalized it.

It went dark, and then a new background appeared with GymClassHeroes over a 6 paneled quilt.

Gym Class Heroes - 9:10 PM
The line up was: Travis McCoy (lead vocals), male backup vocalist, Disashi Lumumba-Kasongo (guitar), bass player, (black guy) keyboard player, (white guy) keyboard player/guitar player, Matt McGinley (drummer)
At the start the backup vocalist waved a flag that had GymClassHeroes written on it.
1) Clothes Off! - it had a light crank, Travis rapped, I smelled Marijuana / drum solo
2) Peace Sign / Index Down - Travis asked, "How many of you registered to vote?", Travis rapped
3) The Queen & I - it had a light crank, the roadie (white dude) who had tested all of the guitars sat in for just this song
4) Shoot Down the Stars - Travis said, "All the sexy people, make some noise, take a step back, put your chin up"
5) Sam Cooke's Cupid (tease) / Supertramp's Breakfast in America (tease) / Cupid's Chokehold - the white keyboard player played the guitar
6) Blinded by the Sun - it had a light crank
7) Papercuts - it was interrupted by a fight, Travis said, "Are you done? We came to have fun tonight. I've been known to get involved when required."
8) ? "romance" - some of it was sung acapella
Travis said, "A few weeks ago there was an accident where a couple of our friends got hurt (DJ AM & Travis Barker)".
9) ? - Travis encouraged the audience to jump up and down, the guitar players stood at the edge of the stage
Travis asked, "How many of you guys are addicted to music?"
10) ?
I have a problem when I text when I'm drunk."
10) Drnk Txt Rmeo - a female singer (blonde white woman) sat in briefly
11) On My Own Time (Write On!) - Travis rapped, Disashi soloed and walked over to the drum kit
Travis said, "On the internet, you may have heard about some trouble I had in St. Louis. I got charged with litter. I'm Innocent!" (He was charged on July 1 with hitting a man with a microphone who called him by the n-word).
12) Guilty as Charged - Estelle and Black Thought came onstage, Estelle sat in, it cranked, then both Estelle and Black Thought left the stage

Disashi, Travis, Estelle, Black Thought, GymClassHeroe's backup vocalist
Travis called out to his Mom in the audience.
13) ?
14) Cookie Jar
They were done at 10:16. I really did not like their music and couldn't wait for it to be over - it was too much of what is called "alternative music" and I didn't like the lyrics either.

It went dark, and then the black curtain covering the backdrop was dropped. Their background was an image of John McCain's face crossed out and with the word Nope on his forehead with script writing in the background of the entire backdrop.

The Roots - 10:51 PM
The line up was: Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter (rapper), Kirk "Captain Kirk" Douglas (guitar & vocals), Owen Biddle (bass), James "Kamal" Gray (keyboards), Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson (drummer), Frank "Knuckles" Walker (percussion), Damon "Tuba Gooding Jr." Bryson (Sousaphone).

Questlove and Black Thought


Captain Kirk


1) Instrumental - The band members except for Black Thought walked onto the stage singe file with Damon playing his Sousaphone as they walked on, the rest of the band started to play their instruments at a light crank and then Black Thought walked onstage 2) Black Thought-led Get Busy - it cranked, another male rapper sat in
3) Kamal-led Star - it had a light crank
4) Black Thought-led Step into the Realm - it had a light crank
5) Black Thought-led "Hustle, where I come from" - it was laid back, Knuckles, Captain Kirk, Damon, and Owen rushed from the right to where Black Thought stood on the left
6) Alternating Black Thought-led Mellow My Man - it had a light crank, Black Thought said, "Clap your hands, stamp your feet" / Percussion solo - Captain Kirk, Damon, and Owen all stood on Questlove's risers and played on the drum kit with him (all with sticks), it cranked, Black Thought said, "Say turn it up, say fire it up" / Damon Sousaphone solo - he stood on the left front of the stage, Black Thought said, "Y'all feeling my peoples or what?", Black Thought said, "Baltimore and all surrounding areas, say thank you."

Captain Kirk, Tuba Gooding Jr., Questlove, Owen, Black Thought, Knuckles
All pictures (except flyer) taken by and Copyright - Jordan Rich
Black Thought introduced the band
7) Black Thought-led "every time" - it had a light crank / Questlove-led Criminal - Black Thought said, "Turn it up"
8) Black Thought-led "people can say what they want" - it had a light crank / Alternating Captain Kirk-led You Got Me - it rose to a full crank, Captain Kirk scatted / Captain Kirk-led Guns N Rose's Sweet Child O' Mine (tease) - the crowd sang along / Black Thought-led George Thorogood & the Destroyers' Bad to the Bone (tease) / Black Thought-led Muddy Waters' Mannish Boy (tease) " Now when I was a young boy, at the age of five" / Kirk went up to the front and did solo notes / Owen bass solo - Owen and Damon were at the front
9) Black Thought-led The Next Movement - it had a light crank / Captain Kirk-led "You don't know... I don't... push..." - Captain Kirk, Damon, Black Thought, and Owen stood at the front of the stage, Black Thought said, "Clap" / Black Thought-led Curtis Mayfield's Move on Up - it cranked, Captain Kirk, Damon, and Owen stood at the front left then right, Captain Kirk duckwalked
Special presentation for the 4 Libras onstage - they (including Travis McCoy and the female guest vocalist during his set) brought out birthday cakes
10) Black Thought-led "ladies and gentlemen I'm... that's my..." - Black Thought rapped so fast it was hard to make out what he was saying, it cranked, Knuckles stood at the front and interacted with Black Thought, Kamal played guitar-like keyboard hits, Questlove soloed, Captain Kirk, Knuckles, Damon, and Owen danced
They finished a little after Midnight. They threw signed drum sticks, towels, and drum heads to the audience, Questlove threw something to the loft by the left side of the stage but the person dropped it and he waved at them like how could you drop that?, he threw a signed drum head into the loft in the center by throwing it like a Frisbee.
It was awesome, lots of the crank that I enjoy.