root§ picnic day ∞ *_*
by will brennan on June 9, 2013
Posted in: Concert, Electronic, Hip Hop, Pop, R&B / Soul, Uncategorized
It’s been a week since I attended the Roots Picnic Music Festival in the city of brotherly love. Funny enough, I went with my brother Finn. We had some good bonding time; however, our peaceful coexistence was often put to the test due to the sweltering heat, shitty living conditions, and limited financial funds. But when Saturday came around, we put aside all our problems to enjoy performances from our main girls, Solange and Grimes, as well as other artists such as How to Dress Well, Trinidad James, and Joey Bada$$. There were many other well-known groups there like Macklemore & Ryan Lewis and Gaslamp Killer, but I either a) had no interest in seeing them or b) was too damn hot to stay at the festival long enough to see them.
Which leads me to some unfortunate news: I did not see THE Roots perform. I know, I am a totally incompetent idiot for not seeing them live. They are one of my most favorite groups, and I really wish I could have waited until the end of the day to see them. But when my friend passed out from heat exhaustion and I didn’t have $4.50 to spend on a bottle of water, I found it necessary to give in and leave the festival to find air-conditioned shelter. Sound reasonable? I think so.
Nevertheless, I had a blast at the festival. There were two stages at the venue: one inside a tent and the other outside. I saw Trinidad James and Joey Bada$$ perform inside, but because of the booty odors it was difficult to concentrate on the rappers. However, I put my hands up high for Joey’s “World Domination.” I was really glad to see him perform live. There is a huge difference in Joey’s vibes when he performs live than when you listen to his album. He drives a brutish force behind his lyrics when he performs, but doesn’t fail to bring his genius harmonies to the forefront of his performance.
When it came to Solange’s appearance, I could not have been more hyped. I made friends while waiting for her to come on stage (I forget their names but you can check them out in the featured photo of this post). When we heard the intro beats to “Some Things Never Seem to Fucking Work,” we got a little out of hand. I have to admit, I was definitely “that guy at concerts who doesn’t understand personal space.” But what could we do? It was a dance party, and we did not half-ass our dance skills, ESPECIALLY in front of Solange Knowles.
Grimes was beautiful. She was pissed that no one was moving during her show. I understand that people were a little beat from the heat, but it’s important that any artist performing live can feed off of the audience’s positive vibes to deliver a kickass show. I SWEAR she smiled when she saw me and Finn getting rowdy during “Oblivion” (or at least that’s what I like to think). When people started commenting on her big cheeks and cute smile, I cringed. In countless interviews, Grimes talks a lot about how she doesn’t want to be a cute girl anymore. She wants to be on that sexy diva level, which is a respectable ambition for any artist. Regardless, Grimes successfully grew on a lot of people in the audience who didn’t really know what she was all about. Even though Blood Diamonds was not present to accompany Grimes on “Phone Sex,” my appreciation for the song grew even more after she performed it as the finale.
Overall, The Roots Picnic was a huge success. Look out for my next blog post on my Punk show adventure in West Philly!
Note: these photos were taken by me!
