I caught The Roots at the House of Blues in Atlantic City on NYE Eve last night. Nothing special, just your standard two hour plus mix of hard hitting James Brown derived funk, Black Thought's breathless rapid fire rhyming, and the 15 minute or so mind blowing cover of Bob Dylan's "Masters of War," featuring the Go Get A Late Pass trio of Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson (seen above as Kris Kringle in an image from Okayplayer.com) with Capt. Kirk Douglas and sousaphonist Tuba Gooding Jr.
This was the first Philadelphia area show for the hard touring hometown heroes since Leonard Hubbard Jr. left the band at the end of August, and was replaced by Trolleyvox bassist Owen Biddle. Biddle more than held his own, and was aided in his duties by the gurgling horn of Gooding Jr. (real name: Damon Bryson), whose role in the always evolving hip-hop ensemble has been growing, along with that of guitarist Douglas. (Other new Roots wrinkles: a taste of Gary Glitter' "Rock and Roll (Part 2)," sequeing into the slinky groove of Cody Chesnutt's "The Seed.") The band's eighth studio album, Rising Down, is due in late April.
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