The Entroporium

Last Friday, my friend Dennis took me down to the parking lot of the HP Pavilion to check out The Roots. Actually, that’s not quite right. It was the Dew Action Sports Tour, featuring The Roots playing out back after all the BMX jumping was over. I’d never been to one of these action sports thingies, so I was curious to see what I’d find there. Apparently ?uestlove and company were in the same boat; The Roots’ official page on MySpace didn’t bother list this gig in their Upcoming Shows. And right there that was a big Hmmmmm. Was this something they weren’t particularly proud of?

Every last square inch of the parking lot was branded. There was no entertainment that didn’t have a logo on it, ranging from the obvious (Schwinn) to the ominous (Toyota Land Cruisers) to the downright bizarre (an inflatable jumpie — brought to you by US Air Force recruiters). There was nothing in the least edgy about this set-up, even though it was sold as the theoretical edge of American youth culture. Hardly anybody was drunk or otherwise messed-up. Having missed Burning Man the week before, I could only think that somehow I’d fallen into its evil doppelganger.

After the extremely loud BMX event ended, we were herded off into another corner of the lot to face a stage and a huge branded TV screen. After a few moments, opener Dilated Peoples appeared. Featuring a white guy, an dreaded Afro-American guy and an Asian-American DJ, the Peoples gave the impression that if they did not already exist, they would have been invented by a Dew Action Sports marketer for just such an occasion. With songs that stayed relentlessly on the positive tip, the crowd loved them, but I thought they were bland at gest. It didn’t help that that the DJ totally blew his obligatory spotlight scratching and then blamed it on the wind. They also made the opening act cardinal sin of running overtime, which seems particularly egregious for a hip-hop group that really should know exactly the length of every song they play. Song lengths aren’t going to vary performed in front of a programmed beat track.

After a brief delay, The Roots tookthe stage, all business, no chattiness. Opening with “Here I Come” off super-dope new album Game Theory, The Roots did not stop for their entire 50-minute set. They were tight, charismatic and entertaining, and are touring behind their strongest album in several years. But it was just too weird to hear these songs in this place.

I guess I have to give credit to The Roots for seizing the opportunity to go where the money and the audience are. This was the second time I’d seen them at a presumably poorly-paying festival situation, the first being when they played the “Other Stage” at Moby’s tour several years ago. (Remember Moby, anyone?) Nevertheless, it was surprising to see them doing their conscious-hip-hop-meets-The-Meters thing surrounded by logos and product placement and more logos. And they certainly got their message out to a diverse audience of kids in an environment that was non-threatening (if you find conspicuous consumption non-threatening). But if this is the future of concert-going — and mass-market entertainment in general — something has been lost. It’s not news that major music label artists are no longer counter-cultural, but until recently at least they tried to pretend.

But the kids at the show, many with their parents, did get to see a great live band doing edgy material in a safe, sober place — and that you can’t fault. Will they know quality & authenticity when they see it or does the uber-marekting context ultimately defeat it?

MP3: The Roots – Here I Come

The Onion AV Club interviews ?uestlove
Metacritic: Everybody Loves Game Theory (except the NYT)