Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Live Music Week: The Roots & Late Night with Jimmy Fallon

I enjoy watching live music, both in person and on TV. So, as a part of Live Music Week, allow me to share with you several performances from The Roots.

The musical performance is often my favorite part of the late night talk shows. Lately some of the best and most diverse musical performances have been on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon," which has the good fortune of having hip-hop band The Roots as their house band.

LNWJF definitly does not squander the talent of The Roots, allowing them to often perform as a backing band to the evening's musical guests. As a band The Roots are very good at weaving in and out between musical genres, and usually elevate musical performances that otherwise might put you to sleep at 1:30 am. Want proof?

Last week The Roots backed up hip-hop MC Wale. As hip-hop artists this performance is right in The Roots wheelhouse. I like Wale, but don't really care for this song. (This video will probably go away after 10 days. Sorry for any ads you have to watch before any of these performances)




To see the diverse talents of The Roots get to play with on display, check out the 3 performances below featuring The Roots and 3 very different artists.

Have you discovered any new music via late night television? What performances should we be checking out?

To prove that The Roots are more than just a run of the mill hip-hop band, look no further than this performance with musical icon Paul Simon.




If you find the Paul Simon performance surprisingly cool, yet odd, you haven't seen anything yet. Check out The Roots, 70's singer songwriter Christopher Cross, and a VERY special guest sing the 'hit' "Ride Like the Wind." Then be sure to e-mail this post to your dad.




Finally, The Roots perform with one of my favorites as a child, 'Weird Al' Yankovic as he sings the darkly funny song "Good Old Days".


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