THE ROOTS COVERING DYLAN

I didn't go to this benefit last week -- of course I love Dylan, but the show was very pricey and I've been burned before with these tribute events. I read about it afterwards, though, in the Times and elsewhere, and by all accounts the highlight of the night was my faves the Roots covering "Masters of War." I say the Roots, but it was actually just ?uestlove on drums, guitarist Kirk Douglas (also on vocals), and Damon Bryson from the Jeff Bradshaw band on tuba. No Black Thought.

They began with Kirk singing the Dylan lyrics to the tune of "The Star-Spangled Banner," then reverted to the original melody and segued into snippets of "Taps," Jimi's "Machine Gun,"and the Gap Band's "You Dropped a Bomb on Me."

NYT's music critic Jon Pareles noted that the song, an indictment of war profiteers, was especially trenchant just two nights after the election.

According to Billboard, the Roots "blew the house down with an ecstatic, incendiary version" of the classic early-Dylan protest song. "The searing, politically charged performance brought the hall's entire sold-out crowd to its feet for a lengthy standing ovation."

?uest himself wrote on Okayplayer the next day about how he felt like it was a "tipping point" for the group, gaining them many new unlikely, older fans. He even compared the performance to "Motown 25," the early-80s TV special where Michael Jackson wowed the crowd with "Billie Jean" (and the debut of his Moonwalk).

More glowing reports here...
Rolling Stone: "Far and away the greatest performance of the night"; "Sure to go down as one of the most brilliantly unique Dylan covers of all time."
Village Voice: "The Roots just killed it."