With the American Family Insurance Amphitheater lineup just about filled out, Summerfest on Wednesday slid over to the neighboring stage and announced that The Roots will headline the BMO Pavilion on June 25.
The hip-hop legends get the second Thursday of the festival and will be followed over the course of the weekend by Louis Tomlinson on June 26 and Russell Dickerson on June 27. The other previously announced BMO Pavilion performers are Styx (June 19) and David Lee Roth (June 20).
All pavilion shows have the potential for free general admission seating to be available on a first come, first served basis. The Roots feel like one of those times when it would be wise to purchase a reserved seat, at least if you’re dead set on checking out Black Thought, Questlove and their bandmates. Those tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday, Jan. 30, online via Ticketmaster and at the Summerfest box office.
The Roots artist bio
The original members of The Roots were its co-founders: rapper Tariq Trotter, who goes by Black Thought, and drummer Ahmir Khalib Thompson, best known as Questlove. The friends started the group in 1987 after meeting at the Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts — in the principal's office.
"I was in trouble. He was not," Black Thought told the Paris Review in 2021. "He struck me as an odd fellow but also a serious musician."
Though their lineup of musicians has shifted over the years, The Roots’ current members are Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter, Questlove, guitarist Captain Kirk Douglas, keyboardist James Poyser, Damon Bryson aka "Tuba Gooding Jr.," keyboardist Kamal Gray and bassist Mark Kelley.
The Roots have released 11 studio albums: Organix (1993), Do You Want More?!!!??! (1995), Illadelph Halflife (1996), Thing Fall Apart (1999), Phrenology (2002), The Tipping Point (2004), Game Theory (2006), Rising Down (2008), How I Got Over (2010), Undun (2011), and ...And Then You Shoot Your Cousin (2014).
They've also released three collaborative albums: 2010's Wake Up! with John Legend, Betty Wright: The Movie with soul singer-songwriter Betty Wright (2011), and Wise Up Ghost with Elvis Costello (2013). The Roots also have two live albums, The Roots Come Alive from 1999 and Nagoya Blue Note: Live in Japan - September 7.
In total, the group has earned 14 Grammy nominations and three wins. Their first win was Best Rap Performance By A Duo Or Group for 1999's "You Got Me" featuring Erykah Badu. Wake Up! nabbed two Grammys: R&B Album and Traditional R&B Vocal Performance for The Roots and John Legend's "Hang On In There."
