By Daniel Paiz

What once was a graveyard for vehicles of all types has been converted to a concert venue appropriately titled JunkYard Denver. This renovated space with revamped vehicles art installations is ground zero for the dynamic team-up of Nas & The Roots this Tuesday evening in August. This space is still being mulled over by this concert goer’s gaze while waiting for the night to unfold.

The assortment of cars, trucks, and an 18-wheeler split in two pay notable homage to the origins of this space, which is a short drive from where the Broncos play. The graffiti etched along the 18-wheeler, the assortment of seats and benches seemingly pieced together by old wooden pallets, and all the wide-open space guide the attendee from the entrance to the stage.

The original lineup of Nas, Jadakiss, and The Roots shifted to a jam fest between Nas and The Roots; however, there is an opener prepping the stage for the night.

Please welcome to the stage…

Denver’s DJ Squizzy Taylor set the night off with a plethora of tunes just right for the evening. Largely a mix of 90s classics, the early crowd was ready to go with Taylor on the decks. The set lasted less than an hour. When all was said and done, that crowd was ready for Questlove and company.

After a fair amount of wait time, Hip-Hop’s most important band arrives to the stage.

Your Headliners

The Roots

Questlove is a meticulous musician and human being. This is meant in the best way possible. With the shift in lineup to a dual show of sorts, it felt like The Roots drummer decided an ongoing jam session of sorts would be the best way to go. It’s something a bit different than the last few Roots shows in Denver, but worked out ever so smoothly.

“Step Into The Relm”, “Clones”, and “The Next Movement” stood out amongst the first portion of this live playlist. There were jam sessions from the horn section and the rest of the folks on stage. Stro Elliott even had a little feature there as well. Each song had twists and turns, which is standard fare when The Roots perform. In a way, it was almost like three mini-Roots shows in one: this jamming first part, the collab session with Nas in the middle, and a third jam session bookending the emcee from Queens.

Nas

Nas had the most medley type of set of the night, which is hard to accomplish when the Roots are in jam mode. Tracks from across his discography projected across the crowd and dozen or so screens throughout the venue. Mostly classic fare graced listener’s ears, including “NY State of Mind”, “One Mic”, and “Get Down” amongst many others.

A noted difference between this set and previous Nas sets I’ve witnessed were that several songs weren’t played in their entirety. Rather than finishing a tune, The Roots and Nas would jump into another joint and get things going again. This medley of music shifted the performance in an interesting way, but it also made the pace feel jumpy at times. Nas’ set was under an hour as a result.

Fortunately for fans, The Roots have jams for days.

The Roots Redux

The Roots never really left the stage. And yet, another myriad of tunes rang out from the horns section, guitars, and drums as Black Thought reconvened as maestro on the mic. Captain Kirk had his signature solo section in this second half of Roots redux, and the band got funkier as the night moved forward.

Questlove did his thing with a drum solo as well, bringing the crowd to a hush as he decrescendo-ed and crescendoed back again before the band musically reconvened. As one can expect after witnessing The Roots a few times, a performance of “The Seed (2.0)” hinted the end of the night being nigh. Thanking the crowd while jamming out a few more tunes, The Roots proceeded to rock the mic before wrapping things up to cheers and applause.