The Roots and Live Nation Urban announced Monday the Roots Picnic: Hip-Hop is the Love of My Life festival, which will take place June 29 at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. The Roots will headline with additional performances by Queen Latifah, Common, and others. It’s the Philly festival’s inaugural Los Angeles event.
The Roots’ Questlove and Black Thought landed on Hollywood Bowl, a live music venue since 1922, due to their shared love for the event space.
“The first time we played Hollywood Bowl was way back in 2011, and there was nothing like it,” Questlove said in a press release. “We came back to headline in 2019, and we’ve been talking about doing something there since. This idea for ‘Hip-Hop is the Love of My Life’ came up, and we knew there was no better spot.”
Digable Planets, Arrested Development, the Pharcyde, and Black Sheep are also slated to perform during the fest, with additional acts to be announced soon.
Before becoming the house band on NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, the Grammy award winning group had dreamt of creating their own music festival. The Roots Picnic launched in 2007, and has featured artists including the Weeknd, Pharrell, Snoop Dogg, Nas, A$AP Rocky, Solange, Diplo, and many others. Just this year, the Roots Picnic celebrated its 15th year with performances by Lil Uzi Vert, Usher, Eve, Busta Rhymes, and Lauryn Hill (who brought out the rest of the Fugees).
Tickets for the West Coast Roots Picnic edition will be available Thursday, Dec. 14.