Jaÿ-Z and the Roots cap electrifying first day of Roots Picnic, with surprise guest Meek Mill

Jaÿ-Z, with the Roots as his backing band, performed an electrifying hour-and-half headline set to cap a successful first day of Roots Picnic. Surprise guests, including Philly’s Meek Mill, Bilal and Beanie Sigel, joined the stars on stage.

The two-day music festival — presented by the Philadelphia hip-hop band, led by rapper Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter and drummer Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson — was staged at Belmont Plateau in Fairmount Park for the first time after spending recent years at the nearby Mann Center. This year’s lineup also includes Brandy, De La Soul, Jermaine Dupri & Friends, Bilal, Joy Oladokun, Jaydon, and DJ Jazzy Jeff.

Making his first festival performance anywhere since 2019, the show marked a return of sorts for Jaÿ-Z, the rapper and entertainment mogul who now takes an umlaut over his ÿ. He only has two tour stops on his calendar for 2026: the Picnic on Saturday and three nights at Yankee Stadium in July.

By all accounts, he delivered in Philadelphia.

Jaÿ-Z and his band for the night took the AT&T main stage for a crowd already chanting for an encore just before 9:30 p.m. With the lights flickering, and wearing an all-black outfit, large Afro, and signature glasses, the rapper quickly kicked into an explosive freestyle on “Hovi Baby,” the track from The Blueprint 2 produced by Philadelphia’s Just Blaze.

It was the same song that Jaÿ-Z and the Roots opened their intimate preview performance in a rare concert late Friday at the Foundry, the intimate club-within-a-club on the second floor of the Fillmore in Fishtown.

That cloak-and-dagger show, according to an attendee who spoke with The Inquirer under condition of anonymity because they didn’t want to spoil the mystery behind the event, was made known to members of Jaÿ-Z’s fan club. About 200 attendees had been alerted through an email Thursday night to show up at the Fillmore. They also were directed to keep it quiet.

Covert social media postings showed the rapper’s wife, Beyoncé, dancing at the side of the stage. Comedian and actor Dave Chappelle was also in the crowd.

Before a thunderous crowd on Saturday, Jaÿ-Z and the Roots played hit after hit, including, “Into to Blueprint,” “Beach,” and “Jigga What?” They also mixed in deep tracks, like Jaÿ-Z’s 1997’s iconic “Where I’m From,” a hard core hip-hop autobiographical sketch.

“Everybody in the back, we see you,” he roared into between songs, frenzying the audience. “We’re in Philly tonight.”

Early on, he took aim at his former business partner, Dame Dash, with shots like, “You gotta have a billy to even talk to me.” Later, to blaring horns, Jaÿ-Z introduced Germantown soul singer Bilal to the stage, to sing Frank Ocean’s “Wild.”

At one point, rappers Memphis Bleek, Sigel, Peedi Crack, Freeway and Young Chris joined Jaÿ-Z for a mini Roc-A-Fella Records reunion. They weren’t the only big surprises of the night.

Meek Mill, who made his pulse-pounding hometown debut at Roots Picnic last year, came out to perform alongside Jaÿ-Z, declaring the icon the “greatest of all time.”

Before leaving the stage, Jaÿ-Z, paid homage to the Roots.

“I came here because the Roots crew is the reason I stepped my performance up,” he said, imploring the crowd to cheer. “I have immense respect for the Roots crew. They’re doing a beautiful thing.”

The crowd roared on demand.

The Picnic first moved to the Mann in 2019. The first Roots Picnic was staged at the Festival Pier on the banks of the Delaware River near the Ben Franklin Bridge in 2008. Gnarls Barkley headlined.

This year, the Picnic is set to be bigger than ever, with the gated festival site large enough to hold 40,000 attendees each day. That’s 10,000 more than peak capacity at the Mann. The city enacted road closures in the area, including nearby Montgomery Avenue.

Last year, the Picnic’s first day was headlined by Maxwell. He was a late replacement for D’Angelo, who had been scheduled to perform with the Roots, but canceled due to illness. (The neo-soul great died of pancreatic cancer in October 2025.)

That first day of last year’s Picnic turned into a debacle when heavy rain leading up to the festival muddied the grounds at the Mann Center and caused a delay that left thousands of angry fans stranded outside the venue for hours. Meek and Lenny Kravitz headlined a sunnier second day.

With no rain, and sunshine showering the crowds, fans at the wind-swept festival seemed primed on Saturday for a better opening day than last.

Julius and Nicole Bolding made the seven-hour drive to the Roots Picnic from Virginia Beach.

“It seems like people are optimistic that the new location might be a better spot,” said Nicole Bolding, a big Jaÿ-Z fan, while waiting earlier in the day in a slow-moving line at the Picnic’s VIP entrance on Chamounix Drive, near Belmont Avenue

By mid-afternoon, West Philly rising R&B singer Beano French hyped up the crowd with songs from his 2025 album Love On Purpose. In one song, he wooed his paramour with the ultimate 2026 compliment: “You make me want to put my phone down.”

Meanwhile, on the less crowded Plateau Stage, Nashville song writer Joy Olakodun played an enticing, inviting set drawn from her 2024 album Observations From a Crowded Room. With accompaniment from only her own acoustic guitar and an electric piano, the folk singer drew the crowd into her understated story songs. DJ Jazzy Jeff, the Philly-raised DJ, actor and music producer, was a featured performer on the Plateau Stage.

Lines were long at the Gigi & Big R Caribbean & American Soul Food and No Good Burger food trucks as the crowd staked out blanket spots on the sloped plateau lawn.

All afternoon and into the night, performers played to crowds on three stages.

Early in the day, Amberé, a neo-soul singer and songwriter played guitar and sang to an intimate but passionate crowd on the Toyota Music Den stage, reserved for emerging stars. Later, De La Soul, legendary hip-trio from Long Island capped a high energy set with their biggest hit “Me, Myself, and I.” The band played to an explosive crowd on the AT&T Stage, where the biggest acts performed. Brandy, acclaimed singer and R&B royalty, played to the Philly audience.

“Thank you, Philly,” she said, before bringing the crowd to a roar, introducing singer and songwriter, Monica, who joined her.