JAY-Z is teaming up with The Roots to headline the 2026 installment of Roots Picnic.
The joint performance will close out the first day of the Philadelphia festival on Saturday, May 30th. The two-day event will go down for the first time this year at Belmont Plateau in Fairmount Park. A pre-sale (use code ROOTS26) is ongoing at the festival’s website, with the general on-sale following on Wednesday, March 18th at 10:00 a.m. ET.
The Brooklyn rapper and Philadelphia hip-hop band have a close collaborative history. They first shared the stage in November 2001 for JAY-Z’s intimate and unforgettable MTV Unplugged performance, and The Roots have since backed him during visits to The Tonight Show. Bandleader Questlove has also served as Jay’s musical director for shows at London’s Royal Albert Hall and New York’s Carnegie Hall.
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“Moving the Roots Picnic to Belmont Plateau and bringing JAŸ-Z and The Roots together to perform are both bucket-list moments for us,” said Shawn Gee, The Roots’ manager and president of Live Nation Urban. “After meeting with Mayor Cherelle Parker and hearing her vision for Philadelphia 250, she truly inspired us to dream even bigger, and we’re grateful to her, Commissioner Susan Slawson, Jazelle Jones and everyone who helped make it happen. We can’t wait to see everyone in May at the Plat.”
JAY-Z’s Roots Picnic appearance marks his first announced concert since a 2019 show at New York’s Webster Hall and his first live performance since joining his wife, Beyoncé, at her final “Cowboy Carter” tour date in Las Vegas in July 2025. It also comes amid rumors of a residency at Barclays Center to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Reasonable Doubt.
