Your Roots Picnic set times are here! - WXPN | Vinyl At Heart
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To fully appreciate the schedule for this weekend’s Roots Picnic, a map is in order. Unlike years past at the relatively self-contained Festival Pier, the festival’s glorious new home stretches across the expanse of The Mann Center grounds. The most intriguing part, though? The Mann’s main stage (labeled Mann Stage in the set times) is not the “main stage.”

The Roots will play their headlining set, which includes a 20th anniversary celebratory performance of their 1999 album Things Fall Apart in its entirety, from something called the Fairmount Park Stage, which appears to be set up in the expansive lower plot of grass and gravel that is usually the venue’s premium parking. Leading up to The Roots on that stage are fellow headliners H.E.R., 21 Savage, Lil Baby, and more.

Meanwhile, the Mann Stage will close out relatively early with a 6:30 p.m. set by Raphael Saadiq, performing the music of the Soulquarians. That stage also features Black Thought and J.Period’s legendary live mixtape featuring Yasiin Bey and whoever else feels like crashing the party, plus sets by the Resistance Revival Chorus, XPNFest alums Tank and the Bangas and &More…well, and more.

Up the hill on what we know as the Skyline Stage — rebranded here as the Cricket Wireless stage, and wow I hope that name change is not permanent — is an assortment of DJs and podcasts, including deck rockers The Originals and DJ Aktive, as well as podcasters Joe Budden and Questlove Supreme.

Not the breakdown I was expecting in the slightest, and I am here for it. The walking distance from The Mann Stage to the Fairmount Park Stage is a quick downhill jaunt, with only a gradual uphill slope heading back in the other direction. How quick it will actually be when thousands of people are clamoring to see H.E.R. remains to be seen, but close proximity is key when when so many sets fall so close to one another, particularly early in the day. The steeper uphill hike to the DJ & Podcast stage might end up shortchanging the DJs and podcasters, but it should also make the experience up there more intimate.

And as you see in the map below, there are no fewer than nine purple truck icons, indicating that food stands will be plentiful, hopefully cutting down on the two-hour waits for lunch and dinner.

The Roots Picnic kicks off Friday, June 1st at noon; tickets are still available here. Explore the map and listen to a Spotify playlist highlighting this year’s lineup below.

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