Opening day of the annual Roots Picnic in Philadelphia on Saturday was marred by long lines, muddy conditions, a scrambled schedule, and extreme frustrations for fans who flocked to the Mann Center to check out sets by Maxwell, Latto, Musiq Soulchild, GloRilla, and several other acts.
Questlove took to Instagram at 3 am the next morning to share a video of workers dumping mulch onto muddy spots on the grounds and apologize for what took place. “I know today wasn’t ‘ideal’ for The Roots Picnic in this 18th year of 2025,” he wrote. “This year has been particularly challenging to say the least. Transforming the Mann Center into our event takes about two weeks, but as many of you experienced, heavy rain from May 30th into the morning of the 31st caused significant damage (midnight to 7am).”
Things were so bad that they nearly cancelled the event, but they ultimately chose to delay doors by three hours. It was a chaotic time where much of the emphasis was on prepping the grounds, even as fans showed up in droves, and faced closed gates, a long, winding line, and little information.
“I got numerous messages from attendees, family, everyone in the tristate,” Questlove wrote, “but we prioritized caution above all else…We managed to revise the schedule so that all artists, including headliners Maxwell (whom we ALL owe an incredible amount of gratitude for doing us a solid with seconds on the clock) and Latto, could perform without violating city noise curfews.” (Maxwell was a last minute substitution for D’Angelo, who was originally slated to make his first live appearance in years at the event.)
Fans gathered outside the event eventually started to chant, “Let us in.” “We would see these staffers outside and ask them questions, but they would just say, ‘I have no idea,’” South Jersey fan Lauren Brown told Philadelphia Magazine. “So I have no idea what their purpose was. We weren’t allowed to bring chairs, so there was nowhere to sit, and I have back and knee issues, and we didn’t see any bathrooms or trash cans, so everybody was just throwing their stuff on the ground while we were waiting out there for hours and hours…There was no organization of any kind. Absolutely zero.”
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In his message, Questlove thanked all the fans for their patience. “This year has shown our ability to adapt and overcome challenges, much like we did in past years,” he wrote. “Tomorrow is a new day.”
The second day of the Roots Picnic was indeed much smoother. It featured a complete performance of the Roots’ 1995 LP Do You Want More in addition to sets by Lenny Kravitz, Funk Flex, and Meek Mill.
