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D'Angelo cancels rare live performance for medical recovery
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D'Angelo cancels rare live performance for medical recovery

The musician D'Angelo was likely most-recently seen by most in Questlove's documentary about Sly Stone. He was, one assumes, pursued as an interview subject because he too is a talented musician, but one with an eccentric, sometimes reclusive nature. To that end, the fact he was going to be headlining the Roots Picnic in Philadelphia was big news. Also, kudos to Questlove for presumably doing the ask on that while filming his documentary. It was a good get...while it lasted. Unfortunately, D'Angelo has announced he has canceled his performance at the Roots Picnic.

D'Angelo released a statement that is mostly coherent if grammatically lacking. The gist of it is that he had surgery earlier this year and that his medical advisers suggested that this performance could impede his recovery. 

This was to be D'Angelo's first live performance since 2022, when he surprisingly performed at, of all places, the Netflix is a Joke Festival. Before that, he did a single show in 2021. The takeaway to glean here is that D'Angelo isn't exactly trotting the globe. Additionally, he hasn't released a new album since 2014's "Black Messiah," which was itself a surprise.

D'Angelo is being replaced at Roots Picnic by Maxwell, who less than a year ago did an NPR Tiny Desk Concert. Which is to say, he's an easier get. Not a bad replacement at the last minute, though! We wouldn't be surprised to find out that the Roots had a plan in place to implement if D'Angelo dropped out for whatever reason. Hopefully D'Angelo's condition improves.

(h/t Pitchfork)

Chris Morgan

Chris Morgan is a Detroit-based culture writer who has somehow managed to justify getting his BA in Film Studies. He has written about sports and entertainment across various internet platforms for years and is also the author of three books about '90s television.

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