PT: John & The Roots Have Soul Power

As we previously reported neo-soul singer John Legend and hip-hop act The Roots have teamed up to release Wake Up! – which hit stores last Tuesday and is a throw back to classic soul records. As a way of celebrating the album, the powerhouse combo played a special one-night only show at New York’s cavernous Terminal 5 last Thursday that was streamed live on YouTube as part of American Express’ Unstaged concert series. The concert, which was the second in a five part series, featured appearances from Common, Jennifer Hudson and Estelle and was directed by Spike Lee.

If you missed the live stream fear not as you can still watch it all, which includes an inventive take on The Arcade Fire’s Wake Up, via John Legend’s YouTube page.The night’s festivities also included this powerful, 12-plus minute take on Bill Withers’ socio-political anthem I Can’t Write Left Handed that includes some blistering guitar work from The Roots’ Captain Kirk Douglas. Let’s take a peek…