LA Phil and Live Nation Urban announced the return of GRAMMY® Award-winning multi-platinum hip-hop luminaries The Roots to the iconic Hollywood Bowl, with A Roots Picnic Experience: Class of ’95. Set to take place on Sunday, June 8, 2025, the one-night-only concert special will feature a lineup of A-list talent who made 1995 a year to remember in hip-hop history: Lil’ Kim, Redman & Method Man, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, DJ Quik, Raekwon, E-40, Goodie Mob, Havoc of Mobb Deep and more. The Roots will headline A Roots Picnic Experience: Class of ’95 and serve as the backing band for all guest performances. Tickets go on sale Wednesday, December 11, at 10 am PT, at hollywoodbowl.com.
A Roots Picnic Experience: Class of ’95 follows last summer’s sold-out Roots Picnic: Hip-Hop is the Love of My Life at the Hollywood Bowl, which saw the band bring their iconic Roots Picnic experience and curation of artists to the West Coast for the first time. Roots Picnic: Hip-Hop is the Love of My Life featured special performances by The Roots, Queen Latifah, Common, Digable Planets, Arrested Development and more iconic acts that have helped define the genre over the last half century. The upcoming Roots Picnic Experience: Class of ’95 continues to build upon the renowned music festival, which Rolling Stone hails as “Hip-Hop’s Greatest Festival,” promising show-stopping performances, The Roots’ signature jam sessions and surprises throughout the evening.
On A Roots Picnic Experience: Class of ’95, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson comments, “Well: 1995 was our true arrival. Nineteen eighty-seven was the Year of the Creative Adhesive, the year that tied together Tariq’s world and my world in high school, and 1991 was the Year of the Green Light, the year we gave ourselves permission to take our resources and passion and pursue our dream. But 1995? That was the Year It All Came Together, the year when our first major release, Do You Want More?!!!??! was sent into the world. Hip-hop was an entirely new ballgame back then, on an entirely new playing field. Those were the days when there were still things like mainstream terrestrial radio, bloated video budgets, and creativity at both the regional and the global levels. Those were the days that produced classic album after classic album, unleashing countless new ideas about art. Those were the days when the world was our oyster. This is the story of those days.”
With the Hollywood Bowl serving as the summer home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic for over 100 years, the 2025 season continues the tradition of presenting classical concerts every Tuesday and Thursday night, featuring Gustavo Dudamel, the LA Phil, and a roster of star-studded guest conductors and artists. Jazz Plus nights offer a wide-ranging trip through the world of jazz and beyond, with the LA Phil’s Creative Chair for Jazz Herbie Hancock at the helm. Weekends will be filled with some of the biggest names in popular music, selections of films and film music, and the KCRW Festival featuring an eclectic array of exciting artists. Dates for other popular annual events at the Hollywood Bowl have also been scheduled, including Opening Night on Saturday, June 7, the Hollywood Bowl Jazz Festival on Saturday and Sunday, June 14 and 15, July Fourth Fireworks Spectacular featuring Earth, Wind & Fire, July 2, 3 & 4, Smooth Summer Jazz on Sunday, August 24, and Movie Night on Sunday, August 31. The full Hollywood Bowl 2025 season will be announced in February 2025.
Tickets for A Roots Picnic Experience: Class of ‘95 at the Hollywood Bowl on June 8, 2025, go on sale Wednesday, December 11, 2024, at 10AM PT, and are available online at hollywoodbowl.com or via phone at 323 850 2000.
