Nas & The Roots, Robert Glasper & Questlove, Common, and Anthony Hamilton will headline the first ever international edition of iconic Philadelphia hip-hop festival Roots Picnic, coming to Crystal Palace Bowl on Saturday 8 – Sunday 9 August 2026. Nas & The Roots will headline the first day with a special two-hour joint performance, as well as Sasha Keable, J.PERIOD Live Mixtape Feat Black Thought & Yasiin Bey & Benny The Butcher, and Nia Smith. The second day will feature a Sunday Jam featuring Robert Glasper & Questlove with special guest Common & Bilal, as well as headliner Anthony Hamilton. Support will come from Musiq Soulchild, Floetry, and Gotts Street Park with Olive Jones. Anthony Hamilton and Floetry will be performing in the UK for the first time in a decade. Both days will feature sounds by Benji B.

Roots Picnic is part of Palace Bowl Presents, a new festival series featuring an eclectic lineup of global headliners from Friday 31 July to Sunday 16 August.

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Common is a convoluted tale of Mary, a young woman presumed dead yet returns to her village from the hellish town of London. Mary played by Anne-Marie Duff, is a clairvoyant and a little manipulative. She’s trying to get Laura, her lost lover back from the clutches of Laura’s brother King, who has carnal feelings towards his sister. The harvest has not been going well either and friction is rising amongst the villagers. Lesbians, intersected with potential incest, with a talking crow thrown into two hours of ambiguous storytelling, painfully fails to hit the mark.

Courtesy of Johan Persson.

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Today, Rufus Norris, Artistic Director of the National Theatre, has announced what is coming up in the new season: Four world premieres, two European premieres and co-productions with Headlong, Fuel, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Out of Joint, and Improbable, featuring new work by Inua Ellams, Yaёl Farber, DC Moore, Lindsey Ferrentino and Nina Raine.

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