The Roots make fun happen The Roots. Hip Hop/RnB The Roots The Roots Hordern Pavilion, December 27 Imagine the best party soundtrack for the party to end all parties. It would be loose but nailing every important bit in the way only the best casual-but-precise players can. It would seemingly never stop but never feel like it had locked into any particular zone because the mood could shift any second, as if the invisible hand of the celestial DJ anticipated the mood of the room. It would touch on styles for him, her, for that lump in the corner who secretly wants to move, the dancing fools on too many stimulants, the black T-shirted fools on too many depressants, the beard stroker and the clumsy but enthusiastic. So you might get an entry point of hip hop but built on the nimblest funk, spiced by soul and some serious jazz chops, and then flashes of rock - even potentially ridiculous rock - done with a twinkle in the eye but serious appreciation in the heart. Oh yes, I nearly forgot, it would have the most rocking, funkiest, twinkle-toed sousaphone known to a brass band-averse world, a blast from the 19th century given as much life and sexiness as any Beyonce film clip. It would, in short, look and feel and sound like a Roots gig, for they make fun happen. Capable of running through almost every groove (from Washington DC's go-go to Parliament's dippy, from dancehall to disco and back to Motown), they also can break it down to a drum and percussion play-off that veers into jazz fusion and then spin the show on its axis back to jump-jump-jump hip hop. They can also interpolate Kool and the Gang, Donna Summer, Led Zeppelin and - I kid you not - Guns N' Roses and you never see the join. I mean that almost literally too as there are no breaks between songs: like their philosophy, everything is one diverse, changing but together whole. While MC Black Thought leads the show, every player here is given a spotlight and no one lays down. If ?uestlove is the best known, and his drumming a joy to behold even for those of us whose co-ordination is an embarrassment, he doesn't seek the starring role but rather looks on like a cross between a benignly proud, woolly beanie-wearing father and a jobbing drummer just going about his business with nonchalant class. And well he should be proud. A Roots gig is the party you couldn't script and soundtrack better.