March 17, 2026
Kyle Terada/Imagn Images
Jay-Z will headline this year's Roots Picnic, which will move to Belmont Plateau in West Fairmount Park. The two-day festival will be held May 30-31. Above, Jay-Z at Super Bowl LX in February.
The Roots Picnic is on the move to Belmont Plateau this year as the hip-hop festival returns with a lineup headlined by Jay-Z.
The two-day festival, now in its 19th year, will take place May 30-31 at the scenic overlook in West Fairmount Park. The Roots are the only other performers to be announced ahead of the general ticket sale that starts Wednesday. The presale opened this morning.
Belmont Plateau, known for its sweeping view of the Center City skyline, is one of the city's top spots for picnics and barbecues. It was the setting of the music video for DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince's 1991 hit "Summertime," which the duo performed with Smith's daughter at the Roots Picnic in 2016. The plateau is home to the 18th century Belmont Mansion, once a safe house on the Underground Railroad that now serves as a museum.
The change of venue follows complaints last year from fans who attended the Roots Picnic at the Mann Center for the Performing Arts, where the festival had been held since 2019. Heavy rain drenched the lawn ahead of the first day last year, postponing the start of the show and leaving crowds packed outside the entrance to the venue.
Festival organizers said holding the event at Belmont Plateau was a "bucket list" goal that had the backing of Mayor Cherelle Parker, who wanted the Roots Picnic to have a grander stage as Philly celebrates the nation's 250th anniversary.
The Roots started the annual hip-hop festival in 2008, holding it on the Delaware River waterfront at the former Festival Pier venue for more than a decade. The festival expanded to two days in 2022 and now draws about 30,000 people each day. Past headliners have included Lil Wayne, the Weeknd, Pharrell, Snoop Dogg, Usher and Nas.
Jay-Z's place atop the lineup comes as his Roc Nation label's Made in America festival remains on hiatus. The Labor Day weekend festival, which debuted on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in 2012, has been canceled each of the last three years.
The Roots, led by the duo of Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson, formed in South Philly in 1987 while the pair were classmates at the Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts. Questlove said last summer that the band has been at work on its first full-length album in more than a decade. Jay-Z, whose last album "4:44" came out in 2017, also is rumored to be working on new music.
