Philadelphia’s premiere live hip hop group doesn’t have to wonder if they are being stepped on any longer.

The fanatic response of the capacity crowd at the Fillmore on Sunday was enough to let them know Denver loves the Roots.

It’s really no surprise. Even without any radio play, and only limited national press, the Roots have cultivated a rabid fan base through their solid albums and already legendary live shows, demonstrating it doesn’t take a radio hit and a clothing line to be on the tip of everyone’s tongue.

Opening, ironically, with 50 Cent’s “In Da Club,” the show started on high energy and just got better. Newer songs such as “Rock You” and “Sacrifice” from Phrenology were given a live treatment that kept the crowd moving and flowed nicely from song to song and the frequent interludes of other artists popular songs such as Nas’ “They Shootin'” and “Oochie Wally” made sure everyone was paying attention. Much to the delight of the deeper fans they later broke out some older material much such as “Swept Away” and the concert standard “Proceed” as well as a song from Illadelph Half-life: “Push Up Ya Lighta.” And all this before the break.

After a break in which Mad Skillz came on and did his own crowd rockin’, the Roots came back and dug into some free styling and the solos of each artists, the most impressive being Scratch. Replacing Rhazel is a tall order for any beat boxer, but Scratch did a fine job and deserves his spot.

Probably the highlight of the night however, was “the Seed 2.0” with guest vocalist Cody ChesnuTT (who also did a nice opening set with his own band), and the cap to a very satisfying four hours of serious hip hop greatness. If the Roots come back through Denver on this tour or any other, don’t miss it. You will be missing music history.