Despite the beer brand name-drops every six minutes, the Miller Genuine Draft "Genuine Flow" show with the Roots and Cee-Lo at the Vic was more about genuine musicianship and camaraderie. None of the artists took the sponsorship seriously. Cee-Lo, seemingly reminded to pimp the brew, joshed, "My voice is scratchy. I need something cold, something refreshing. I need…a Miller Genuine Draft," bursting into laughter with Roots MC Black Thought. DJ 33 1/3 excited the mostly older crowd by spinning what are now (depressingly) seen as dusty oldies—De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, ODB as WGCI’s Tony Sculfield played emcee and dropped cliched groaners about weed and deejaying Obama’s State of the Union address.

Ever the hipster of hip-hop, ?uestlove wore a keffiyeh; Black Thought rocked the Cosby look in a sweater-blazer as The Roots took the stage around nine. The Philly band’s nearly two-and-a-half-hour set offered goof-ups, laughs, inside jokes, two-stepping and the kind of true soul machine name-checked by Cee-Lo. The Roots’ set was very similar to the one I caught at the Congress a few weeks back, but the beauty of the organic band is that no two shows are the same with subtle nuances in the tempos, riffs and solos, along with impromptu joints. When "string assassin" Captain Kirk Douglas took over for his standard "You Got Me" operetta, he morphed his guitar scatting into "Sweet Child O’ Mine." He also managed a very Ike Turner–esque move—turning his licks into high-pitched moans and sighs on "Love to Love You Baby," which he sang beautifully with terrifyingly feminine falsetto. In an endearing gaffe, ?uestlove missed his vocal cue during the Fela tribute, prompting loving ridicule from Black Thought. Ah, the genuine man love was such that you could cut the bromance with a knife. Clearly, though the long-time friends have been playing together every night for years, they still love every minute of it.  (So does Jimmy Fallon. The Roots made the rather depressing announcement last night that they would retire for touring to become the house band on NBC’s Late Night when the former SNLer takes over for Conan.)

Midway through the set, Cee-Lo emerged with his very unnecessary hype man, looking more like a regal Buddha than ever. The Roots backed his set, which included "I’ll Be Around" and an amazing reggae-tinged, slow-burn version of "Crazy." The latter had everybody doing the dutty wine, before it twisted into an excellent cover of "Seven Nation Army." The combo also offered Gnarls’s latest single, "Who’s Gonna Save My Soul."

The usually reserved Black Thought told the crowd, "Cee-Lo is one of the few people in hip-hop I love and respect." The two recalled their first meeting back in Cee-Lo’s Goodie Mob days. Overall, the mood was very "late night jam session"—just a few close friends hanging out and being fabulous—perfectly suited to the atmosphere of the Vic. The easy highlight: After Cee-Lo left the stage, ?uestlove urged him to come back out. Offstage we could hear Lo’s Atlanta drawl: "Well, I don’t wanna wear out my welcome and shit, but…" The ATLien then treated the audience to an epic a cappella (well, almost—Knuckles provided minimalist percussive snaps) version of the song that introduced him to the world, OutKast’s "Git Up, Git Out." Cee-Lo then left the stage, telling us not to spend all of our time trying to get high. Just "some of our time."