The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon had a pretty stellar musical moment last night when St. Vincent teamed up with house band The Roots to cover Portishead’s classic “Glory Box.” Watch the performance below.
Covering a song as unforgettable as “Glory Box” is certainly no easy task, but St. Vincent does Portishead justice with her faithful rendition. She doesn’t do too much to tweak the source material — why mess with perfection? — but the sultry sheen and electric guitar flourishes are right up St. Vincent’s ally. If you weren’t already convinced Portishead were ahead of their time, here’s some more proof.
“Glory Box” appears on Portishead’s 1994 debut album Dummy. The trip-hop pioneers have been largely defunct for the last decade, but they reunited last year to perform at a Ukraine benefit concert alongside IDLES, Katy J Pearson, and Heavy Lungs.
St. Vincent loves a cover. In recent months, the artist has taken on everything from Lipps Inc.’s “Funkytown” to Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams.” Revisit our roundup of her best recordings of other songs here. Meanwhile, The Roots just revealed the lineup for the 2023 Roots Picnic, which features Ms. Lauren Hill, Diddy, Dave Chappelle, and more. Tickets are on sale now via Stubhub, where orders are 100% guaranteed through Stubhub’s FanProtect Program.