All photos provided by

Marc Perlish

You can visit his portfolio

here

.

Chicago, Ill. -- Last Saturday, our good friends at

Platform-1

presented their annual

Dare 2 Dream

benefit concert at the Chicago House of Blues, featuring the world-renowned sounds of

The Legendary Roots Crew

.

Held in conjunction with a silent auction to support The People's Music School, the event was a huge success. The venue was packed to the gills hours before the Philly-based ensemble took the stage and all in attendance were treated to an undeniably enjoyable two-hour musical extravaganza.

Thanks to amazing performances from

?uestlove

,

Black Thought

and co., you might think that the winners on this night were the 1,400-plus concert-goers who braved the cold Chicago temperatures to attend the show from start to finish. You may be right. But in the end, the real winners are our youth. Though some school systems don't view it as such, musical education is paramount. Thanks to Dare 2 Dream, its importance was reinforced.

Instead of boring you with a song-by-song breakdown of the show, we felt like a visual display was the way to go. Below is a series of photos which captures the evening's energy, courtesy of Chicago photographer

Marc Perlish

.

The Roots perform live on stage

.

(Left - Right)

Damon "Tuba Gooding Jr." Bryson, ?uestlove

.

?uestlove

(Left - Right)

Captain Kirk Douglas, Black Thought