For the first time in a decade, singer D’Angelo graced an American stage, surprising the crowd at the 2012 Bonnaroo music festival during The Roots‘ set. Longtime collaborator Questlove introduced him to the crowd, saying, “I’ve been waiting 12 years to say this: Ladies and gentleman, D’Angelo!”

Instead of playing his own music, D’Angelo and The Roots did a 90 minute set of covers from artists like Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, and The Beatles.

By bringing D’Angelo out on stage, Questlove was on a mission to show the singer how much he is missed in music so that he will finally turn in his long awaited album to his label.

“I wanted him to see that,” he said. “That’s a green light. Me doing it wasn’t, like, running out of jam partners. Me doing it was basically showing him, ‘Look, you are so missed you don’t even realize how much you are missed,’ hoping that this will be the adrenaline boost that will finally get him to turn his record into the label. It’s done, it’s brilliant. I played on it. I know it’s brilliant. Now it’s just time to let his kids go and show it to the world. That’s what I’m here for.”

D’Angelo will also be performing at this year’s Essence Music Festival in New Orleans. But you can see the set list of his Bonnaroo performance and download the full audio at Okayplayer.com.

Watch on: YouTube

Previously: Behind The Scenes: D’Angelo’s GQ Photo Shoot