The upcoming season of Late Night With Seth Meyers will be the first that won’t feature its live band. The decision to drop the 8G Band, which has been a staple on the show since The Roots followed Jimmy Fallon out the door in 2014, was made for budgetary reasons at NBC, keyboardist and associate musical director Eli Janney told Vulture. “They had been trying to work it out for months, but in the end NBC was adamant about where they wanted the budget to go,” Janney said. “It’s not just the band; there’s a whole crew that works with the band, so there’s a lot of people employed. I think this was an easy way for them to cut the budget. Easy is not the right word.” Janney said Meyers and showrunner Mike Shoemaker informed the band about the change several weeks ago, with both expressing “their regret and frustration about it.” “There’s a lot of strong emotions,” Janney said. “No one is happy about it.”
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