NYTimes Defense: Stepping to the Fore as a Backup Band

My NYTimes defense article ran in Tuesday, March 10's paper.
Stepping to the Fore as a Backup Band by Jon Caramanica

Caramanica does an excellent job detailing The Roots' history, and explaining why coming to the "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon" was a poor choice for them. He describes how they are an admired, but not loved band. He calls coming to the career move a change of pace for The Roots, but think many things will stay the same for them. They will still be in the background.
Caramanica really went to town in his last paragraph. It is simple, clear and straightforward. If only I could write like that.
"Behind them all the Roots played dependably like a metronome. Sometimes they were invigorating, and sometimes they were colorless. But how they played felt less crucial than the fact of their appearance itself. In their expert reliability the Roots create spaces for other peoples’ creativity, even if their own is threatened with becoming a relic."