Live Concerts Reviews

Live in Birmingham, AL, 1987, Review by Music Critic

Pop needs The Beastie Boys about as much as The Labour Party needs an early general election. The US needs The Beastie Boys just to give all those moral majority types something to react against. Alabama needs The Beastie Boys just to give people somewhere to tap into excitement. After the Baptist Mission has shut its doors for Evensong, after the bars have all closed, after the afternoon what else is there to do? After The Beastie Boys - nothing! Yo Birmingham, you ain’t in no fucking classroom now. Lets P-A-R-T-Y! Mike Diamond stoops to survey the audience as the Beastie trio unleash ‘Rhymin’ and Steelin’’ (sic). High above the chaos, DJ Hurricane stands perched on his six-pack Budweiser pulpit gazing down on Ad-Rock, MCA and Mike D as they kick out the teeth of ‘rock’ and scatter them all over Birmingham. Rap collides with heavy metal and the frenzied audience love it. All the while the caged go-go dancer (wearing little but her earrings) struts and poses like a baboon on heat, and cans of beer rain down on the trio from the side of the stage. The object of a Beastie Boys show is to move as far away as possible from anything remotely resembling good taste. Their aim is true. It’s a riotous celebration of everything and anything crass, commercial, and comical. In fact, it’s a stunning homage to the American way. The boys can’t even spell - ‘Licenced To Ill’ Indeed? Def indeed. Yet this kind of excess is now success and our high-school nerds have had a Number One album here in America for the past month. Not surprising, then, that the reaction to the band has been so extreme. While Southern Senators were up in arms at the trio even being allowed to play in the Bible belt, their daughters spent the entire evening trying desperately to mount the stage, undress, and get showered with lager. Strange people. Stranger place. More cans soared in from the wings during ‘She’s On It’ and with breakneck speed The Beasties drive through the jingle jig of ‘Brass Monkey’ and past the pain barrier with ‘Girls’. The agony and the ecstasy reached fever-pitch as the band returned to encore with ‘Fight For Your Right.’ The crowd erupted through the monsoon of Budweiser, while an inflatable 12 foot member rose from the centre of the stage and a cohort of female debutantes stormed the barriers and grappled with any Beasties within spitting distance. With one final bang, the sonic boom was all over. Finished. Somehow it came as little surprise to find out that later that evening the boys were almost run out of the State by the police. We need The Beastie Boys because we need excitement.

Live @ Key Arena, Seattle, WA, 7-31-98, Review by MTV

Picture this: you're the biggest band in America, your current release is selling faster than hotcakes, the press has nothing but good things to say about your work, and every time you sneeze, a new trend ensues in its snotty wake. The only problem is, you're over 30 and you're getting tired of the rockstar thing. So how do you deal with the exhausting necessity of touring? Well, since you're the Beastie Boys, you do as you always have -- you just dive right in.

No one knew quite what to expect from the punks-turned-rappers-turned-superstars on this, the opening night of their first tour since '95. DJ Mix Master Mike kicked things off by engaging the crowd in a little turntablistic foreplay. His arousal method of choice: a scratched- up version of Rush's '80s-rock classic, "Tom Sawyer." The unexpected melding of hip-hop and butt-rock proved the Beasties may have grown up, but their sense of humor has remained intact.

Without warning, the trio exploded onto the scene in orange coveralls that looked equal parts mechanic, escaped convict, and construction worker. Mike D -- the band's de facto PR agent, leader, and spokesperson -- shouldered the entire burden of audience relations. Ad Rock was his usual zany self, thrusting his pelvis like a horny dog in need of someone's leg. MCA quietly wandered around the stage with a calm that went far beyond Zen. Overall, the Boys lacked the stunning energy for which they are renowned.

Whoever dreamed up the Beasties' "in-the-round" concept for the Hello Nasty tour deserves a medal. The boxing-ring-inspired stage situated dead center in the huge arena made sure not one person in the sell-out crowd had a bad seat. The Boys spent most of their time bounding around the circumference of the stage, periodically joining Mix Master Mike and miscellaneous band members for a jam in its oscillating core. There was only one glitch with this set-up -- the stage, exposed on all sides, became all the more attractive to fans. One after another, kids made valiant attempts to climb past the goons and onto the stage. Many succeeded, but they were all quickly whisked off by the men in blue. The hero of the night was the guy who not only made it up on-stage, but had enough time to perfect his camera angle for a Beasties snapshot. Ad Rock even struck a pose. The crowd shrieked their approval as he turned and leapt back into the crowd before security even made a move.

Crowd antics and innovative stage arrangement aside, the night suffered from one very major handicap -- the formulaic set list. In every segment of the show, the Beasties insisted on doing a track from each of their personas -- a little hip-hop here, some funky grooves there, and far too much speed-punk everywhere. There's a reason Pollywog Stewwas a flop, Boys, remember?

The show's musical highlights were borrowed ones. Digital Underground's "Humpty Dance" and Billy Joel's "Big Shot" were far better executed than the Beasties' own "Egg Raid on Mojo" and "Tough Guy." This tour has the potential for greatness -- let's just hope the Boys don't squander it on sloppy punk rock silliness.

Live in Pacific Coliseum, Vancouver, 8/01/98, Review by Chartattack

"Anyone got a water bottle? 'Cause Mix Master Mike is sick!, screamed Beastie Boy Adam Horovitz (aka Ad Rock) to 10,000 Vancouver fans, each with ants in their pants.

After rocket-blasting themselves on to their television-ridden, rotating stage (which Mike Diamond confessed earlier that day at a press conference made him feel "very vulnerable") in matching one-piece red suits, the set began with the boogie-anthem 'Body Movin' from their new album Hello Nasty. Show-opener Money Mark hopped on and off stage, during the short acoustic moments to play gorgeous organ givings. These moments turned the energy down for just enough time so fans could catch their breath before they were thrown back into booty-shakin numbers like 'Shake Your Rump'.

The set was evenly culled from Nasty and previous albums License to Ill and Paul's Boutique. Their old beats churned up, re-heated and reserved by DJ Hurricane replacement, Mix Master Mike. The beat-recycling was obviously all in an off-paced attempt, for the Beasties, after 15 years of playing the same songs, to keep their sets interesting to themselves. However, the new remixes were ill-rehearsed and off-tempo.

The encore of 'Sabotage' and 'Intergalactic' was predictably fabulous, the steam from the floor's dance pit at its thickest all evening. What is amazing about the Beastie Boys' new material is that the songs still, despite Buddhism, Tibet, marriage, divorce and gray hair, have hung on to their limb-flailing, bratty roots. Another thing - their show was not slickly showbiz (Mix Master Mike false-started twice on 'So Whatcha Want?' while Adam Yauch joked about it) and still refuse to grow-up gracefully.

Although the sound was worse than bad and the set considerably less hyperactive and more, dare we say, mature than the Beasties shows of old, it was only the second tour stop on a global trek. Despite the lack of old mega-attitude and edge, the Beastie Boys proved to still have two generations of hip-hop fans in the palms of their hands.

Live in Molson Park, Barrie, Ontario, 08-05-98, Review by BrassMonk

As 30,000 people waited for the Beasties, Biz Markie, and Money Mark to explode on the main stage, they missed a great act on the second stage. Blues legend RL Burnside ripped it up with his son Cedric for about 40 minutes on drums, getting what small crowd was there hyped. The fifth Beastie, photographer Ricky Powell said RL was the only reason he was at the show.

As the main stage opened, and 30,000 people rushed to get the best seats, the canadian rap crew Nothern Touch started shit off. The beats were good, the energy was high, but the vocals were a little weak. It was hard to get the crowd hyped after many kids had been there almost 8 hours waiting for the local acts to finish so the Boys could rip it.

Money Mark was next, and he played a great set. Kid Koala was on the one's and two's and the combination was phat, but Biz markie was next, and he was killing it. He started the set with classics like Just a Friend (where he dissed the hell out of a female heckler by yelling "You, you got a disease, but you say it's just a rash" when she got lippy) and the Vapors, before spinning his way through the 80's and 90's by cutting the shit out of every hip hop classic from Grandmaster, to Black Sheep, to LL and back to some Wu to make the new skool kids smile.

This explosive short set got everyone hyped, and before anyone could calm down, Mix Master Mike was fornt and center with his now famous intro version of Tom Sawyer. The Beasties stormed the stage in their blue lab coats, and rocked. They hit new songs like Shame in Your Game, Body Movin (where they started a 30,000 people soul train line), and Super Disco Breakin'. They also played the classics like Time To Get Ill, EggMan, and Skills to Pay the Billz. MMM was on point with the beats, mixing Shake Your Rump to Rumpshaker and throwing some classic hip hop beats in to keep the energy high.

The Boys ended with Intergalatic and had to bolt, as they heard the Ampitheatre "was getting shut down for an allnight Cow Disco" but after a 12 hour day, no one left unsatisfied.

Live @ Redbird Arena, Milwaukee, WI, 08-11-98, Review by Music Critic

I found out first hand why people like MTV are saying Milwaukee was the best stop on the tour. I feel sorry for any of ya'll that were gonna go and didn't or couldn't, cuz you missed one of the best concerts to ever hit Brewtown....

I was able to view it from a different vantage point then that of Billy and Jenny. I was down in the front standing up against the barrier around the stage. Damn it was hot, but damn it was fun!!

The opening act, Money Mark, was ok. I guess I expected something a little more exciting. Although that doesn't mean he wasn't good. Money Mark is a very talented musician. He can play several instruments and can sing very good too. His music is primarily instrumental, and a lot of it is improvised. He was a decent act to get the crowd kinda warmed up.

After a brief set change (props to the stage designers for making this easy for the crew so it went quick!), one of my favorite rap groups took stage, A Tribe Called Quest. I had seen them in concert once before and thought they were ok, so I wasn't sure what to expect. But I was soon to realize I was in for a surprise! They were quick to pump up the crowd and get everybody into it. They did all their classic jams from back in the day, from "Bonita Applebum" to "Award Tour." They had two guests along, Jerobi, and I'm not totally sure who the second one was....maybe Consequence (although it didn't sound like it). But having them along enabled them to do my favorite song of all time, "Scenario." The guest picked up the parts of Charlie Brown and Busta Rhymes, who were then a part of Leaders of The New School. The Tribe stayed on stage for almost an hour! Many people who are not big fans of hip-hop have said that they loved the Tribe's performance. One of the things that I really like was that they had a clean sound system, so you could actually hear the music and understand the lyrics, which is essential for rap. The only bad part was that they announced that after 10 years of puttin out their unique style, "The Love Movement" would be their last album. As a long time fan, I hope the hell not!! (Editor's note: It was stated on MTV News that this Milwaukee show was actually to be their last show as A Tribe Called Quest).

After a break for stage setup, it was time for the Beasties to perform. Their set opened with Mix Master Mike on stage by himself workin it on the turntables. After his brief solo intro, the Beastie Boys emerged. Immediately the crowd came alive, and the whole mass of people started movin' n' jumpin'. This is when I was able to make it to the front row. The only problem with being up there was that it was tighter then a mo fo. But it was awesome cuz you could see the Beastie Boys just feeding off the excitement of the crowd in their experessions. When you would look up at the people in the seats, it was just this mass of people all waving their arms, dancin and partyin.

I thought the way the music was arranged was perfect. They'd piece some of their more popular high engergy songs together for awhile. Then, just when you started to think you're getting tired, they slow it down and go into some of their instrumentals. This provided a nice break. Then the Beasties would pick it up again with some of their punk/thrash material. I like their newer material a lot. It kinda reaches back to their older style of rapping, yet combines it with cutting edge samples, Groovebox generated music, and fat ass beats. Occasionally, they would have a couple back-up players come on to play a couple instruments. Mix Master Mike was on stage all night, showin off his talent on the the tables.

Even the stage was kickass! The center of it, where all the instruments were, would rotate every now and then. So nobody remained in the back or side of the stage for long. The also had strategically placed digital video cameras. The images they picked up were displayed on video walls and hanging monitors. They added digital effects for that Beastie look. Q-Tip also came on stage so they could do "Get It Together." We all knew that they weren't done yet when they left the stage becausethey hadn't played "Intergalactic," their newest hit. And sure enough, after a minute or two, they reappeared and performed it. In all, they were on stage for two hours, by the end of which I was soaked in sweat from head to toe and tired as hell. We were made to leave right away, and I picked up new t-shirt. When Bill and I walked out the doors, there was someone from MTV news conducting an interview. We stood in the background for a bit, but left cuz we didn't think it would get aired cuz it was only Milwaukee. Little did we know it would, since this show is being dubbed the best on the tour. A friend of ours spotted us when he was watching it one morning, kickass!

Words can't describe the overall thoughts and feelings of this concert. All I can say is that for any of ya'll that didn't go, you missed your one chance in a lifetime to see a show this good!!!