The Beastie Boys show last night was great. The audience was pumped, the guys were very willing to entertain, and there were many surprises.
To kick things off, Talib Kweli was there. He had the floor moving, and some people in the stands. He should have gotten more respect, but most of the people there had never heard of him. In the bathroom, when someone asked the 20 or so other people in there if they had heard of who the opening act was, everyone looked around and shrugged. I offered, “It’s Talib Kweli.” Silence. “He’s been on the Chapelle Show.” “Oh,” as if they had just forgotten. Kweli did mostly new stuff, from what I heard. (We got there late because of traffic on 95, 495, and 66. Why the hell is there rush hour traffic at 8pm on a Friday. I have my theories, but that’s for another post.) He closed with some of his older, more recognizable, stuff. I think everyone was impressed, if not turned on to a new artist.
The show started with Mix Master Mike building the atmosphere. Mix Master Mike is one of the best turntable artists I have ever seen. He was arguably the glue that held the show together. The 4th Beastie Boy, as it were. At one point, and this was his most notable feat, he brought up “Scenario” by A Tribe Called Quest on both turntables. He matched up the play rates, and then let them go at the same time. Once the crowd realized the records were perfectly in sync, and began to cheer, he started scratching. He’d scratch one record, and then bring them back in sync. He’d scratch the other, then bring them back in sync. Finally, he was scratching both records, looping Busta Rhymes over Busta Rhymes, and with a deft twist of his friggin’ ELBOW he brought the records back in sync. The crowd went insane. (ACWGF made the comment that she thought that Mix Master Mike was even better than the Beastie Boys.)
The Beastie Boys came out, and they got down right away. They did stuff off all their records, and they looked like a group of guys who were out to have a good time. They occasionally missed rhymes, or fell off the beat a bit, but they were so intent on keeping the crowd happy that it didn’t matter.
They had 3 sets and 2 encores. The first set was straight rappin’. The second set was all instrumental, and they closed with Rectify. They were dressed in leisure suits for the second set, and were dragged on stage while on top of a tiny stage built like a prom stage. The third set was more rappin’, and the only place where they played any of their new stuff. The encore came in one of the back sections of the arena on the parapet. After that, the house lights came up and people started to file out. (I was shocked when people were leaving after the 3rd set, but even I went out after the encore.) Something didn’t feel right though. There was no closing ambient music, and there were no roadies rushing to dismantle the stage. We walked back into the area when we heard the mics being turned on, and the beastie boys were being dragged onstage by the tiny stage again. They closed with Sabotage and the crowd, once again, went crazy.
It was a great show, and I was psyched to see the Beastie Boys. It’s something I can cross off my life’s To Do list.
ACWGF and I were both a little underhyped when we left for the show. Traffic didn’t help any either. In fact, I was pretty pissed because I had accidentally left the tickets in my apartment and had to go from ACWGF’s house to my apartment and back, all at the height of Baltimore rush hour. I’m an idiot. Anyway, Mix Master Mike definitely helped change our mood, and the concert was nothing but better and better after that.
For more on the Politics and Technology of the show, check out Minimum Safe Distance.
