solo shows<\/a>, his voice drenched in reverb \u2014 so much so that it was hard to make out his vocals \u2014 and felt like an appropriate sentiment. While Mike D performed mostly new songs from an upcoming album, he still found nostalgia for his old band\u2019s classic, singular sound as a vibe more than through direct affirmation.<\/p>\n\n\tFamously, Beastie Boys never broke up. Rather, the trio, which gained fame in the late 1980s through classic rock-meets-rap hits like \u201cNo Sleep \u2018Til Brooklyn,\u201d and later became one of the most groundbreaking acts on Earth thanks to sample-laden albums like Paul\u2019s Boutique<\/em> and the kitsch-collage classic Hello Nasty, <\/em>only stopped playing and recording following the death of bandmate Adam \u201cMCA\u201d Yauch in 2012. Public appearances from the surviving members \u2014 Mike D and Ad Rock \u2014 have been extremely rare, save for a run of festival DJ sets from Mike D in the late 2010s and a couple of other surprise sets. This show followed two unannounced guest appearances in the past few weeks with his kids\u2019 band, Very Nice Person; tickets for this performance went on sale a day before the show, and unsurprisingly sold out immediately.<\/p>\n\n\tThe shockingly not-packed tiny club (a spot so not-on-the-radar that even locals were unaware of its existence) also wasn\u2019t full of Hollywood A-listers or even music-biz cognoscenti. From the first minute of the show, it was clear these were mostly champing-at-the-bit Gen Xers there to see one of their heroes for the first time in years. Backed by 5D \u2014 a band composed of five members clearly 30 or more years younger than the 60-year-old headliner \u2014 and embodied with the punk energy that led to his band\u2019s early breakthrough, Mike D came out swinging with the new track \u201cWhat We Got,\u201d backed by an off-kilter, guitar-driven DJ groove and wearing a matchy-matchy sweatsuit uniform embroidered with his name above his left breast (the other members\u2019 matched his look as well, though their uniforms read \u201c5D\u201d in the same spot).<\/p>\n\n\n \t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n
\n\tMike D\u2019s vocals were unfortunately filtered and distorted for almost the entire set, conjuring a Check Your Head <\/em>feel to the bulk of the songs but frustrating members of the audience who may have wanted to hear if D\u2019s signature wordplay stood the test of time. \u201cMake It Stop,\u201d the second song of the set, was a jumpy jaunt with the lyrics \u201ctake a name\/take a number\/fool yourself\/fool each other,\u201d and a woozy octave synth line that broke down into an 808-beat before a dense, Moog-flavored outro. A blast-off, high energy version of \u201cLooking Down the Barrel of a Gun,\u201d one of only two Beastie Boys songs played, was next, featuring a guitar solo that suggested the 5D guitarist may have taken lessons with Mike D\u2019s buddy Tom Morello at some point.<\/p>\n\n
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\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBrandon Gonzalez*<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\u201cCrypto Anthem\u201d followed, with a neck-rattling guitar lick that called to mind the Breeders\u2019 \u201cCannonball\u201d and coin-drop samples a la Pink Floyd\u2019s \u201cMoney.\u201d The one-chord sing-songy \u201cTrue Colors\u201d was next, followed by \u201cI Don\u2019t Care,\u201d a boppy, acoustic-swamp slow jam. \u201cSecrets\u201d and \u201cIt\u2019s Time\u201d followed, the former imbued with giant dynamic shifts and the repeated line \u201cI say what you say\u201d and the latter a deep-bass conga groove with off-kilter movement recalling the Beasties\u2019 best work.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cSwitch Up\u201d was dropped as a single just before the show started and definitely stood out as an anomaly: the song was produced by Mike D\u2019s sons and 5D members Sklyer and Davis Diamond, and is more of a Prodigy-style electro-rock song than a rap-rock banger. Mike D introduced it as \u201ca big moment\u2019 before launching into its challenging rhythmic dance vibes, a description that felt accurate: After all, there hasn\u2019t been a new song released to the public by a Beastie Boy in over a decade, and this feels less like a return to form than a new approach overall.<\/p>\n\n\n \t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n\n\n \t\tRelated Content<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n\n