June 21, 2004 @ 9:25 am

Live: Beastie Boys - No Sleep Til' D.C.

by: Peter Gaston

Beastie Boys
Nightclub 9:30
Washington, D.C.
June 17, 2004

Midway through Ill Communication’s "Sure Shot," MCA squeals, "I've got more rhymes than I got g

Midway through Ill Communication's "Sure Shot," MCA squeals, "I've got more rhymes than I got gray hairs." Unless they've been avoiding mirrors of late, that decade-old lyric is now sadly outdated. But as Ad Rock, Mike D, and MCA bounded lithely about in front of a delirious horde of fans at D.C.'s Nightclub 9:30 last night, uncorking rhyme after familiar rhyme, it was plain to see that such boastful words--while no longer existing in said proportion to gray hairs-underscore a perpetually youthful vigor that would outperform even a lifetime supply of Just For Men. With their brand new album, To The 5 Boroughs, their first in six years, Beasties are rediscovering their fanbase, and with each successive, rapid-fire blast from their catalog, the three rappers seemed hell-bent on recapturing their onstage swagger. The MO of the evening? To quote the Beasties' current single, "Ch-Check It Out," to prove they could still "turn a motherfuckin' party out." They did need a little coffee and tea onstage to get going, though, having been forced to start the show three hours late when their flight from NYC was canceled due to bad weather. The club provided free pizza and allowed patrons to exit and seek amusement elsewhere, while the Beasties hopped on Amtrak. Needless to say, all the revelers--most of whom scored free tickets through call-ins to D.C.-area radio station WHFS--were back in time for the late-starting gig. Mixmaster Mike, the band's DJ, was the first to emerge onstage. He climbed into his LED-wrapped DJ booth and abused vinyl to roars of approval, before the trio bounced into view. After setting off eager heads with road-tested rump shakers "Sure Shot" and "Root Down," the Beasties segued seamlessly into Boroughs' "Right Right Now Now," then completely set the room ablaze with "Body Movin'" and "Brass Monkey." The set sequencing was a stroke of genius; by sandwiching new tracks in-between the classics, the Boys instantly legitimized and contextualized the new material. Of course, in typical Beastie style, album tracks popped with a far more potent flavor in the live arena: "An Open Letter To NYC," set atop a minimal batch of beats and bleeps, meanders a bit lifelessly on the record, but on stage it became an instant hands-in-the-air anthem, with party people quickly learning and chanting back the track's chorus: "Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens, and Staten / From the Battery to the top of Manhattan / Asian, Middle Eastern, Latin / Black, White, New York, you make it happen." As Mixmaster Mike dropped in the blunted underpinnings of "So What'cha Want" for the set's finale (later working in a looped hook from J-Kwon's "Tipsy"), Ad Rock was on the edge of the stage, swaying his thighs, and watching things materialize. Mike D was skipping back and forth across the stage, giving love to the outstretched arms in the front section. MCA was unleashing his raspy rhymes while stir-frying people in his wok. That "gray hair" lyric a distant memory, people soon chanted along: "Goin' from mic to mic, kickin' it wall to wall / Well I'll be calling out you people like a casting call." Consider yourself warned. Beastie Boys' setlist: 1. "Sure Shot" 2. "Root Down" 3. "Right Right Now Now" 4. "Body Movin'" 5. "Brass Monkey" 6. "Shake Your Rump" 7. "An Open Letter To NYC" 8. "Skills To Pay The Bills" 9. "The New Style" 10. "Triple Trouble" 11. "Three MCs & One DJ" 12. "Ch-Check It Out" Encore: 13. "Intergalactic" 14. "So What'cha Want" Listen to the Beastie Boys "Ch-Check It Out" click here

Article tags: Live, Beastie, Boys, No, Sleep, Til, D.C 

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