The Beastie Boys at Bank of America Pavilion
August 6
All photos: Caitlin E. Curran
On the heels of their largely instrumental Sunday night set at the Opera House, the Beastie Boys turned the motherfuckin’ party out last night at the Pavilion. Dudes were ageless, bounding around the stage trading rhymes and instruments like a hip-hop swap meet for the full duration of their hour-and-a-half, career-spanning set. They possessed the absolute aplomb of a group who’s been getting down for more than two decades, but without any trace of the jadedness or boredom that often comes with the territory. Highlights: songs from every album, including hardcore jams (“Time for Livin’ ”?! — killer) and just about every hit they’ve ever had (including this one, but not this one); Mix Master Mike straight killing it, and whoever was cutting the live video feed giving us plenty of close-up over-the-turntables shots; the wah-wah-heavy instrumentals from The Mix-Up making the beer line feel like a porno set; shout outs to Saugus, Salem, Gloucester, Newton, et. al.; Mike D’s bright red and white captain’s uniform. Folks went apeshit, and when Adrock announced that “Boston is the hypest . . . and I’m not going off on some rock shit,” it felt right-on.
--Will Spitz