Wednesday, September 22, 2004

So What'cha Want?

Long, weird-ass weekend, but the highlight was the Beastie Boys in Seattle on Sunday night. They were amazing. It’s the second time that I’ve seen them live and they were even better this time. It’s remarkable to see performers with such energy, such enthusiasm for the material and such adoration for their fans. It was really refreshing for the band to really understand where their fans are coming from (both mentally and geographically) and addressing that.

At one point, the Boys asked the crowd who had come from Portland, so Marshall and I screamed our heads off. They spoke a little more, finding out where people in the crowd had traveled from, and then announced that their next song was for the people from Portland. It was “High Plains Drifter,” off Paul’s Boutique. The guys blasted right into it, with all of us singing along. It was hilarious, because I believe it was Mike D who ended up screwing up some of the lyrics, so the other guys stopped the song, started laughing, and informed him that he was singing the middle of the song rather than the beginning. He denied it, of course. The other two Beasties appealed to the crowd for the next two lines of the song and when they obliged, turned to the offending Beastie, who admitted that he was wrong. So they started over and rocked through the song, which was terrific. The whole arena was cracking up, which was a theme of the show.

The show started off with a dog show. Not kidding. I felt like I was on acid or something, watching this Vegas show starring mutts. Bizarre.

Talib Kweli was an interesting performer and brought some local MCs on stage with him. He had one outstanding song, and the rest blended together for me. Marshall agreed that he was talented, but the songs all sounded the same.

Once the Beasties hit the stage, it was incredible. The energy level in KeyArena ratcheted through the roof as they blasted into songs like “Root Down”, “Sure Shot” and “It Takes Time to Build.” It cracked me up that they were on stage in Seattle wearing Oregon Duck-colored tracksuits. Must have given the Huskies in the crowd heart attacks. I loved it. Either way, the music was amazing and the guys looked like they were having an awesome time. They played parts of White House West with Will Ferrell on the big screens in between songs, played some of their instrumental stuff and even played songs off License to Ill, which they didn’t do last time I saw them. Singing along to “Brass Monkey” really made the laughter flow even harder. “Paul Revere” was sung for the Seattelites at the show.

They did some incredible renditions of Hello Nasty songs like “Super Disco Breakin’” and “Three MCs and One DJ” and made me very happy by playing “Shake Your Rump,” which might be my favorite Beastie boys song. At one point, they showed short films they had made of fans outside the arena before the show, which was hilarious. One girl from Portland said that they should have had a Portland show, which was greeted with much cheering and applause from us Oregonians.

Either way, the end of the show was “Intergalactic,” which had the Boys leave the mainstage and take to a smaller stage right below our section. The aisles were flooded as people ran down to the floor and weren’t stopped by security. It was amazing. They just rocked out so hard. We thought the show might be over, since the lights were up, but suddenly the Boys were back on stage and they ripped into “Sabotage!” Which they dedicated to W. Of course. Everyone was jumping, screaming, dancing, and tearing the roof off. It was insane.

Good thing we had a long ride home, because I needed to calm down before bed.

Quote of the Day: “You're scheming on a thing that's a mirage/I'm trying to tell you now it's sabotage/Why; our backs are now against the wall/Listen all of y'all it's a sabotage.” Sabotage, Beastie Boys

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