7 Minute Miles

Beastie Boys and Tenancious D at Roy Wilkins


Still way behind on posts, so here’s the most recent…

A week ago Saturday, Colleen and I went down to Roy Wilkins Auditorium (site of our high school graduation) to see Tenacious D, Ben Harper and the Beastie Boys for a Rock the Vote concert. We’ve never seen any of them before and tickets were only $35, so we decided to use the valuable tickets instead of selling them to a broker (the 6,000 ticket show sold out instantly).

I was just as excited to see the D as I was the Beastie Boys, seeing as how my work servers are named JB, KG, Lee and Sasquatch. They only played for about 45 minutes, but it was awesome:

  • Kielbasa
  • History
  • Dude (I Totally Miss You)
  • Kyle Quit
  • Friendship
  • Saxaboom
  • The Government Totally Sucks
  • Wonderboy
  • City Hall
  • F*ck Her Gently
  • Tribute

The Ben Harper set was extremely loud. I didn’t really know much about him going in, but he played well and was enjoyable. JB and KG came out for some vocal contributions during a cover of Queen’s Under Pressure, which was one of the highlights of the night for me.

The Beastie Boys set was a total flashback to our high school days. 44-year-old MCA is still our favorite – such a cool, unique voice. He definitely has lost a step on Mike D and King Ad-Rock, though. Mix Master Mike shined during Three MC’s and One DJ and I loved the opening to No Sleep Til’ Brooklyn, which sent chills down my spine.

The sound in the auditorium wasn’t the greatest for their vocals, but it was plenty loud on everything else. The boys all played instruments during the encore, which was a trip to watch. I especially enjoyed seeing MCA play the distinctive riff from Gratitude. I was also happy to have Ad-Rock repeatedly correct Mike D about which city he was in. Maybe it was that Andy Samberg hair messin’ with his mind…

Here is the set list, as quoted by the Star Tribune:

  • Super Disco Breakin’
  • Flute Loop
  • Alright Hear This
  • Sure Shot
  • Pass the Mic
  • Check It Out
  • Root Down
  • Body Movin’
  • No Sleep Til’ Brooklyn
  • Right Now
  • Three MC’s and One DJ
  • So What ‘Cha Want
  • Intergalactic
  • — Encore —
  • Biz Vs. Nuge
  • Time For Livin’
  • Gratitude
  • Sabotage

Vote for Yo Mama!

Originally published by DK on November 10, 2008 at 8:42 pm in Concerts, Longform, Music, Politics


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