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2004-11-11 - 2:49

From here to Gardena

So, the Beasties show tonight was quite excellent. Apparently, it was the first time that they had ever come to Ottawa and it was the first time that I had seen them, so it was certainly a treat.

From the dog show that unexpectedly started the night (Bob Moore and his Amazing Mongrels) to the concert closer, "Sabotage," it was a killer show. Talib Kweli came out very hard and raw in his delivery; but proved to be quite selfless, seeming to have more interest in getting the crowd fired up than in taking care to showcase his songs. He didn't mind sharing the stage with some rather impressive breakdancers that he pulled out of the crowd or letting his DJ take over. I was most taken by Kweli's freestyle segments, which raised the energy level.

The crowd earned a mixed grade. The number of people who arrived in costume was suprisingly high; and a lot of the outfits were very well done. On the downside, the audience was not as wired as I would have expected, which probably contributed to my feeling that the Beasties' heavier songs didn't pop as much as I had been anticipating. (That said, "So What'cha Want" was still the best song of the night.)

The knucklehead factor was on par for expectations. There were a few unreasonably pushy people around us; but it seemed like a pretty tame crowd from my vantage point, which made the Beasties anti-crowd-surfing speech feel like an unncessary interruption. (I don't see why that the rant couldn't have been held until the downtime between songs.) I'm pretty sure that most of the crowd surfing came after the band's directive, anyway.

As for the main set itself, the B-Boys were in fine form. Mix Master Mike anchored the concert, helping to cover the transitions when the Beasties were changing outfits or switching between mics and instruments. The early portion of the evening had them rapping through numbers such as "Root Down," "Triple Trouble," "Pass the Mic," and "Shake Your Rump."

At the middle, the band had an instrumental passage, assisted by Money Mark and Alfredo Ortiz. The mellower songs in this segment were cool, except for "Something's Got to Give," during which the bass was so insanely out of proportion with its volume that it obscured the rest of the instruments. Every time Yauch played a few notes, it was like being punched in the throat.

After trading out the instruments and donning game-themed T-shirts (extra points to Adrock for choosing "Scrabble"), the band continued to roll through their catalogue, from songs as old as "Paul Revere" and "Brass Monkey" to new numbers such as "An Open Letter to NYC" and "Ch-Check It Out." As I mentioned before, though, "So What'cha Want" was my favourite. (No surprises there.)

The first encore saw them appear at the back of the arena for "Intergalactic" (which must have sucked for the guys in the construction worker outfits who I hadn't noticed at the front until that song started). The night ended with the full band and Mix Master Mike dropping "Gratitude" and "Sabotage."

All in all, a very stong concert that has left me in a good mood for all of the other shows that I have lined up for the next few weeks.

(At some point, I'll clean this entry up, add some details, and post it as a more formal review on my home page.)

J.

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