Beastie Boys and Bonnaroo have uploaded the band’s last-ever concert — a 2009 headlining gig at the Tennessee music festival — on YouTube just for this weekend.
The June 12th, 2009 show — the Beasties’ final performance prior to Adam “MCA” Yauch’s cancer diagnosis later that year — was first rebroadcast earlier this week as part the festival’s Virtual Roo-ality livestream; due to Covid-19, Bonnaroo 2020 was rescheduled to take place this weekend before it was postponed entirely until 2021.
“The last gig…,” Beastie Boys tweeted Friday. “We’ve heard from so many fans around the world that were unable to tune in last night, so our friends at @Bonnaroo are letting the set live online through the weekend.”
For the headlining gig, the Beastie Boys delivered a 90-minute career-spanning set that leaned on their albums Ill Communication, Check Your Head and Hello Nasty. Midway through the set, Nas appeared to perform “Too Many Rappers” from their then-upcoming LP Hot Sauce Committee; the album was ultimately released in 2011, a year before Yauch’s death.
Ad-Rock and Mike D have reflected on the Beastie Boys’ legacy throughout 2020, including an Apple TV documentary and a new greatest hits collection.
