After making a surprise appearance on stage with his sons, Beastie Boys‘ Mike D has now confirmed a handful of rare live headline shows.
The hip-hop pioneer took to the stage with his sons – who together form the alt-band Very Nice Person – on April 11.
He joined them at the Ojai Valley Women’s Club after the band teased a “very special guest”, and together they broke out the huge hit ‘So What’cha Want’ from the 1992 album ‘Check Your Head’, as well as ‘Looking Down The Barrel Of A Gun’ from the 1989 album ‘Paul’s Boutique’.
Now, he has confirmed that he will be taking to the stage again very soon, and has some solo shows with new material planned for the US later this month.
These include two slots in California tonight and Sunday (May 7 and 10), held at the Plaza Night Club and Dance Hall and the Sid The Cat Auditorium respectively. From there, he will head over to Brooklyn for shows at the Xanadu Roller Arts venue on May 22 and 23.
“Los Angeles and Brooklyn. It’s happening. Shows. New music. Switch Up. Let’s Go,” he said, announcing the news on Instagram yesterday (Wednesday May 6). Visit here for tickets.
Mike D hasn’t hit the road as a Beastie Boy since his bandmate Adam “MCA” Yauch passed away in 2012.
After the surprise slot with Very Nice Person, local outlet Ojai Valley News published an interview with Ojai Playhouse owner David Berger, shedding more insight into how the collab came together.
“It came about just through befriending Mike and learning about his love for Ojai. He and I connected through his visits here and showed interest in wanting to do a show here and I was really focused on making that happen for him” Berger said.
A self-proclaimed “huge Beastie Boys fan my whole life”, Berger added that the gig was put together in “less than a week” and added that “it was a thrill to have Mike and his sons perform in Ojai. Not only do I feel that way, but I think the whole town feels that way.”
Before then, Beastie Boys dropped a deluxe reissue of their 2004 album, ‘To The Five Boroughs’.