Mike D has made a surprise appearance on stage with his sons, joining them to perform some Beastie Boys tracks – check out fan footage below.
The surprise appearance took place on April 11, when the alt-band Very Nice Person announced a gig at the Ojai Valley Women’s Club which would feature a “very special guest”.
The band is comprised of Mike D’s sons, Skyler and Davis Diamond, so immediately the announcement of a surprise guest had some rumours swirling that the special plans for the one-off gig could be related to Beastie Boys.
As they took to the stage at the community center, they introduced the 60-year-old rapper to the stage to break 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 iconic 1989 album ‘Paul’s Boutique’.
“What a night (!!!) getting to host @vnpveryniceperson with very special surprise guest @miked at The Ojai Woman’s Club on Saturday. Thanks for joining us Ojai,” the venue owners wrote on Instagram, sharing footage from the night.
Another fan, who was in the audience for the gig, also shared footage on Reddit and described what it was like to see the hip-hop icon appear for a surprise performance.
“Getting to see him perform on-stage again for the first time in nearly 19 years was very special,” they wrote in the caption, also adding that it was “a nice little surprise and was cool of them to send the crowd home with their biggest hit”.
Find more footage below.
The illest motherf'er from here to Ojai
byu/BigRedFury inBeastieBoys
A local outlet, Ojai Valley News, has also 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.”
The surprise slot came shortly after Beastie Boys dropped a deluxe reissue of their 2004 album, ‘To The Five Boroughs’, and on the heels of Mike D also joining Very Nice Person on stage in Malibu for a rendition of ‘So What’cha Want’.