Tenacious D’s Jack Black signals the combined IQ of his last few movie roles at the Fillmore on Monday. Photos by Evan Semon.
A quarter century ago they urged teens to fight for their right to party.
Now well into their 40s, the are all grown up and fighting for your right to vote for their party. Billed as a get-out-the-vote party, it was really a Barack-the-vote show at the sold-out Monday night, the final night of the Beasties’ seven-city swing through states teetering on the fence between the two dominant presidential contenders.
With an overly shrill opening and the legendary Beasties dexterously flexing their verbal chops, it was more of a straight-up show than a preachy stump stop.
Tenacious D did their satirical best to trump Spinal Tap, with loud and obtuse tunes churned through a pair of manically pawed acoustic guitars. If there wasn’t a hilarious movie dude on one of those guitars, Tenacious D would simply be obnoxious. But there is and he’s funny, so itap ironical. Get it?
The Beastie Boys bounded onto stage with manning the spinning vinyl. “Body Movin’” was flawless and all bodies obeyed as the Fillmore was submerged in the rhythmic rapping of hip-hop’s master trio. Considering the lack of drums, Mike “Mike D” Diamond, Adam “MCA” Yauch and Adam “Ad-Rock” Horovitz can muster a mighty rhythm. “Can’t Won’t Don’t Stop” displayed their beat-boxed prowess and call-to-arms message with lines like, “Rise fallen fighters take your stance again / Don’t think too much about the color of skin.”
“Root Down” featured more pulsating syncopation and tongue-twisting agility as the Boys bounced from one side of the stage to the other, whipping a well-behaved and densely packed crowd into a hopping mass. Ad-Rock noted a “synergy and resonance” in the Fillmore before diving into a frenzied “So What’cha Want.” “Intergalactic” was another crowd shaker, with the three MCs showing they haven’t lost their edge as they wander into midlife as multi-platinum millionaires.
In urging the crowd to vote, the Boys uttering of the name Obama harvested raging applause versus boisterous booing for the name McCain. It was, after all, a Democratap party. Tenacious D joined the Beasties late in the speedy 60-minute set, with Ad-Rock and MCA plucking guitars. The encore, a loud, sloppy, punked-yet-funky “Sabotage,” was dedicated to President Bush and a final push to the polls with the command “Letap do this tomorrow.”
Jason Blevins is a reporter at The Denver Post and regular Reverb contributor.
Evon Semon is a Denver freelance photographer.
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