Pitchfork: Beastie Boys Unveil More Tour Dates

Beastie Boys Unveil More Tour Dates
Brent DiCrescenzo boards 747 for Osaka

Jeremy C. Baron & Ryan Schreiber report:
That trio of increasingly mild-mannered, true-to-roots rappers, The Beastie Boys, are making dollaz dollaz off To the 5 Boroughs: The album has just been RIAA-certified as a platinum release, having sold over one million copies to the fine, upstanding citizens of the United States of America. No, sir, it ain't a bad living for three boys from the slumz of New York City. Ahhhh, New York. The birthplace of Nas, Jay-Z, and most other tenets of East Coast hip-hop. New York! The city to which the Beastie Boys owe at least a portion of their fame, fortune and success. And what do they do now? Abandon it!

Scandalous, indeed: The Beasties Three are selling their mortal souls to the dearth of culture and society that is the West Coast with an upcoming-- what's that?-- three-date jaunt through Long Beach, San Francisco, and Seattle. That's right, no stops in New York this fall, much less the likes of Beantown. And not even a flirtation with our beloved Chicago, the murder capital of the world! (If, y'know, you don't include Baghdad.)

Of course, while the crux of their latest string of dates lies in the West (we understand there's gold in them thar hills?), it is to the Boys' remarkable versatility that they've seen fit to make it out to a few other totally arbitrary locales: Next weekend, they'll hit Japan's Summersonic Festival, for example. And the final date? Well, it's in Louisiana. Ahhhh, Louisiana. The birthplace of Juvenile, Lil Wayne, B.Geezie and Turk ("Them niggaz is tha Hot Boys, tha Hot Boys!"). Louisiana! Just one state in an axis of Dirty South madness that also includes the big VA and Atlanta! It would make so much sense, if they weren't sharing a bill with Green Day, Kid Rock, the Pixies and Sonic Youth. Unless it was part of the Voodoo Music Experience, which it is, and then it would blow our minds with how much sense it makes.

Ch-check it out: By the time they've finished with this round, the Beasties will have played all of 12 dates since their album's June release. Oh, it's true that there are more shows in the works, and that probably like 100 of those will take place at Madison Square Garden or Central Park or Times Square or something, and then we'll look pretty dumb for all these turncoat accusations. But we're sure you'll agree that these news stories greatly benefit from all our wacky angles and unusual spins. (...) Until then: God, betrayal hurts. Dates:

08-06 Osaka, Japan - Summersonic Festival
08-07 Tokyo, Japan - Summersonic Festival
09-14 Long Beach, CA - Long Beach Arena *
09-16 San Francisco, CA - Bill Graham Civic Auditorium *
09-19 Seattle, WA - Key Arena *
10-16 New Orleans, LA - Voodoo Music Experience

* with Talib Kweli