Beastie Boys 'Mix-Up' fresh summer dates
The Beastie Boys will launch an all-instrumental album and then get back to exploring their hip-hop roots during a brief August tour.
Unlike the group's new album, "The Mix-Up," and recent festival performances for which the New York trio has typically swapped their microphones for guitars and keyboards, the upcoming shows will feature the Boys "in all their traditional hip hop glory," according to a press release.
Following the August dates, which kick off Aug. 1 in Philadelphia and see the group hitting seven cities through the end of that month, the trio will schedule an unspecified number of "more intimate dates showcasing the band configuration" featured on the new album, according to the release. All of the group's currently scheduled shows are listed below.
The Beastie Boys are currently barnstorming through a busy European schedule, which includes several festival appearances. The full overseas itinerary is posted at the group's website.
"The Mix-Up" is due to hit stores June 26, and is the group's first studio album since 2004's "To the 5 Boroughs," which itself emerged after a six-year gap following 1998's "Hello Nasty." The new album is the group's first instrumental-only effort since the 1996 compilation "The In Sound from Way Out."
"On 'To the 5 Boroughs,' we all put down the instruments and sat behind the computers and made music that way," the group's Mike D recently told pitchforkmedia.com. "[On] this record, we went 180 again and said, 'Okay, let's not sit behind the computers. Let's just play some music together and kind of see what happens that way.'"
All three Boys play instruments on the new album, which is supplemented by contributions from longtime collaborator Mark Ramos-Nishita, also known as Money Mark.
Snippets of songs from the new set can be heard streaming at the group's website, which also includes behind-the-scenes videos of the recording sessions for "The Mix-Up."
August 2007
1 - Philadelphia, PA - Festival Pier
4 - Baltimore, MD - Virgin Festival
6 - Boston, MA - Bank of America Pavilion
8 - New York, NY - Central Park SummerStage
9 - Brooklyn, NY - McCarren Park Pool
16 -Morrison, CO - Red Rocks
23 - Santa Barbara, CA - County Bowl
25 - Berkeley, CA - Greek Theatre
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