Beastie Boys @ McCarren Park Pool
August 13th, 2007 - by John
A cry of Hellllllllllllllllllllo Brooklyn pierced the early evening air. It was on. The sold out crowd at McCarren Park Pool was ready for the Beastie Boys’ first ever Brooklyn show.
McCarren Park Pool opened in July of 1936 in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. It was one of ten public pools built in New York City during the Great Depression with funds from the Works Progress Administration. McCarren is the size of three Olympic pools combined- which puts its capacity at around 6,800 swimmers. It cost a million dollars to build.
McCarren in 1937 (Image courtesy of Brownstoner)
Thursday (August 9th) night was another story- there hasn’t been water in McCarren Pool since 1983- and currently the facility is home to a series of summer films and concerts. I arrived just before the show began and decided to grab some dinner. Local Williamsburg establishment Warsaw had a food tent at the venue and they were serving pirogues- they were excellent. I got my hot plate just as the show began, and managed to down the entire thing before “Root Down” was over. Well I thought- I’ll wash these down with a beer. Brooklyn Brewery was manning the beer tents- it all seemed very appropriate. After purchasing two beer tickets (the beers looked small) I spent the rest of the Beastie’s opening set in line to buy beer (about an hour). Good times.
That being said, positioning was such that I could still see and hear everything. Mike D, MCA and Ad-Rock were high energy- to say the least- and kicked out set featuring a fair number of their hits including “Pass The Mic,” “Paul Revere” and “Body Movin.” Rev Run (of Run DMC) made a guest appearance on “Check It Out” which was also cool. The boys were joined by regulars Mix Master Mike on the turntables and Money Mark on keys. The set also featured a fair number of instrumental cuts from the Beasties’ new record Off The Grid. Truthfully- I felt the set could have been a little lighter on the instrumental stuff- but at the same time- I respect that the guys were excited to play their new record.
McCarren in 2007 (Image courtesy of TWI-NY)
The encore was preceded by a sweet Mix Master Mike breakdown- during which he wore a robot helmet- which I think improves any situation. It also proved be a harbinger- the encore kicked off with the robotic “Intergalactic” followed by “Sabotage” and the appropriate closer “No Sleep Till Brooklyn”. It was hard to believe that in their twenty plus years together the native New Yorkers had never played Brooklyn. Hopefully- unlike my time in the beer line- it was worth the wait.
Check out this video of the evenings rendition of “Sabatoge”.
