The Berkeley Beacon

Issue date: 4/6/06 Section: Arts and Entertainment

Media Credit: emi.fi

Few nights will ever compare to the majesty of Oct. 9, 2004. On that evening, the Beastie Boys, one of the most popular, ground-breaking bands of the past two decades, was playing in support of its newest studio album, To The Five Boroughs.

For one night only, the three Beasties-Adam "MCA" Yauch, Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz, and Michael "Mike D" Diamond-would accomplish the most far-fetched feat of any NYC band and play Madison Square Garden. Needless to say, not since the glory days of Ewing, Oakley and Starks had a trio rocked the Garden to its very core.

More importantly, however, the show was being filmed.

But there was something different about its recording process; 50 Hi-8-wielding audience members and a handful of professional videographers shot the show and helped sow the seeds of what appears to be the world's most daunting editing job since Debbie Does Dallas was modified for primetime television-the 90-minute long concert film entitled Awesome! I Fuckin' Shot That!, which hit theatres last Friday.

Having been a die-hard Beastie Boys fan since the age of six (pathetic perhaps, but I like to think of myself as dedicated), I made it my business to go home to New York City for the event.

While it was not the best concert I'd ever seen (a previous Beastie Boys show wins that coveted title), it was by all means Earth-shattering. Needless to say, I wondered how the show would make the literal transition from stage to screen.

After the 20-minute yawn that was "A Day In The Life Of Nathaniel Hornblöwer," starring former Emersonian David Cross, a prologue crawled up the screen explaining, among other things, the premise of the film.

As I prepared to re-live the concert experience, backstage footage showed the Boys and their band doing weird pre-performance rituals.

What sets this concert film apart from previous ones are shots just like this, even ones that don't take place in the concert, namely when one cameraman takes a bathroom break during "All Lifestyles," a song that pretty much begs you to get out before your ears bleed.

Unfortunately, one may think that too many liberties may have been taken in post-production.

Songs such as "Body Movin'" and "Gratitude" got the thermo-cam treatment, which looked just as silly now as it did in 1992's visual rendition of "So What'cha Want."

Also, a fan with dance moves rivaling those of your drunken aunt Harriet at your Bat Mitzvah appears to be dancing with MCA behind a picturesque, tropical backdrop during "Three MC's and One DJ."

Continued...

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