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Mike D | Tony Bontana
Albert Hall, Manchester
27th October 2026
The Beastie Boys legend Mike D brings his progressive solo album and classic cuts to a packed Albert Hall.
Mike D is calling this the Thank You tour, and not for nothing. In fact, he pauses mid-show to express his gratitude for Manchester’s musical history, naming everybody from Joy Division and the Smiths to The Fall and The Durutti Column. It serves as a reminder of two things: first, that this legendary member of the Beastie Boys is every bit as musically multi-faceted as the group he was a key part of for thirty years. Second, it illustrates that Mike isn’t on stage tonight because he needs to be, but rather because he wants to be.
It was a surprise, earlier this year, when he announced his intention to release a solo record; both himself and fellow surviving Beastie Ad-Rock have kept a low musical profile since quietly disbanding the group in the wake of MCA’s death in 2015. That album, Thank You, is one of the year’s best, with Mike sounding genuinely re-energised as he leans into his more electronic impulses with gloriously chaotic results.
After playing a smattering of small club shows earlier in the year by way of reintroduction, the question was always of how well these new tracks would translate to bigger stages. And despite the fact that glitchy, futuristic sound collages are what define Thank You, this is not simply a case of Mike being backed by a laptop; his 5D band, a five-piece, contains both of his sons and another couple of members their age, and they bring a fizzing energy that Mike matches all the way. The new material sounds towering live; huge, skittering breakbeats define Switch Up, while the atmospheric, blown-out fuzz of Secrets Pt. 1 and 2 amounts to sounds like something that Atari Teenage Riot forgot to record. Plus, it feels as if Mike’s love for the musical history of Manchester wasn’t just lip service – there is a palpable Stone Roses influence running under True Colours, the record’s lead single, which, performed live, lends itself to an awesome wall of sound.
A lot of the fresher cuts feel as if they’re of a piece with Mike’s remixing work, something that’s kept him busy for a decade or so now, and it’s also worth pointing out the similarities between some of the Thank You tracks and the work of tonight’s opener, Tony Bontana, who proved across a superb set that, like Mike, his best instrumentals play more like sound collages. Still, there’s room for a dip into the Beasties catalogue too, encompassing both deep cuts – there’s a brooding Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun and an irresistibly groovy take on 3-Minute Rule – and classics; Body Movin’ brings the atmosphere to feral levels, which is where they stay for a triumphant last few tracks that conclude with a massive singalong for So Whatcha Want. The Beastie Boys died with MCA, but after a long break from making his own music, Mike D is finding new ways to honour their legacy and keep their spirit alive.
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Mike D can be found at his Facebook|Instagram|website
Words byJoe Goggins: find him on Xhere
Photos by Adam Edwards.You can find Adam at hiswebsite,InstagramandFacebook
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