Beastie Boys Live: Old School

Beastie Boys Live: Old School

That inflatable penis may be gone but the Beastie Boys can still arouse a crowd: Aidin Vaziri | Cough. Hack. Wheeze. Beastie Boys? It's hard to imagine a less fitting name for the three middle-aged rappers that appeared at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium on Thursday. They flubbed song lyrics. They hobbled around the stage. Within the first five minutes of the show, two-thirds of the lot were already gasping for air. At least in the early days, they meant to do these things. But nearly 20 years after sparking their live reputation with wild-eyed shows bedecked with go-go dancers and a large inflatable penis (those were the days), Michael "Mike D" Diamond, Adam "MCA" Yauch and Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz still know how to put on a fantastic show. Dressed in matching electric green tracksuits and backed solely by lightning-fingered DJ Mixmaster Mike, the trio compensated for all the mistakes with dumb jokes and goofy charm. When that didn't work, they dusted off classics like "Brass Monkey" and "Shake Your Rump." And when that didn't do the trick either, they made even bigger, louder and more amusing mistakes.