Reviewing the Gdynia Gala Event

View a slideshow of the pics from the Gdynia Gala Event by clicking on the photo above or go to Flickr to see the photoset.

For our last show of the European tour (at least for now), Midzi and I -- and a bunch of other fans -- were treated to an unusually long set at the tent stage at the Heineken Open'er Festival. The show clocked in at about 1 hour 50 minutes. I suspect the band performed a longer set than usual as a thank you to the fans who stood in the rain and mud to watch them perform on the main stage the previous night.

Special guests on the side stage during the Gala Event included Tamra Davis with Davis and Skylar. Let me tell ya, Tamra and Mike made some cute babies! Those boys are adorable. They wore special headphones to protect their little ears from the "noise" their daddy and his friends make.

Everyone in the band, except Adam Yauch, seemed to be in really high spirits during the show. We're not sure what Yauch's problem was, but he seemed cranky and distracted to us. It might have been due to some technical difficulties. At one point during the show, his amplifier malfunctioned and the audience was subjected to constant bass reverb. We were standing close to one of the bass speakers on the ground, and our legs were vibrating. We thought it was funny; Yauch did not think it was funny. His mic also wasn't working properly. We couldn't hear his vocals throughout the entire show.

We could, however, hear Adam Horovitz very clearly. He was a dynamo for the Gala Event, telling stories, dancing, and showing the audience that he was having fun doing his thang. Midzi and I decided it's the band's attitude and general fun play that separate the hip-hop sets from the Gala Events. In an interview for the Heineken Open'er Festival newspaper, Horovitz even stated that it's the Gala Events at which they have the most fun. (We'll be posting that interview soon.)

For the introduction of "Ricky's Theme," Horovitz told another Ricky Powell story (there must be a million of them!) -- this time about Ricky selling pot. "He used to sell pot," Horovitz corrected himself.

Later in the show, Horovitz apologized for not speaking Polish and for the band's waiting 12 years to return to Poland. Horovitz asked Money Mark to come to the front of the stage and provide a toast to Poland. Mark held up a glass and said, "Na zdrowie!" which delighted the audience. Horovitz repeated Mark's gesture and words.

As I've said in the past, you can always count on Michael Diamond for some goofy talk. At the Gala Event in Gydnia, Mike directed all his goofy comments toward Horovitz.

"How many friends do you have on Myspace, Adam?" Mike asked Horovitz. (It seemed to be an inside joke.)

"I don't know. Be my friend? Please?" Horovitz begged the audience.

Toward the end of the show, Mike told the audience that he and Horovitz had been arguing about ratatouille. He explained that he felt bad about the argument and asked Horovitz to forgive and make up with him in front of the audience.

"Gimme a hug," Mike requested.

"Can't we just shake hands?" Horovitz answered. Mike shook his head no and gave Horovitz an exaggerated hug. (Damn my hands and camera for not working fast enough to capture the hug!)

During a break between songs, someone in the audience threw a roll of toilet paper on stage. Horovitz looked at it and said with a goofy grin, "Thank you for the toilet paper." Yauch looked out into the audience and gave them a WTF? shrug.

When the band returned to the stage for the encore, with champagne glasses in their hands, someone in the audience got Horovitz' attention and called him to the floor. To everyone's surprise, Horovitz jumped into the audience and went to the fan. We couldn't see what happened on the floor. We only saw Horovitz being pulled out of the audience by Beastie Boys security, who was shaking his head at Horovitz disapprovingly.

At show's end, Midzi and I were both happy that the European tour ended for us on a such high note -- a great setlist, a great environment, and no injury. The only victim of the Heineken Open'er Festival were our shoes, which we had to pitch because the mud destroyed them.

Michał Parucki, a fan who attended both Beastie Boys sets at the Heineken Open'er Festival, submitted a number of photos to us. I didn't take any photos during the hip-hop set because of the rain, so I appreciate Michał's sharing. View a slideshow of Michał's pics by clicking on the photo below or go to Flickr to see the photoset. The first seven photos are from the hip-hop set and the remainder are from the Gala Event.



Photos