NOTE: All photos are copyright of Dean Keim 2026
Famous Beastie Boy Michael Diamond (aka rapper Mike D) brought his solo tour back to his NYC hometown for a show at the Knockdown Center, a 1903 glass factory turned art and performance space in the industrial outskirts of Queens. He is playing with his new band called the Mike D 5D, which also features his sons Skyler and Davis Diamond (also in the band Very Nice Person), playing in support of Mike D’s very first solo album Thank You, which has become one of my favorite releases of the year so far.
Michael “Mike D” Diamond started the Beastie Boys in the early 80’s with bassist Adam Yauch, his childhood pal from Brooklyn, and the two punks were eventually joined by singer and guitarist Adam Horovitz as well as founding drummer Kate Schellenbach (who later went on to help found the band Lucious Jackson). They were a hardcore punk band, playing with bands including Bad Brains, the Misfits, and the Dead Kennedys at punk-friendly NYC venues like CBGB, A7, and Max’s Kansas City. They pivoted into rap in 1983 as kind of a joke at first, but these three little jewish punk kids, going by Ad-Rock, MCA, and Mike D, clearly had the flow and talent for the rap game, and their love and appreciation for the hip-hop scene shone through. Their music got a whole lot more intense when Rick Rubin, the DJ who opened their shows (at the time a reclusive NYU student but became a super producer in the next decade), masterfully merged their rap with classic rock samples and full rock band backing, as well as sweet guitar solos by thrash metal axe player Kerry King, producing what would become the biggest crossover hit in the music game of the time with their debut 1986 album Licensed to Ill, the first rap album to go number 1 on the charts! They played alongside everybody from Madonna to Public Image Ltd., Fishbone, LL Cool J, and their close buds Run-DMC. After their label Def Jam stiffed them for a massive amount of royalties, they split up for a short time but reformed in LA a couple years later, signing with Capital Records and working with the amazing producer duo Dust Brothers for their sample frenzy Paul’s Boutique, which grew the band into funk and R&B. For their next album Check Your Head, they formed their own label Grand Royal and really went back to basics, performing at clubs and smaller stages and playing their own instruments, with Mike D on drums, which he had been playing since Schellenbach left.
Despite their chart success, it wasn’t until 1994’s Ill Communication that the band returned to No. 1 on the charts. 1998’s Hello Nasty continued their dominance of the charts in the ’90s, while also showcasing their love of musical diversity. In 2000, a bike accident left Mike D severely injured and in need of rehabilitation, although around this time he also started a brief career as a country-western singer under the name Country Mike. 2003’s To the 5 Boroughs was a much more straightforward hip-hop release, as well as a love letter to NYC in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. It took several years to follow that up, but they finally released their next album, Hot Sauce Committee in 2011. Sadly, the next year, Adam Yauch died from cancer, and the band was over for good. Although Mike D has expressed hesitation about going out on his own, he has performed solo before, and I caught him a couple of times on his last outing as a solo act in 2018. That show seemed like a more stripped-down version of this one, with pretty much Mike himself and a turntable, along with a backing DJ who eventually joined him. He also played some of the old Beastie Boys hits then, but he also showcased his great love of samba, jazz fusion, and dub reggae—musical influences that were also evident on his excellent Apple Music radio show, The Echo Chamber. Mike D has been working on his latest album for many years, but it’s clear that his sons had a big influence on getting him back in the game. They’ve also helped widen his musical horizons even further than they already were.
After a short WrestleMania-style video introduction, Mike D came out and wasted no time making his fans happy with a generous helping of Beastie Boys nostalgia, opening with the classic “Hello Brooklyn.” At one point, he asked whether he was in Brooklyn, which is understandable, as the venue’s location in Maspeth is kind of a no man’s land between boroughs. He was flanked by guitarists Will Graefe and Eddie Ruscha, but also had the latter’s brother, Milo Ruscha, hanging out and switching through various instruments. Mike D’s own sons largely stayed bouncing around behind the wall of light consoles, making noises on the boards and sometimes doing some backing vocals, but they seemed to be having a great time. I even caught them hugging and laughing together multiple times. D’s setlist did have much of the new album jumbled in order, and it all sounded perfectly performed, from “Switch Up” to “What We Got” and “Crypto.” He did make sure to pepper in the Beastie classics throughout the night, from the hard rock of “Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun” to a very cool rendition of “3-Minute Rule” and the very welcome inclusion of “Body Movin’.” They finished the main set with the very poignant new track “Thank You” before coming back on and playing a very unexpected cover of Delta 5’s “Mind Your Own Business.” It was at that point that he borrowed a Knicks jersey from someone in the audience, proudly wearing the vintage shirt while playing the classic “So What’cha Want,” for which even his sons came up front onstage to mosh around.
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