Beastie Boys Prove Punk Is Still a Rage

Hard-core punk isn’t exactly music for the masses, with all those grinding chords, screams of anger, swirling mosh pits and near-total lack of melody. That’s just fine for the Beastie Boys, who still dabble in this stuff and can easily transform predictable rage into pure, euphoric energy.

Still more snotty than serious, the Beasties headlined a four-band concert on Monday at the Palace to benefit Clean Needles Now, a group that promotes the distribution of clean hypodermic needles to drug addicts.

Looking Devo-esque in matching orange jumpsuits, the Beasties resurrected their early punk days, ignoring their hip-hop material in favor of such punk chestnuts as the Circle Jerks’ “Red Tape” and their own “Transit Cop.” With Michael Diamond handling vocals, it came off as absolutely authentic--just more evidence of the Beasties’ growth from blissfully irritating brats to masters of all shades of punk, funk and hip-hop.

If Monday’s hard-core gig was just a lark for the Beasties, the genre is a way of life for New York’s Sick of It All, whose often effective (if limited) grindcore left the mosh pit crowded and exhausted. D.F.L.’s set, by contrast, was monotonous thug-rock, only occasionally pummeled into a worthwhile groove. Lots of attitude, but little else. Opening the show were the Red Aunts, a Los Angeles quartet that played edgy punk and charmingly tough song fragments built on the simplest and most memorable of riffs.