Over 10 years ago, the Bestie Boys played their final show at Bonnaroo 2009. The group performed a 24-track setlist that embraced their entire career, even pulling out "Egg Raid on Mojo" off their 1982 EP Polly Wog Stew.
The trio brought out a head-banging performance of “No Sleep Till Brooklyn” and had special guest Nas come out for their performance of “Too Many Rappers.” The rest of their setlist was centered around their 1990’s albums Ill Communication, Check Your Head, and Hello Nasty.
The group then returned for a five-track encore with two performances of "Heart Attack Man" and an energetic performance of "Sabotage" to close out the night, becoming the last song the group would ever perform together.
Check out the full setlist from their final performance below:
The trio's Bonnaroo performance was not expected to be their last, they had many upcoming festival appearances planned and new album Hot Sauce Committee Part 1 to be released on September 15th, 2009. A little over a month after the band's Bonnaroo set they announced that the album release and tour would be postponed because Adam Yauch, their vocalist and bass player, had been diagnosed with salivary gland cancer. Yauch described his diagnosis and having to take time off by saying:
"It's a pain in the neck (sorry had to say it) because I was really looking forward to playing these shows, but the doctors have made it clear that this is not the kind of thing that can be put aside to deal with later."
Sadly, the cancer was much worse than anyone expected. Yauch was not able to continue touring but the group rebuilt their album and released Hot Sauce Committee Part Two in April 2011. About a year later, Adam "MCA" Yauch passed away. Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz and Mike "Mike D" Diamond (the surviving members of the Beastie Boys) swore to never perform without Yauch, making "Sabotage" at Bonnaroo 2009 their final performance.
Revisit the entire Beastie Boys timeline in their new documentary film - "Beastie Boys Story." The film was directed and produced by Spike Jonze, and shot at Brooklyn's King Theatre, where Mike D and Ad-Hoc narrate the tale of “three kids that met and became friends and did all kinds of crazy stuff together for over 30 years." You can watch it exclusively on Apple TV+.
