Beastie Boys’ Mike D has added more UK dates to his 2026 solo tour, including a headline appearance at Brighton’s Mutations Festival alongside Fat Dog.
The rapper has embarked on a new solo chapter this year, sharing his debut solo single ‘Switch Up’ in May – the first new music from any Beastie Boys member since the trio’s final album, 2011’s ‘Hot Sauce Committee Part Two’. He will release his debut album ‘Thank You’ on August 28 – pre-order here.
He has also been playing live alongside his sons Davis and Skyler Diamond, members of the indie-dance band Very Nice Person, including a UK and European run in June that saw them appear at unusually intimate venues.
Mike D has now extended the tour into the autumn, beginning with a headline slot at Mutations Festival in Brighton on October 24. Dates in Glasgow, Manchester and London’s O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire will then follow, before a European run.
At Mutations, Fat Dog will headline the opening night on Friday October 23, with Mike D topping the bill at Chalk the following evening. The two acts are the first headliners announced for the festival’s eighth edition, with over 90 more artists set to be revealed.
Mike D’s performance will mark the first live appearance by a Beastie Boys member in Brighton since the group played the Brighton Centre with Run-DMC in May 1987.
Tickets for Mutations go on sale at 10am on Wednesday (July 22) here, while you can pick up tickets for the other UK shows from 10am on Friday (July 24) here.
Mike D will play:
OCTOBER
24 – Brighton, Chalk (Mutations Festival)
26 – Glasgow, SWG3 TV Studio
27 – Manchester, Albert Hall
28 – London, O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire
30 – Amsterdam, Melkweg
31 – Lille, L’Aéronef
NOVEMBER
1 – Cologne, Carlswerk Victoria
3 – Lausanne, Les Docks
4 – Lyon, Le Transbordeur
5 – Brussels, Ancienne Belgique
Since ‘Switch Up’, Mike D has released three further singles from ‘Thank You’, in the form of ‘What We Got‘, ‘True Colors’ and ‘Crypto’.
Speaking to NME about why he had taken so long to pursue solo music, Mike D reflected on the death of Beastie Boys bandmate Adam “MCA” Yauch in 2012.
“We so much loved all three of us being in a band with each other for Beastie Boys,” he said. “When Yauch died, it was an extremely sad time for me, so making music was just not on the table. Then being a dad was something I put myself into and eventually I worked on the Beastie Boys Book with Adam [‘Ad-Rock’ Horovitz], and that really helped both of us as we were really able to shine a light on our past together.”
Discussing the influence of his sons on ‘Thank You’, he added: “They were extremely frank with me on my vocals, which was super helpful.”
“The way I describe the record is that musically it’s still pretty immature, and lyrically it’s a little bit more mature,” he continued. “I just feel like there’s more of the things I had to tap into. I had to learn how to feel all over again.”
