Coldplay Covers Beastie Boys to Close All Points West

Posted on Aug 3rd 2009 9:00AM by Dan Reilly
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After Sunday's heavy rains delayed the opening of the doors at All Points West by four hours and forced the cancellation of acts like the Gaslight Anthem and Steel Train, the festival got its act together in time to close out with headliner Coldplay performing as scheduled.

The British rockers performed a number of hits, including a massive singalong to 'Yellow,' and like many festival goers, paid tribute to the Beastie Boys, who skipped the fest due to Adam Yauch's cancer. Frontman Chris Martin took to the piano to perform a solo rendition of the Brooklyn trio's '(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!),' which he dedicated to absent friends. The band then wrapped up with an acoustic cover of Michael Jackson's 'Billie Jean,' just as they did the night before at the Osheaga festival in Montreal.

Thus ended the three-day festival at New Jersey's Liberty State Park. Thanks to the potent lineup, All Points West was declared a success in spite of rains that marred Friday and Sunday and an odd-smelling funk that emanated from the mud. Fans braved the rain to see acts like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Vampire Weekend on the first night and were treated to new tunes by the Arctic Monkeys and a blistering set by headliner Tool on Saturday.

The standout performance had to be Jay-Z, who was a late replacement for the Beastie Boys. He opened Friday's headlining set with a cover of their hit, 'No Sleep Till Brooklyn' and paid tribute to Michael Jackson with a quick hit on 'I Want You Back,' which followed the track he samples it on, 'Izzo (H.O.V.A.).' At the beginning of his encore, Jay gave fans a taste of his upcoming 'Blueprint 3' album with a long freestyle before wrapping up with a string of hits that included '99 Problems,' 'Big Pimpin',' 'Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)' and fittingly, 'Encore.'

Check out some highlights below.

Coldplay Covers the Beastie Boys