Mike D 5D at 26 Leafe St London

June 06 2026 – Mike D with Tony Bontana as support at 26 Leake St in London

Firstly full respect to Mike D aka Michael Diamond aka Clarence and his team for the choice of venue or as they have stated in recent interviews, supporting intimate, unconventional grassroots venues.

26 Leake St was the choice in London for two nights, set in London’s iconic South Bank, 26 Leake Street is a bold, industrial venue carved from the city’s famous graffiti tunnel, the smell of recent street art lingering in the air with some great bars and restaurants. To step out of Waterloo station past a busy Nando’s and chain pubs into this environment feels like you’ve been teleported into a dystopian film.

Doors at 7.30pm, we arrived a bit early and watched the queue start to build, the noise of excitement from the sociable line started to grow so we joined in to the relaxed vibe.

Once in we grabbed some merch and found ourselves at the front, no complaints there. The friendly atmosphere just continued on, all around us were tales of Beastie Boys adventures from seeing them live back when to New York trips to visit iconic locations. 

At 8.15 Tony Bontana started his set, a rapper and producer from Birmingham who delivered forty five minutes of great tunes and lyrics, self-controlled beats and even an a-cappella track when the effects pedal and mic died mid set, unfazed he carried on, dark, heavy and a great opener to a great applause.

At 9.30 the background music stopped, the lights dimmed and the reason everyone was there began. The 5D band took to the stage first. The band is a musical project 5D consisting of his sons Davis and Skyler from the band Very Nice person and other members.

Mike D followed the to a rapturous cheer, “Hello London” and the stage went from a 1 to a 10 in energy. Starting with Hello Brooklyn it was obvious the live magic is still there, those recognisable Mike D tones we’ve know since the release on Licensed to Ill in 1986 have not missed a beat. New song What We Got was up next and what a great track, only released a couple of weeks ago. The crowd in the tunnel venue was bouncing. 

Then Mike D stopped and addressed the crowd, “This is a song by a band probably a lot of you know. Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun from Paul’s Boutique in 1989. It was loud it was brash it was awesome.

Part grunge part space rock rap! Crypto was up next then a track called True Colours which wouldn’t feel out of place in an old Beastie Boys set. The set was what everyone hoped for and got, high energy, with Kraftwerk space rock sounds screaming out from guitars over samples with driving dub and hip hop beats, it was truly something to behold.

Finishing up with So What’Cha Want from Check Your Head, even with the majority of the audience bouncing, waving their arms, pointing and singing along the acoustics in that space were more than enough, more than impressive, chest slamming, ear deafening beats.

The gig finished and the crowd slowly departed, setlist were snatched up and few extras from backstage were handed out, mine came from Skylar Diamonds area at the back.

The final Beastie Boys concert was headlining the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Manchester, Tennessee, on June 12, 2009. This was 6 days shy of 17 years later. Anyone lucky enough to get tickets for these Mike D 5D gigs will not forget them in a hurry and will be waiting impatiently for the full solo album and future gigs, Mike D is back, he could be chilling in a bar down in club med but thankfully he’s choosing this journey, and to do it with his sons and that band makes it even more special.