(REUTERS – 6T MAY) British rockers Coldplay paid homage to the late Beastie Boys’ rapper Adam Yauch by singing the hip-hop group’s debut single “(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party)” on Friday (May 4).
Lead singer Chris Martin played piano and sang on stage at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles in an acoustic version of the normally aggressive, guitar and beat driven rap song.
Martin added an extra line to the end of the song “We’re sending all our love to the Beastie Boys”.
The video called “RIP MCA”, Yauch’s stage name, was on Coldplay’s website and has racked up 52,200 hits on YouTube as of 1745GMT on Saturday (May 5).
Yauch died on Friday after a battle with cancer. He was 47.
The Beastie Boys sold some 40 million records worldwide over more than 20 years. As time passed, Yauch branched into filmmaking and activism, helping raise money for various causes including efforts to help free Tibet from Chinese rule.
Yauch and Martin are both lauded for their support of human rights causes, including the non-governmental organisation Amnesty International.