This weekend is the All Points West festival, just a short ferry ride from Manhattan. The festival kicked off last night with Jay-Z as the headliner, who was a last-minute replacement for The Beastie Boys, who were forced to withdraw when Adam "MCA" Yauch was diagnosed with cancer.

Jay-Z began his set with a tribute to MCA by covering the group's "No Sleep Till Brooklyn". The two-minute plus video I saw on YouTube is quite remarkable to watch as it shows arguably hip hop's biggest star making a classy gesture to the group who would have been in his slot at APW if the world was a little more just.

The last time Jay-Z performed at a festival, you may recall, was at Glastonbury in the UK last year, and that year it was surrounded in controversy because Noel Gallagher of Oasis said that he thought it was "wrong" to have a rapper perform at the festival that "has a tradition of guitar music". Jay-Z got the last laugh, though, when he opened his set with a terrible rendition of Oasis' hit "Wonderwall".

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Adam Yauch, better known as MCA, released some sad news to his fans via their website yesterday. The 44-year-old rapper announced that a cancerous lymph node was found in his left parotid (salivary) gland. He discovered it as a lump growing several months ago. His prognosis is excellent, and because it has not metastasized, it will be easily treatable with surgery and radiation. In addition (and relief to fans everywhere), it is not in an area where his vocal cords will be affected.

As a result, the Beastie Boys' summer tour dates have been cancelled, and will also prevent the release of their newest album Hot Sauce Committee Part I.

2007 was the first year I really got into shooting live music. Its a great form of photography that you cannot fully apreciate until you have shot it. Every show is a challenge. You often cannot be sure of how much time you will have, lighting conditions, how many other photographers are shooting, where you will be able to shoot from, etc.

That being said, I have seen countless amazing Live shots from our talented NW Photogs. I decided to include five shots from other photographers and five of my personal favorites I shot from the past year. Aww the memories. In no particular order...

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The Beastie plan to re-record the album with vocals, and they're getting other folks to help with all that singin'. And one of the first to sign on is none other than Jarvis Cocker.

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But I guess that is the way of the future, so whatever. Truly, whatever.

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at The Gorge

Soon Mike D was on the mic letting everyone know that they were going to warm it up and “burn this motherfucker down” and as they jumped into “Gratitude," it was like they were saying thanks to the crowd for braving the cold.

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If you haven't heard by now, there's a last-minute show going down at the Croc on Friday night featuring one of the Sasquatch headliners (and the tenth greatest band of all time, according to Spin magazine).

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