The Best Summer
Beastie Boys, Foo Fighters, Sonic Youth, Beck etc.
Raw footage shows alternative rock legends when they were still very young and yet to be discovered. Featuring: Beastie Boys, Sonic Youth, Foo Fighters, Pavement, Rancid, Beck, The Amps, and Bikini Kill.
American filmmaker Tamra Davis was married to Mike D. of the Beastie Boys in the 90s, when the still-young group went on tour through Australia. A number of other punk bands also participated in this Summersault tour, who were also yet to be discovered: Sonic Youth, Bikini Kill, Pavement, Beck, The Amps (with Kim Deal, bassist of the later group Pixies), and Dave Grohl (ex-Nirvana) with his newly formed group Foo Fighters.
Tamra Davis didn’t really intend to make a film of the tour and shot footage of rehearsals, concerts, backstage scenes, and interviews with the artists, starring Kathleen Hannah (Bikini Kill). Sometimes pure nonsense, and sometimes serious. During a forced relocation due to the wildfires around Los Angeles in 2025, the director stumbled upon the box of old footage again. And then decided to make a film after all: The Best Summer.
When watching The Best Summer, the wildly moving camera makes you feel a bit seasick at first, but you quickly get used to it. Subsequently, you gain a wonderful insight into the zeitgeist of the early 90s, when punk rock was on the rise and all kinds of bands emerged that later proved to be very influential.