Lolla Main Event: Rage Against the Machine (8/2)
The walk from Buckingham Fountain to the AT&T Main Stage featured a variety of sites as 8:30 p.m. approached on Saturday night. A line of ambulances were parked horizontal to the path full of bruisers in an all out sprint to ensure a piece of the action, while those too young, too small, and perhaps too smart, positioned themselves on hills, stairs, and any other sort of barrier that would provide safety from the scene about to take place.
The Toadies were engaged in an appealing 45 minute set across the south field of Grant Park, but like Stephen Malkmus the night before, it was viewed, if anything, as background noise. Festival-goers grew impatient for the first signs of Zach de la Rocha, Tom Morello, Tim Commerford, and Brad Wilk on the field of dead grass.
Darkness and for the first time, anticipation, began to fill the Chicago air.
Coming into this year’s edition of Lollapalooza, the buzz relating to Rage Against the Machine’s Saturday headlining performance seemed to be minimal. While somewhat understandable considering the other major headlining acts and the fact that Los Angeles based band is well into year two of their return, the lack of Rage chatter around Grant Park during Friday and most Saturday was still surprising.
But by the time the first rifts and rhymes of “Testify” introduced Rage Against the Machine to Lollapalooza, all was soon remembered, and the scene went from one of withheld excitement to sheer utter chaos. Any audience member remotely close to the stage was either immediately pushed into the person next to them or engulfed in one of the eight resulting circle pits, while several Chicagoans outside the park’s gates took means to get in on the fun.
In fact, as one person put it, the opening minutes of the Rage’s could best be described as the “War of Chicago.” Several people against the railing were immediately injured, while many others, unaware of the insanity that would ensue, did all they could do to survive. By the time the final chords of “Bulls on Parade” were played, even the band who brought about the chaos had seen too much.
“Listen, you all got to take care of each other. We have enough fucked up stuff in this world, between cops and fucked up politicians. We should be saving this shit for the streets instead,” de la Rocha said in urgency, between pleas for the entire audience to step back “five to ten feet.” When many failed to comply, the band offered the night’s best example of a protest, refusing to move on for nearly five minutes.
A similiar interaction took place numerous more times throughout the band’s 90 minute set. Relentless in their pursuit for crowd-wide chaos, many disregarded Rage’s words of warning even before the set’s third song, “People of the Sun” reached its half-way point. Each time, an awkward situation would result, with de la Rocha and company refusing to perform until the audience complied with their demands.
While the entire episode did indeed demonstrate the negative side of their performance, it also displayed every reason why the four-piece outfit still remains the true definition of a festival headliner. The fist-pumping sounds, the resulting enthused reaction, regardless of how terrifying it may have been, and perhaps most importantly, the awareness of their environment and the realization of the scene unfolding in front of them, were all represented in full force tonight.
While we often get so caught up in Rage Against the Machine’s political diatribes and vulgar-filled rhetoric, so few realize that ultimately, their performance is about the fan. Whether to entertain, inform, or in tonight’s case, help, the band’s main purpose is and has always been, to provide a once in a lifetime musical experience. Regardless if you had enjoyed the set or were inspired by the message, Rage Against the Machine offered what it means to be “it” and provided a text book example of just how a headliner should act. The fan always comes first.
Amidst the chaos, Saturday’s AT&T headliner did get through a 14 song set, heavy in mostly familiar hits and energetic sounds. While all the selections played have filled our iPods and CD players for years, the set was surprisingly vibrant and fresh, presented in such a way that songs like “Know Your Enemy” and “Ashes in the Fall” sounded like they were being debuted for the first time, rather than the 1,000th rendition. Choruses of “Born of a Broken Man” and “What You Say” flowed brilliantly from de la Rocha’s lips. Morello’s mind-blowing guitar work mesmerized even the most casual music fan. Commerford’s bass and Wilk’s drumming provided all the necessary head-bopping beats for a rock spectacle.
In the end, Rage Against the Machine’s Saturday performance was nothing new or nothing unique. It was a standard, by-the book set, filled with furious solos and immature banter. But as ordinary as it may have been by Rage standards, if anything, it represented just what a headlining performance should consist of - music, passion, and sensibility.
Setlist:
Testify
Bulls on Parade
People of the Sun
Bomb Track
Know Your Enemy
Bullet in Your Head
Born of a Broken Man
Guerilla Radio
Ashes in the Fall
Calm Like a Bomb
Sleep Now in the Fire
Wake Up
Freedom
Killing in the Name of
I’d assume that he used the term whities because that’s predominantly who was in attendance for rage - mostly privileged white kids. Exactly the type that Zach was pointing his finger at while screaming WAKE UP.
He said there will come a time in the near future when Blacks and Latinos stand up for themselves in this country and we’re going to have to chose what side we’re going to stand on. He knew who his audience was.
The show was badass, but Zack and Tom didn’t want to encourage the audience. The crowd was going apeshit and people were getting injured and tossed around - it was like a fuckin body pit. I was like 25-30 feet from the stage at the beginning and i couldn’t even enjoy the music. I was sufficating and exhuasted from being pushed, pulled, slammed, and kicked in every direction, I didn’t have any strength to raise my fists in the air let alone lift the hot, slimey bodies that were rolling on top of me. I fucking love Rage and I’ve been waiting for the concert for years, and I knew I was going to go nuts for this concert, but I had to pull myself outta there. My friend’s shoulder popped out. All while this was happening, Zack and Tom were barley acknowledging the audience. In between songs, they’d either say nothing and go to the next song, or tell the audience to step back. Its almost as if they just wanted to play the music and get it over with. It wasn’t necessary for them to pump up, excite, tease, or taunt the crowd because Rage is already a true legend.
You know a band trully rocks, when the band is trying the crowd to calm down.
The show was cool but they had the sound very low. I think there thoughts were, the lower the sound the less chance the crowd will go nuts
Damn I wish I was there to beat the shit out of everyone around me - so much fun!
I’d just like to point out that there about 1/10 the amount of police officers currently at Grant Park than there were yesterday.
Zarik - Thanks for sharing Mack’s piece. It certainly added a different perspective to the show. What good is RATM without a little political controversy?
I have to agree though - what the hell is up w/ his use of the term “whities”? I mean, the dude is a whitey: http://www.new.facebook.com/s.php?k=100000080&id=6829085
Hi,
I hail from India.I first listened to Rage in 2002 and became an instant fan.Soon they split up and I could not watch them live which I always wanted to.I was sad.Yesterday I had a chance to watch them live.They were amazing.
I know i don’t fall into any of those categories, yuppies, burnouts or middle class whites, but i do know there was a lot of fucking ignorant people at the rage show saturday nite. First there were all the idiots who responded to Zach’s calls to step back because people were getting crushed by saying “shut the fuck up and play”. Then, when Zach got on his soap box, which was dead on by the way, I had some moron next to me basically say that he doesn’t want to hear this bullshit, that he came here to “rock out” not listen to the bands political views. WTF? The basis of the band and its songs are politically motivated and speak out about the social injustices of the world and to not trust big government. Why do you even like rage if you don’t like what he said? All there tracks basically say the same things as his speech but in song form. It just pissed me off how many ignorant fucking kids were there. Just there to get fucked up and be able to tell everyone they saw rage at lolla when they go back to school in a month or so. Most of them were probably still shitting in diapers when rage first broke on to the scene. I’m sure a lot of them don’t know the meaning behind most of there songs. Fucking sad.
Whatever. I guess it really doesn’t matter anyway, does it? Aside from all that, a pretty tight show. A little sloppy at times, but who gives a shit. It still fucking rocked, and rage proved once again that they are one of the most defining groups of there time, and one of the most devastating live acts ever.
Great re-cap, Alex! It certainly was something to see and feel (bloody nose, bruised ribs). I do have a few different takes on what’s above:
“by-the book set full of furious solos and immature banter”: I think that it was the furthest thing from by-the-book. No way can that energy and ominous aura be described as anything close to being straight forward and/or common place. And as to the immature banter? This message of upheaval is what RATM has been, and always will be, about. The banter isn’t rehearsed or hollow in any way. It’s not simply stated to fire the crowd up; it’s the soul of RATM. Their message hasn’t change in the 15 years that I’ve seen them (twice in Chicago in 1993). If one doesn’t agree with the message; one can’t simply write it off as “immature.” When Zach talks of revolution, it’s because he’s seen it first-hand while traveling with Zapatista guerrillas in southern Mexico. When Tom unleashes a wicked solo full of venom and fire, it’s driven by what he’s heard through his father’s life experiences (a Kenyan anti-colonialist). Far-fetched and dangerous? Sure. Immature? No… because they mean what they say, and believe in it 100%.
“fifty thousand yuppies, burnouts, and middle-class whities”: I’m none of those. Do I really need to state how ridiculous and pathetic a summation this is? If that blog has a larger agenda, using characterizations like this to bolster it is weak.
Loved the fact that Tom wore his favorite Cubs hat for the encore (let’s hear it for his hometown of Libertyville, IL!), chiding the Sox fans in the front row by pointing at it repeatedly before exiting stage left at the end of the night.
Below is a larger version of the one photo I took, before taking a face plant two minutes into the set:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/berklieblog/2726783755
Time to head out to Lollapalooza’s Day 3!
Set List?
I should add though that I disagree w/Mack’s derisive use of the word “whities”. But the idea is true - would this group of revolutionary wannabes remember any of this by next week? Probably not.
Alex, you omitted the best part of the show - Zach calling out Bush AND the Democrats and Obama. After a weekend of nothing but constant Obama asskissing, finally it was great to hear an alternative view that wasn’t pro McCain either.
I think Mack from Cinemablend.com summed it up best. I hate to rip quotes, but here’s a selected portion that everyone needs to read.
and a little further down
And that’s when fifty thousand yuppies, burnouts, and middle-class whities uproariously cheered for a violent overthrow of our government. I know you’re probably thinking those exhausted sons of bitches would have cheered anything at that point (and they would have), but there was a little more to it than that. Radiohead’s light show didn’t really work because it wasn’t dark for most of their set. Perry Farrell’s microphone cut out during a duet with Slash on “Jane Says.” Nothing has been overly memorable about 2008’s Lollapalooza–until Zach de la Rocha opened his mouth and tore the United States of America a new asshole. There was desperation in his voice–the same desperation many concert-goers were feeling. And that’s why they hooped and hollered and went bat shit crazy for anarchy.
I wish the feeling would last. Believe me, I do. But it won’t. Fifty thousand people will return to yuppie-dom tomorrow, and forty-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety won’t give a second thought to poverty or health care or state-approved domestic terrorism. Most of ’em will vote for Barack Obama and feel good about themselves for being so with it and twenty-first century faux-Bohemian. Fucking idiots.
But I don’t care. For an hour and a half one Saturday afternoon in August, fifty thousand people were on board with giving our government the finger, and that’s a glorious consolation prize you’ll have to pry out of my cold, dead fingers.
Amen brother. Amen. You can read the rest at:
http://www.cinemablend.com/music/Lollapalooza-Yuppies-Cheered-For-The-Violent-Overthrow-Of-Our-Country-11582.html