Rage Against the Machine

So yeah, I kinda forgot to ever post my review of the Rage Against The Machine show. Well, now is the time. It was less of a simple show then it was an epic adventure. Sadly, I left my camera at home, so the only pictures I got where poor quality ones from my phone which I have posted below. One of the only decent pictures I could find from the event is to the left courtesy of Decoy Music.

The epic tale began as we left our house, bound for bufu Wisconsin. On our way there, the way mapquest told us to go was under construction, so we had to kinda find our own way. We got a little lost, but we finally reached something that assured us we were near our destination. What we saw was a line of cars that went off into the horizon. We had no idea how far the line went (we later learned that it stretched for over 5 miles), but it didn't look good. Our car would sit still for periods of 15 minutes at a time. After only progressing about a mile in an hour and already being late, we decided to walk for the rest of the way. By the time we finally arrived at the venue, we had totally missed Queens of the Stone Age (the openers) and Rage had just taken the stage. We got in and immediately dove into the crowd. The venue was set on a giant hill that, due to the rain the past days, had turned into a giant mud hill. The hill was absolutely packed with people. We literally slid like we were on snowboards down the hill the the very edge of the "lawn" area. We were as close as we could be to the stage.

Although we were thoroughly disgusting looking we still had an amazing time. Rage played all their best songs. There wasn't a single song that I love that went unplayed. As has become tradition for all the shows Rage has played since reuniting (with Coachella being the exception) Zack De La Roca, the lead singer, gave his speach covering some of the political going ons in America. His speech was a slightly extended version of this speech:

"Every once in a while, people forget who really has power in this country. People forget who really holds power here, and you look at them helicopters coming in over the White House lawn and all the press gathered up, and all their security, and all their banks, and all their punk ass police, and you want to believe that our last powers there, up top at the center putting forth position in the world, you want to think it and you want to consider them to have the decency to look out for your best interests everyday, but for me as a mexicano I know I do not answer, that should never be the case, its never been their military, their propoganda, their machine, their punk ass police, their presidents, their politicians, its you that has power, its us that has power, and here, and here a few years ago on that day in March as Bush was taking this country to war for a lie, I stood with you here in San Francisco as you took this whole fucking city over, and I was with you, and right now the whole world is watching us, we can be the greatest generation, we can take facism out of power in the United States and if you don't think thats what it is thats exactly it. We're going to take a lot of sacrifice, a lot of jail time, maybe even a little bit of death, but I'm sure dropping a co-op onto these rich white crackers that don't know shit about the world we know cause rich in this world can go in and have nothing amount to them anymore. Wake up!"

Regardless of whether you agree with De La Roca's politics or not, he delivers his speeches with such passion and vigor that you have to at least respect him. The band as a whole put on an amazing show. I truly think that they are one of those bands that you have to see in your lifetime. It's just an incredible experience. When Rage played Killing In The Name of, now clearly in reference to the current administration, the entire place exploded. Everyone went insane. Rage even tweaked the lyrics "Some of those that work forces, are the same that burn crosses" to be directed at the current administration. I'm not sure how much more I can say about this incredible night. If you ever get a chance to see Rage, do it. No questions asked. Just do it.