Nothing is left to be said about Lollapalooza but these four words: Rage Against The Machine….
This was the bands first show in Chicago since they reunited last year. That means that Chicago fans were seeing Rage for the first time in 8 years- the reunion couldn’t have been sweeter. After much frustration with the people who attended Lollapalooza, Rage reminded me of that a real music show should be like and why music matters in this world.
El desmadre that erupted when they opened with "Testify" did not cease during their two hour set, Zach de la Rocha even had to ask the crowd to take a couple steps back and chill a little bit for the sake of security. The media keeps reporting on how “aggressive” and “political” the crowed turned on that night…umm…yes it definitely did, it but what else can you be while watching a Rage concert live? A guy next to us decided to leave when de la Rocha started bashing Bush on stage…what the hell was he doing there in the first place? The upside down American flag with Che Guevara on it didn’t cue him this was not friendly territory?
On a better note I learned this weekend that Tom Morello is a Chicago-area native. Tom grew up in the northern suburb of Libertyville…nice. After the show Michigan avenue turned into a sea (literally) of people who knew they had just witnessed Rage in all its greatness.
Here is the transcript Zach’s remarks during "Wake Up" that made some people uncomfortable:
"For these last eight years, all we’ve heard about is a mysterious outside force that threatedns our security and our liveihood everyday… *indecipherable* …that some outside force is threatening our wayof life and our jobs and our livelihoods…and after *indecipherable*…it must dawn on us that its the big government that is the terrorist force sitting across from us.
"And I’m not just talking about the Bush administration, but the whole sick, conformist apparatus *indecipherable* "They’re supposed to step up and be our voice and congress they turned their backs on us. They turned their backs on the workers. They turned their backs on the soldiers. They got right behind Bush lock step and got this country into another sick war.
"Now we know brother Obama. We know brother Obama. But I tell you what, if he comes to power come November and he doesn’t start pulling troops out of Afghanistan, I know a lot of people who are gonna stand up and burn down every office of every Senate. "All this now we’ve been seeing is just the beginning, it’s just the beginning.
And no matter what happens in these *indecipherable*, I’ll say this. That there is a generation of young black and latino brothers and sisters that are gonna force everyone in this country to make a decision very soon about what side they’re going to stand on. And they’re a generation of kids who don’t give a f— about national politics. They care about bread. They care about water. They care about housing and they care about justice. And they ain’t gonna f—ing stand for any of that siii. They’re just gonna take it. "This new generation of blacks and latinos *indecipherable* are gonna make this country an offer it can’t refuse. So wake up!