Reviewed by:
im not mental, on august 20, 2007
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Sound: Zack de la Rocha sounded spot on at all times and sounded like he does on the recordings, which is a bit of a relief after years of not playing with Rage. The rest of the band played excellently as well, especially Tom Morello, Who seemed much more at home with Rage than with Audioslave. Tom used his wide array of guitars, including his famous "Arm The Homeless" guitar. The guys at Rock the Bells did an excellent job of setting up their speakers because even without a proper soundcheck (they only did it for the drums, to my surprise) the sound was absolutely perfect. // 10
Perfomance: A sold-out crowd packed themselves into McCovey Cove for Rage Against The Machine's triumphant return to San Francisco, and it can be safe to say that no one left disappointed. In fact, people were so anxious, that they tried to Rush to the front 30 minutes before they took the stage. Some people up front even got so tired that they started crowd surfing out of there. When they took the stage Zack went and said, "Hi we're Rage Against The Machine. We're from Los Angeles, California." Like they were some unknown band. The setlist included (this isn't the order but this is what they played):
Testify - as soon as it started up people started jumping and singing along. It was one of the best set openers ever.
Bulls On Parade - it was hard to not have a good time while Rage was playing a classic song like this. Tom Morello was especially energetic during this song.
People Of The Sun - moshpits started up and the energy the crowd was giving was just incredible.
Bombtrack - one of the songs that everyone was singing along to. Especially my friend because this is one of the songs that his band covers.
Bullet In The Head - everyone was going absolutely crazy when the bass intro started up. The audience knew every word to this song and Zack had us yelling "Just victims of the inhouse Drive-by- They say 'jump' you say 'how high? '"
Down Rodeo - this was probably the only song I didn't know that well (I'm sorry, I don't have evil empire.) It was still awesome though!
Guerilla Radio - this is the first RATM song I ever heard and hearing it Live was just incredible.
Renegades Of Funk - this is one of the best covers ever, in my opinion, and they did it incredible justice Live. Everyone was having a good time.
Calm Like A Bomb - at this point I was tired and thirsty as hell, (remember, the crowd started moving half an hour before their set, ) so I crowd surfed out of there and got some water. This was still one of the best songs of the night, though.
Sleep Now In The Fire - this was when I regretted crowd surfing out because this is hands down my favorite Rage song of all time. I could still see them very well, though, and I was headbanging along and singing every word.
Wake Up - one of the big surprises of the night was that Zack de la Rocha didn't do too many big political speeches, with the exception of this one right before the climax of the song where he yells "Wake Up!!!". It was about his views on illegal immigration through the eyes of a latino and you could tell it came from his heart. It was one of the most memorable moments of the evening.
Encore:
Freedom - even after a long day of incredible music, the audience still wanted more rage. After about 5 minutes, they came back and Zack proclaimed "Check 1, 2" before tearing through a stunning rendition of this song.
Killing In The Name - everyone was just going absolutely crazy during this song. The crowd sang every word and at the end we were all yelling "F--k you, I won't do what you tell me" with our middle fingers raised in the air. It was the perfect end to the show. // 10
Impression: The show took place in San Francisco, CA, USA at McCovey Cove (the parking lot for AT&T Ballpark) on August 18, 2007. The openers I saw included the Wu-Tang Clan (feat. Shavo from System Of A Down on bass), Cypress Hill (Who's memorable stage decoration was a giant inflatable buddha with a pot leaf in his hands), Public Enemy (feat. Flavor Flav. yes, THAT Flavor Flav), The Roots, and Mos Def with Talib Kweli. Public Enemy and Flav definitely did the best job out of all of them, and to everyone's surprise they brought out Scott Ian from Anthrax to help them on the crowd favorite, Bring The Noise. The Roots did a great job too, they were spectacular musicians. Mos Def did really good as well, and all the wind was making the lights sway back and forth so he was really scared that "they would fall down and people would see it on youtube and we would say 'I was there, it was horrible!'" I loved literally everything about the show. The music was great, they could not have picked a better location, and the breeze from the bay kept everyone nice and cool. (in fact, you could see the steam rising from the ratm pit at night when the temperature dropped to the 50's F.) The tickets cost $76, and, seeing how well the show went, I'm surprised they didn't cost over $100. (I still would've paid that money.) My favorite concert that I've been to so far has been Muse, and I can safely say this one topped that. The most unforgettable moments were Rage's "Sleep Now in the Fire", "Calm Like A Bomb", "Killing in the Name," and "Guerilla Radio", Public Enemy's "Bring The Noise" featuring Flavor Flav and Scott Ian of Anthrax, Cypress Hill's "How I Can Just Kill A Man," and Mos Def getting scared of the swaying lights. Hopefully, Rage Against The Machine continue to do shows because everyone should see them Live. // 10
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