Rage Against the Machine Reviews


Rage in Toronto, 11.29.9: Maple Leaf Gardens

This past Monday myself and four friends went to see Rage Against the Machine at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. First of, for anybody who hasn't seen Rage live, you should absolutely do everything in your power to go see them. It is an experience you will never forget.

Next up was Gangstarr. I have never really heard anything from this group before, but they actually put on a decent fucking show. Most reviews i've read have been dissing on Gangstarr but I thought they were a decent opening band. They tried to hype us up by explianing to us what it meant to be "a rebel" and they said that when we give them the finger it is a sign of love and dissidence at the same time.

Before their last song one of them said "We're gonna do one more song and then get going cause we know ya'll here to see Rage!" and everybody went absolutely nuts.

After Gangstarr left they began setting up for Rage and just to see Tom's Che Guevera Amp come out was a pretty exhilerating experience. After about 25-30 minutes of anxious waiting a huge banner fell that was the cover of the Album but it said " The Battle of Toronto" It was obvious that they've been doing this at every show because you could literaly see white out and "Toronto" painted on top in a different style of writing, but it was still fucking cool. FINALLY, the lights went out and Tom, Tim, Brad and Zack finally walked out to some of the loudest cheers i have ever heard. Zack got on the mic and said "Good evening. We are Rage Against the Machine from Los Angeles California" and then they went right into "Testify" which just totally kicks ass live and was the perfect song to get everybody going crazy right from the beginning. It was then followed by "Guerilla Radio," "People of the Sun" and "Calm like a Bomb." I thought Calm like a Bomb was one of the best performed songs of the night.

My friends and I were right in the pit and it was just fucking crazy! I've never experienced anything like it before in my life.� Zack and was just all over the place doing his thing and Tom Morello just brought out all the fucking tricks as did Brad and Tim.

They also played some songs I did not expect to hear, like "The Ghost of Tom Joad" and "No Shelter" so that was very cool. The complete set list goes something like this

1. Testify
2. Guerilla Radio
3. People of the Sun
4. Calm like a bomb
5. Know your enemy
6. Born a Broken Man
7. Bullet in the head
8. The Ghost of Tom Joad
9. Sleep Now in the Fire
10. No Shelter
11. War Within a Breath
ENCORE
12. Bulls on Parade
13. Some cool funky little jam of "Roll Right" but Zack just kept on
repeating the first part that ended at ".. and the master's drum echo's" 
he never sang the chorus of "Roll Right, Roll Call" and Tom Tim and 
Brad played this slow little jam that sounded somewhat like "Zappata's 
Blood" Least to say, it was extremly cool and unexpected, as I think 
"Roll Right" is one of the forgotten great Rage tracks.
14. Freedom
15. Killing in the Name

Freedom and Killing in the Name actually sorta flowed like one song because as the final not on Freedom ended they immediately without any hestiation at all kicked of Killing in the Name.� Those eight-ten minutes were probably the most intense in all my life.

Right at the end of Killing in the Name when Zack began to say "Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me" they turned every light on in the building and when I looked around it was the most amazing sight I have ever, the whole building was on its feet jumping like crazy waving the middle finger...

One thing I just happened to notice the next day while watching the Guerilla Radio video on Much Music is that Zack was wearing the red t-shirt from the video at the concert.� Just thought i'd mention that cause it just goes to prove that Rage isn't like other bands that have to have a new "outfit" for every concert.

Peace
Adam. J


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