By: Kevin Mellmer
Rating: 8/10
The show was awesome, but didn’t quite feel the same without Zack De La Rocha. Also, Wakrat made me debate leaving the show.
Sunday, September 11th: ideally the perfect day to see a politically charged band like Rage Against the Machine. Showing up to the Sunlight Supply Amphitheater in Ridgefield, Washington, my brother and I kept making the same joke that the place “was totally not raging.” In fact, there were so little tickets sold that my $20 general admissions ticket on the grass got bumped up to the seats inside the amphitheater with no extra cost. It made sense that there weren’t that many people there. How many people know Prophets of Rage? Prophets of Rage is a supergroup formed by the members of Rage Against the Machine (without Zack De La Rocha, sadly) and Chuck D from Public Enemy, along with B-Real from Cypress Hill. Despite the impressive lineup, not many people knew these guys were a thing, resulting in the low turnout.
Now before I talk about the show I want to talk about the opening acts. The first opener was a band called Wakrat and they really lived up to their name because they were really wack. They were a band formed by the bassist of Prophets of Rage and I’m pretty sure that’s the only reason they were an opener. They came out with the most boring bass and guitar lines and their “try hard political commentary” was cringe worthy. After Wakrat was AWOLNATION–I’m still confused why they were there. Don’t get me wrong! They are a fine band; they just had no place being an opener to Prophets of Rage. Really the only interesting part of their act was my friends and I yelling “PLAY SAIL” and the 60 year old man behind us dancing to their music and yelling “Yeah, AWOLNATION Rules!”.
Finally the headliner came up and I was not disappointed. They mostly played classic Rage Against the Machine songs with a few original pieces, along with some songs from the Public Enemy and Cypress Hill catalogs. The first noticeable thing was that B-Real and Chuck D were totally killing it on the mic. However it didn’t feel the same without Zack singing the songs. The best part of the show by far was Tom Morello shredding on the guitar. It turns out that all the high pitched squeals and reverb noises on the recordings are only done with a guitar. Straight up–at one point Tom pulled the aux cord out of his guitar and started stabbing it into his hand and was somehow able to play a melody with it. The band played the typical hits such as “Bulls on Parade”, “People of the Sun”, “Bombtrack”, and “Killing in the Name”. The band played with as much explosion and energy as they did on the studio recordings and I wasn’t disappointed by a single song. Tom Morello had the most insane guitar solos I have ever seen in my life, and seeing them live really helped me to appreciate how innovative he is.
As I expected, Tom Morello stole the show, however B-Real and Chuck D held their own. In the middle of the set the two legendary rappers played a medley of their most famous songs. Never in my life did I think I would see “Insane in the Membrane” or “Bring the Noise” performed live (It was a shame that Flavor Flav wasn’t there to yell random words into the mic.). The band ended the set by playing “Killing in the Name”, possibly their most popular song, and had a curtain drop behind them revealing “Make America Rage Again”. Needless to say the show was badass and it definitely surpassed my expectations. I would definitely recommend seeing this band. The show was more than worth it, especially for the price.