Rage Against the Machine reunion tour

The Rage Against the Machine reunion tour was a concert tour by American rock band Rage Against the Machine that took place from 2007 to 2011. It was the first tour for the band since they broke up in 2000. This tour saw Rage Against the Machine performing live worldwide sporadically for four years, with the exception of 2009, before going back on hiatus; the band would not tour again until 2022.

Rage Against the Machine reunion tour
World tour by Rage Against the Machine
RATM performing at the Big Day Out in 2008
Location
  • North America
  • Europe
  • Asia
  • Australia
  • South America
Start dateApril 29, 2007
End dateJuly 30, 2011
Legs6
No. of shows50
Rage Against the Machine concert chronology
Zack de la Rocha performing with Rage Against the Machine in Indio, California on April 29, 2007

History edit

Rumors that Rage Against the Machine could reunite at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival were circulating in mid-January 2007,[1] and were confirmed on January 22.[2] The band was confirmed to be headlining the final day of Coachella 2007.[3] The reunion was described by Morello as primarily being a vehicle to voice the band's opposition to the "right-wing purgatory" the United States has "slid into" under the George W. Bush administration since RATM's dissolution.[4]

On April 14, 2007, Morello and de la Rocha reunited onstage early to perform a brief acoustic set at a Coalition of Immokalee Workers rally in downtown Chicago. Morello described the event as "very exciting for everybody in the room, myself included."[5][6] This was followed by the scheduled Coachella performance on Sunday, April 29 where the band staged a much anticipated performance to the largest crowds of the festival.[7][8][9] This was originally thought of as a one-off show, which later turned out to be untrue. The band later played four shows in the Hip Hop festival Rock the Bells with the Wu Tang Clan, Public Enemy and Cypress Hill, and later an additional night in New York City after the first night sold out in 20 minutes. Rage also played their first (non-festival) concert in seven years at the Alpine Valley Music Theater in East Troy, Wisconsin, supported by Queens of the Stone Age in August 2007. The band played co-headlining spots at New Orleans' Voodoo Music Experience in late October and the Vegoose Festival in Las Vegas. These shows were the last performances by the band in 2007.

On January 18, 2008, the band played their first show outside of the U.S. since their reunion in Auckland, New Zealand, as part of the Big Day Out festival series. The band also played seven shows in Australia including several headlining shows in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, and Perth. The band has since continued to tour around the world, headlining many large festivals in Europe and the United States, including Lollapalooza in Chicago, Illinois. In 2008 the band also played shows in Denver, Colorado and St. Paul, Minnesota; the locations of the Democratic National Convention and Republican National Convention, respectively.

In December 2008, PremierGuitar.com conducted an interview with Tom Morello and when asked about his plans for 2009 he replied:

"Well, I know for sure that I'll be doing a lot of Nightwatchman dates in the coming year and continuing the Axis of Justice organization that I run with Serj Tankian. I got a pretty large cache of Nightwatchman songs that I haven't released yet so I'll definitely continue writing and recording. Also, I had a great time playing Rage Against the Machine shows over the course of the year and half and I have no doubt that we'll continue to do more of those in the future."

In 2009, Morello also went on to work with his nonprofit, Axis of Justice.

Another leg was added for Europe in 2010. The leg included dates at indoor arenas, and outdoor festivals. The band also headlined the Download Festival at Donington Park, on June 12. On July 23, Rage performed at a benefit concert at the Hollywood Palladium theater in their hometown of Los Angeles to protest against the Arizona SB 1070 law. It was their first U.S. show in two years and according to guitarist Tom Morello it will be their only show in the U.S. for the year. In late 2010 they also completed a short three-date South American tour, including a headline set at the SWU Music & Arts Festival. This was the first time they had played in that continent.

Morello stated, the only Rage appearance for 2011 was a performance on July 30 at the L.A. Rising festival with El Gran Silencio, Immortal Technique, Lauryn Hill, Rise Against and Muse.[10] Morello hoped that Rage Against the Machine would tour in 2012 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of their self-titled debut album,[11] but this never came to fruition.

On July 30, 2013, exactly two years after its original performance, it was announced on the L.A. Rising's Facebook page that the festival would once again take place in August 2014. Multiple sources reported that Rage Against the Machine would participate in the festival.[12][13][14] However, this never happened.

On October 16, 2015, the 2010 gig in Finsbury Park was released as a DVD and Blu-ray titled Live at Finsbury Park.

Setlist edit

Throughout the entirety of the reunion tour, the band's setlist was usually of the same structure for every show. The band played various songs at different shows. On each leg of the tour, the band played a new song(s) and added them regularly to the setlist. At a regular performance, the band would play 14 or 15 songs, including an encore.

Australian/Japan leg
European leg

Guantanamo Bay Intro
In occasion in Europe, and in Minneapolis, the band opened the show dressed like Guantanamo Bay prisoners and performed the first song in these costumes.

Main Set

Encore 1
While the band were offstage, The Internationale was played.

Encore 2

Songs played edit

Tour dates edit

Date City Country Venue
2007 North American leg
April 29, 2007 Indio United States Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
July 28, 2007 New York City Rock the Bells
July 29, 2007
August 11, 2007 San Bernardino
August 18, 2007 San Francisco
August 24, 2007 East Troy Alpine Valley Music Theatre
October 26, 2007 New Orleans Voodoo Music Experience
October 28, 2007 Las Vegas Vegoose
2008 New Zealand/Australian/Japan leg
January 18, 2008 Auckland New Zealand Big Day Out
January 20, 2008 Gold Coast Australia
January 22, 2008 Sydney Sydney Entertainment Centre
January 25, 2008 Big Day Out
January 28, 2008 Melbourne
January 30, 2008 Festival Hall
February 1, 2008 Adelaide Big Day Out
February 3, 2008 Perth
February 7, 2008 Osaka Japan Osaka Castle Hall
February 9, 2008 Tokyo Makuhari Messe
February 10, 2008
2008 European leg
May 30, 2008 Madrid Spain Electric Weekend
June 1, 2008 Landgraaf Netherlands Pinkpop Festival
June 2, 2008 Antwerp Belgium Sportpaleis
June 4, 2008 Paris France Palais omnisports de Paris-Bercy
June 6, 2008 Nürburgring Germany Rock am Ring
June 7, 2008 Nuremberg Rock im Park
June 10, 2008 Berlin Zitadelle
June 12, 2008 Hultsfred Sweden Hultsfred Festival
June 14, 2008 Modena Italy Stadio Alberto Braglia
June 15, 2008 Nickelsdorf Austria Nova Rock Festival
July 10, 2008 Lisbon Portugal Optimus Alive!
July 12, 2008 Balado Scotland T in the Park
July 13, 2008 County Kildare Ireland Oxegen 2008
2008 North American/European leg
August 2, 2008 Chicago United States Lollapalooza
August 20, 2008 Paris France Rock en Seine
August 22, 2008 Reading England Reading Festival
August 23, 2008 Leeds Leeds Festival
August 27, 2008 Denver United States Tent State Music Festival to End the War
September 3, 2008 Minneapolis Target Center
Europe
June 3, 2010 Nuremberg Germany Rock im Park
June 4, 2010 Nürburgring Rock am Ring
June 6, 2010 London England Finsbury Park
June 8, 2010 Dublin Ireland O2 Arena
June 9, 2010 Arnhem Netherlands GelreDome
June 11, 2010 Madrid Spain Rock in Rio
June 12, 2010 Donington Park England Download Festival
North America
July 23, 2010 Los Angeles United States Hollywood Palladium
South America
October 9, 2010 Itu Brazil SWU Music & Arts
October 11, 2010 Santiago Chile Maquinaria festival
October 13, 2010 Buenos Aires Argentina Costanera Sur
North America
July 30, 2011 Los Angeles United States Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (L.A. Rising Festival)

References edit

  1. ^ Cohen, Jonathan (January 19, 2007). "Morello Goes Solo, Rage To Reunite?". Billboard. Billboard.com. Retrieved January 21, 2007.
  2. ^ Boucher, Geoff (January 22, 2007). "Rage Against the Machine will reunite for Coachella". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on January 24, 2007. Retrieved January 22, 2007.
  3. ^ Finn, Natalie (January 22, 2007). "Rage On at Coachella". E! News. EOnline.com. Retrieved January 24, 2007.
  4. ^ "Rage Against the Machine discuss reunion". NME. February 2, 2007. Retrieved February 3, 2007.
  5. ^ "2007 Truth Tour :: Day 7 "Concert for Fair Food" House of Blues, Chicago, IL". Coalition of Immokalee Workers. Retrieved May 29, 2014.
  6. ^ "Check out this exclusive video from the CIW's "Concert for Fair Food"!". Coalition of Immokalee Workers. April 20, 2007. Retrieved May 29, 2014. It was very exciting for everybody in the room, myself included. I mean, the place was just packed to the rafters and even the stage was packed with this ring of 25 photographers two feet away from us while we were playing, so it was kind of a trippy, you know, way to do our first show. But it was a great cause and we were happy to be a part of the Immokalee farmworkers victory.
  7. ^ Staff Writer (April 30, 2007). "Rage Against the Machine reunite at Coachella". NME. Retrieved May 1, 2007.
  8. ^ Sulugiuc, Gelu (April 30, 2007). "Rage Against the Machine reunites". Yahoo! News. Reuters. Archived from the original on May 3, 2007. Retrieved May 1, 2007.
  9. ^ Moss, Corey (April 30, 2007). "Rage Against the Machine's Ferocious Reunion Caps Coachella's Final Night". MTV News. MTV.com. Retrieved May 1, 2007.
  10. ^ "RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE Not Making New Album". Blabbermouth. May 4, 2011. Archived from the original on May 7, 2011. Retrieved May 5, 2011.
  11. ^ "Tom Morello: Rage Against the Machine May Not Play Again". Rolling Stone. December 4, 2012. Retrieved August 9, 2013.
  12. ^ "Rage Against the Machine's LA Rising Festival Returning in 2014". Loudwire. August 8, 2013. Retrieved August 9, 2013.
  13. ^ "Rage Against the Machine's L.A. Rising Concert to Return in 2014". Noisecreep. August 8, 2013. Retrieved August 9, 2013.
  14. ^ "Will Rage Against The Machine be at the L.A. Rising Festival in August 2014?". The Celebrity Cafe. August 8, 2013. Archived from the original on August 22, 2013. Retrieved August 9, 2013.
  15. ^ "- YouTube". YouTube.

External links edit