Rage Against the Machine performs at the United Center in Chicago on July 11, 2022.
This is a Public Service Announcement (Tour) with guitar!
On Monday, July 11, Rage Against the Machine performed in Chicago for the first time in over 10 years. The highly-anticipated, long delayed – due to the pandemic – return was the first of two concerts at the United Center and only the second stop on the group’s Public Service Announcement Tour which also included a party-starting opening set from the incomparable hip-hop duo, Run the Jewels.
After beginning the night with “Bombtrack,” Zack de la Rocha, Tom Morello, Tim Commerford and Brad Wilk unleashed “People of the Sun,” “Bulls on Parade” and “Bullet in the Head” in quick succession. De la Rocha snarled, sprinted and leaped his way through the beginning of the show until he injured his leg at the end of the above-mentioned “Bullet in the Head.” The frontman, no longer able to stand without wincing, clearly in pain, instead seated himself on an on-stage monitor and spit absolute fire for the remainder of the performance.
Stage banter was kept to a minimum but that didn’t mean that De La Rocha didn’t have a lot to say. Rather than chatting up the crowd between songs, he let the music do the talking and addressed the ongoing cruelty, dysfunction, disrespect and untenable state of the system – and the political and ruling class around the world – with a pointed message during “Wake Up.”
Rage Against the Machine performs at the United Center in Chicago on July 11, 2022.
“The ruling class in this country has proven itself unworthy,” he said with inspiring fury. “They’re a bunch of megalomaniac, f*cking insane tyrants and we need to get together and knock that class right the f*ck on its ass. It’s gonna take a kind of organization and mobilization that we’ve never seen before to fight back this fascist tide. And let’s do it together.”
De La Rocha repeated the line, “let’s do it together,” with increasing intensity before leading the crowd in a series of guttural screams to “wake up.” It was a moment worthy of the decade-long wait.
Although the prophet of Rage’s movement was restricted, the show’s momentum only continued to rise. Mosh pits were a staple with “Guerrilla Radio” and “Know Your Enemy” both inspiring larger swathes of movement on the floor. Many times, including during “Down Rodeo” – a tour debut – and armed with a double neck guitar during “The Ghost of Tom Joad,” Morello perched himself beside De La Rocha on the monitor creating a dynamic rarely experienced at a Rage Against the Machine show. It gave fans a feel for the brotherhood behind the music further bonding everyone in a beautifully human moment.
Rage Against the Machine performs at the United Center in Chicago on July 11, 2022.
Bassist Commerford rooted the show entrenched in the hard-hitting rhythms of each song while Wilk – as flawless as ever – took an extended drum solo during “Sleep Now in the Fire.” The Battle of Los Angeles‘ hit couldn’t end before Morello once again demonstrated his mastery – or is it wizardry – of the guitar with a solo comprised of his signature feedback manipulation. “Freedom” – during which the screen displayed “Abort the Supreme Court” following a series of facts about the dismal state of life and death in a post-Roe America – and “Killing in the Name” brought things to an absolute fever pitch.
Rage Against the Machine performs at the United Center in Chicago on July 11, 2022.
When Rage Against the Machine reunited at Coachella back in 2007, the band sounded stronger with a more urgent message than when they first said goodbye in 2000. Now, in 2022, they are arguably the best they’ve ever been and maybe this time the country is finally ready to heed their call to “wake up” once and for all.
Check out photos from Night 1 of Rage Against the Machine and Run the Jewels at the United Center in Chicago below and click here to pick-up tickets to the remaining dates on the Public Service Announcement Tour. More information about upcoming shows from Jam Productions can be found at Jamusa.com.
(Photos by Laurie Fanelli)
