All Photos by Philip Cosores
Even on a bill as varied as Saturday’s LA Rising at the LA Memorial Coliseum, there can be some line of similarity drawn between all of the acts, which included Lauryn Hill, Muse and Rage Against The Machine. That similarity is that all of these acts, in their own way, try to strike out from the norm, to stand out by being different, whether it’s with their words, their beliefs, their music, their attitude, or their performance. And, I think it’s fair to say that the night’s headliners, Rage Against The Machine, stand out in all of those categories.
Immortal Technique
Even on a Saturday it was difficult for people to make it down to the Coliseum early enough to catch the opening act El Gran Silencio, but those who did arrive in time were evidently treated to a catchy set that kicked the day into full swing. By the time Immortal Technique took to the stage spirits were high in the crowd. Immortal Technique has the kind of following of fans that are committed enough to make it down early on a Saturday afternoon to see him perform, and while he played several fans could be seen dotted amongst the crowd, emphatically bouncing and rapping along with the songs.
Idealistically, Immortal Technique has similar views to Rage Against The Machine when it comes to politics, so this was a good platform for him to talk about his beliefs and receive a warm feedback from the crowd. His ramblings on religion may not have been so well-received normally, but in an atmosphere like this people seemed keen to show their support to the impassioned rapper. While he took things seriously, his onstage posse kept things light, joking with the crowd and interjecting when possible to add a little humorous comment. Musically, Immortal Technique treated fans to the whole breadth of his catalogue, including spitting a capella an as-yet-unreleased track, as well as reaching all the way back to his genesis to perform the concluding “Dance With The Devil.” Although a stadium on a sunny day is not the ideal place to hear this song, the final verse about the devil standing amongst his fans at his shows still sent a tingle down the spine.
Ms. Lauryn Hill
Lauryn Hill was next on the bill and she was, predictably, late. When she arrived, she started with a double-header of her most famous songs, although with a new spin on both. Her version of “Killing Me Softly” was neo-funk and lacked any of the soul of The Fugees’ version, and was downright offensive when compared to the Roberta Flack original. Following that was “Everything is Everything” turned into a sort of rap-rock revision, where Hill just couldn’t seem to find the rhythm to fit the lyrics in properly. She seemed to settle after that into more of a groove and her large band and backing singers got to show off what they were really there for. The set was plagued with feedback issues which didn’t help her cause, but Hill remained professional and won a portion of the crowd back with a relatively-faithful rendition of Fugees smash “Ready Or Not.” Hill left the stage without fanfare, telling the crowd that it was “cool to see y’all,” but opinions amongst the crowd were probably divided about whether the feeling was mutual.
Rise Against
The arrival of Rise Against saw the day’s first rock band, and with it some scuffles in the crowd. The field had been divided into three, and late arrivals were forced to stand behind the third barrier, which was about two-thirds the length of the field back from the stage. Seemingly unhappy with this arrangement, a group of fans, pumped up by the anthemic pop-punk being pumped out by the Chicagoan band onstage, decided to charge the barrier, with a few making it over into the next section and some getting tackled and beaten before they could make it very far. Down in the front, the crowd seemed to be having a more civilized unruly time, with multiple circle pits opening up as Rise Against ran through the hits from their three most recent albums. Rise Against also used this platform to speak out on their beliefs, talking about supporting the troops and dedicating slow burner “Hero Of War” to them, which gave everyone a moment to catch their breath before launching into the final run of songs, culminating in “Savior.”
Muse
Muse have been outspoken about their love of Los Angeles and ten months on from their last appearance in the city, the British trio seemed determined to prove once again that they are one of the most professional and visceral live bands playing at this level. Opening with the theatrical “Exogenesis Part 1,” Bellamy showcased his trademark falsetto which once set Muse back from getting released in America, but now seems to be his calling card in live performances all over the world. They then moved into “Uprising,” which caused full-crowd fist pumping and singing before bringing out the relatively experimental “Map of the Problematique.” The double header of Absolution favourites “Butterflies and Hurricanes” and “Hysteria” was certainly an early highlight of the set, with the latter’s riff proving that it still has the power to kill live, scything it’s way over the crowd of excited, pogoing crowd.
Muse rock, there’s no doubt about it, but never harder than on their inter-song instrumentals, which even managed to match up to the muscle that Tom Morello and co. would bring to the stage later in the evening. When not rocking out, Matt Bellamy teased the crowd with other guitar fiddling that included “Star Spangled Banner,” “Back in Black” and the Animals’ version of “House of The Rising Sun,” which saw the crowd in full voice singing the notorious opening lines. After a period of mid-tempo numbers Muse finished at a galloping pace with a foursome of moshers’ favourites: “Time is Running Out,” “Stockholm Syndrome,” “Plug in Baby” and “Knights of Cydonia.” It wasn’t a set that yielded any surprises for fans of the band who have seen them multiple times before, but it was a thoroughly enjoyable one nonetheless. Just as Muse don’t seem to tire of playing those songs for the who-knows-whatth time, the fans will never tire of hearing them played at that volume.
Rage Against The Machine
Rage Against The Machine were twenty-minutes late to the stage, but as soon as the introductory video went up on the big screens, any annoyance the crowd had rapidly dissolved into wild euphoria. Rage, playing the Colisuem in their home town of L.A. started with – what else? – the opening track of The Battle Of Los Angeles: “Testify.” This was shortly followed by the opening track of their self-titled album “Bombtrack,” with that opening guitar line sounding as potent as ever and priming the moshers in the crowd for the crashing riff to come in and give them their cue to go insane. Every time the lights went up the crowd looked like a bowlful of maggots wriggling around, so many spots had opened up where fans were circle-pitting, from front to back, and one group in the middle even started a fire which grew to a sizeable height before security got there to put it out.
On stage, the band were a powerhouse, the dynamic between Tom Morello’s guitarwork and Tim Commerford’s thunderous bass crashed and soared, moving effortlessly between segments of songs, all underpinned and guided by Brad Wilk’s drumming. Zach de la Rocha was on point in all of his vocals, skipping around the stage excitedly while rapping fluidly in verses, getting down low for the tension-building moments and screaming his lungs out at the most emphatic points. Many of the most memorable instances came with the repeated growls of histrionic statements at the conclusions of songs, which is a trick Rage pull often (“All of which are American dreams!,” “A bullet in your head!,” “Waaaake Uuuuuup!”) but is no less effective each time. Morello’s guitar wizardry was also on display, with his squalling and feedbacking through the more experimental portions.
The now-expected de la Rocha speech in the main set-concluding “Wake Up” was tailored to the current state of Los Angeles (or at least the way he sees it), a place he evidently cares deeply for. Although that speech was met with agreement from the crowd, it’s unlikely to be the messages of the night that people walk away remembering. It’s the pure unadulterated rock that Rage Against The Machine brought to the stage, playing all of their hits and climaxing with the inevitable “Killng In the Name.” Even though rap rock is an outdated and often maligned genre, there’s no possible way to deny Rage Against The Machine’s masterful domination of this genre, and when their performances are as electric as this, it’s no surprise that every time they play, it is a genuine event.
