Merry Swankster: Rage Against the Machine, Live @ Denver Coliseum (DNC), 8.27.2008

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September 04, 2008

Rage Against the Machine, Live @ Denver Coliseum (DNC), 8.27.2008

[All photos by Merry Swankster]

I arrived a little late to Rage’s midday show at the Denver Coliseum last week. Too late to pick up my credentials as the band and/or promoters had a firm cut off on doors that was not previously publicized. Still though, I got in. Not through any battle past clouds of tear gas or shock grenades, nor did I bravely confront any member of the ominously present and sizable force of riot-clad DPD officers, but by walking straight through the doors acting the part so as to not appear suspicious. Sometimes what cannot be accomplished through brute force can be carried out with coolheaded confidence alone. Viva la revolución.

Rage’s set was an unsurprising, high spirited call to arms. Though the typically unrestrained Zach de la Rocha kept mum for the most part, when he finally did unleash, it was with fiery oratory style, spewing unrelenting and sweeping accusations at imprecise officials constituting what he described as the "lying racist genocidal murderers who tricked Iraqis and Afghans with promises of democracy". Stern warnings of violence towards the orchestrators of war mixed with revolutionary justifications. De la Rocha plainly placed government officials supporting current war policies on notice by declaring they'd be "in harm's way". "Bullet in the Head" followed. Rage Against the Machine has never been a band keen on subtlety and this concert was no exception. Whether the crowd genuinely heeded such incendiary rhetoric or preferred the visceral experience of sharing sweat with fist pumping thousands is another question altogether.

The first half of the daytime show featured former MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer, the infamous 1968 DNC protester, joining Rage as they tore through the punk classic "Kick Out the Jams."

MC5 - "Kick Out the Jams"

Upon ending the show the band huddled together for a bow and announced the immediate start of a march to the convention arena led by the veteran protest group, Iraq Veterans Against the War. I bailed, but you can read a detailed account on the march from the Coliseum to the Pepsi Center in this detailed account [MTV News].