They Say Jump, You Say "How High?"

It wouldn't be summer if I didn't visit Randalls Island at least once to see some loud rock n' roll music. The dust pit used to hold the Warped Tour every year until they decided to bring it out to Long Island. Still, I haven't gone a summer without going to Randalls Island since 1999 and this summer was no different. Well, actually it was a little different, this summer was the reunion of Rage Against The Machine at the mostly hip-hop Rock The Bells festival. Hip-hop fans, hard rock fans, meatheads, frat boys and the MTA Transit all celebrated (Open letter to the city of New York and MTA: Hey guys, Thanks for charging the extra dollar on the bus to get to Randalls Island and making everyone buy a round trip ticket in advance. I also would like to express gratitude that you made sure to not allow people to use their monthly passes, since that wouldn't be fair to us who had to pay a dollar extra for the ride. I mean, sure, it's public transportation with set rates but since it's an "express" bus, I'm sure that warrants the extra buck. I'm also sure that all this extra money will go towards raising the salaries of the workers at the MTA and not to, er, I dunno, some rich white guy somewhere. Either way, I'm always happy to hang out with you guys. I actually got a ride back instead of taking the bus, which is too bad, because I was thinking of inviting all the MTA workers over to my apartment where we could make popcorn, snuggle up on the couch, and watch The Notebook on VHS.)

Oh, anyways, the show. A few observations (pre-RATM):

1) Holy shit, Flava Flav looks like he still smokes way too much crack. His eyes are pure YELLOW!

2) Quote of the year so far is when Flav brought his kids out: "Yo, these are my motherfuckin' kids! They're on the honor roll"

3) I never knew the Roots were that talented.

4) Ok, Cypress Hill, really? You guys are almost 40 and you're still obsessed with this slacker/marijuana/gangsta culture. It's time to give it up. As much as people might want to see fat 40-year-olds parade around stage rapping about getting weed in the mail and pretended to be tough guys, it's just laughable. You do realize you're a walking punch line, right?

5) I almost fell asleep during Wu-Tang. Seriously, the whole set seemed like a tribute to the Wu-Tang Clan than them actually performing. They spent 40% of it just getting prepared for the verse "Here we go", "Turn my mic up", "Throw your hands in the air", etc.

Now, Rage Against The Machine. No stupid corny bullshit intro music. No big build-up. They walked onstage with Zach De La Rocha proclaiming "Good evening, we are Rage Against The Machine from Los Angeles, California" and then, BOOM, ripped right into "Testify." The power that these guys bring with their music is incredible. There's no melody to really be found anywhere but it's still breath-taking. Seriously, I think at the end of "Down Rodeo" when Zach whispers "such a quiet, peaceful death" is one of the most beautiful moments in a song I've ever heard. My friend who was having the time of his life in the pits, grabbed me at one point and simply noted "This is awesome man. No computers, no pre-set sounds" and he was right. Rage relies on nothing more than guitar, bass and vocals yet they don't sound tired, they don't sound uninspired, they sound like a violent battle you don't want to fuck with.

Let's not forget that Zach barely said anything. They just ripped through one powerful song after another. This is the type of band where EVERY song they play is huge. Be it "Know Your Enemy", "Guerilla Radio", "Tire Me", every song was a crowd favorite. Zach saved his anti-Bush speech for the end proving that he's just as angry as ever, as he should be given the current administration. As a band, they were tight as ever. You can tell Tom Morello loves playing those riffs, much more than any Audioslave song. If there's one thing this night did for me, it told me I could never give up on rock music. No matter how boring or mundane it can seem at times, there is a reason it still exists. Rage Against The Machine are one of those reasons.

Still, I wondered how many of the fans there were able to grasp what Rage were about. Did they rally behind the social lyrics, the messages of political unfairness and oppression? Did they want to stand up and fight the system, fight the power? Or where they just looking to have a mock football practice and "kick some ass"? There were a lot of big cheers after Zach stated Bush should be brought to justice, but how many of those cheers were people following along with the crowd? How many people can truly think for themselves? Do people really want to stand up and challenge social injustices, or do they just want to let a rock band make them feel empowered for an hour and 20 minutes and then go back to letting FOX News do their thinking for them? Who knows the answers to all these questions but one thing is for sure: we need Rage Against The Machine to stay.