Over the Weekend: Rage Against The Machine's Immigrant Rights Benefit at the Palladium

Timothy Norris

Rage Against Arizona's Controversial Legislation

[For more photos check out Timothy Norris' slideshow,"Rage Against The Machine's Immigrant Rights Benefit @ Palladium."]

With all the turmoil and wrongdoing in the world, it's a wonder Rage Against the Machine ever left the stage. But with the exception of 2007's Coachella and Rock the Bells festivals, Rage's performance last Friday at the Palladium -- their only North American stop -- was the band's first headlining SoCal appearance since 2000's The Battle of Los Angeles tour.

This time, they had a new bone to pick, specifically Arizona's controversial new immigration law. The benefit raised approximately $300,000 for various boycotting groups and was organized by singer Zack de la Rocha's Sound Strike, which so far has recruited Nine Inch Nails, Kanye West, Cypress Hill, Ben Harper, Conor Oberst and dozens of other artists.

Despite a strong effort, Oberst and his Mystic Valley Band were simply a poor choice for openers, having to contend with the crowd's boos and chanting of "Rage! Rage! Rage!" You can tell an opening band's singer is feeling skittish when he announces more than once that the headliners are just moments away. Not surprising. The bigger the cause, the bigger the clowns. That included all the air-punching and gang-sign-throwing guys in the "Nugent Rules," "I Heart Latinas" and "I Only Look Illegal" T-shirts. (Give me a Vans-wearing lunkhead over a skinny hipster any day).

You couldn't blame them, though. Whether it was the booze, misplaced anger or genuine frustration over Arizona's stance on immigration enforcement, the audience wasn't there to be entertained. They were there to be moved.

Timothy Norris

Opener Oberst

Moved to throw shit. Moved to waive their "five-sided fist-a-gon"s. Moved to knock each other down and pick each other up. And moved to walk out of the venue with sopping wet hair, still screaming into the night. There was enough energy and heat harnessed in that ballroom to fog up the lobby's windows.

If anger is a gift, the Palladium looked like Santa's workshop. But all was surprisingly smooth. The only emergency sounds we heard came from the siren call of "Testify" that ushered in the band in front of a backdrop of a lone red star. Watching the four, not much has changed: de la Rocha still leap-frogs across the stage and can still rarrrrgh like a bloodthirsty attack dog; guitarist Tom Morello still uses his trademark "Arm the Homeless" ax, strings sprouting from the head; and bassist Tim Commerford is almost completely inked from the waist up.

Timothy Norris

Tom Morello

Rage played nearly all of their eponymous debut, from "Bombtrack," with its creeping intro, to the funked-out, Apartheid-inspired "Township Rebellion" on which de la Rocha's unmistakable mic skills outshine any rapper's. "Gotta get wreck/Till our necks never swing on a rope/From here to the cape of no hope." The set list also included hits from Rage's followup albums, Evil Empire and The Battle of Los Angeles, in addition to a cover of the Clash's "White Riot."

The night's agenda was clear. De la Rocha dedicated "People of the Sun" and nearly every song thereafter to "our brothers and sisters from Arreesona," while Rage's biggest hit, "Killing in the Name" went out especially to Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Arizona's Maricopa County. "It's not only a racist law, it's a divisive law," de la Rocha said of the SB 1070 bill.

Yes, there was plenty of soapboxing. De la Rocha is the group's mouthpiece, and guys as passionate and incendiary as these four don't just wear their anger on their sleeve, they wear it all over. And therein lies the dilemma of listening to a political band. They're equal parts message and music. But can you take one without the other?