Rage Against The Machine At Capital One Arena Washington DC August 2nd and 3rd

After a two year delay Rage Against The Machine brought their “Public Service Announcement” tour to the Nations Capital for two nights at Capital One Arena. Side Stage Magazine was lucky enough to attend both nights of the highly anticipated tour that has Zach de la Rocha back with fellow bandmates Tom Morello, Tim Commerford, and Brad Wilk. This is the bands first full tour together since 2008 and fans bought up tickets as fast they could when the tour was first announced back in 2020. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic the band, like many were forced to place the tour on hold until 2022. 

Given the current political climate, there seemed to be no better time for Rage Against The Machine to reunite and tour the nation. The current tour will see the band perform fifty shows across forty cities in twelve different countries. The band recently announced that it would be canceling the August and September legs of their European tour to allow time for Zach de la Rocha to heal and rehabilitate from his injured leg he suffered in Chicago. 

Both nights at Capital One Arena were filled to the brim with fans who had waited for nearly two years to catch the reunion of Rage Against The Machine, and despite Zach de la Rocha having to sit on a a box for the shows due to his leg injury, there was no shortage of energy from the vocalist. 

Both night’s setlist were the same with the exception of night one having Run The Jewels join them on stage for “Close Your Eyes (And Count to Fuck)” night two saw “Tire Me” instead. Both nights kicked off with a PSA that played as an intro as the band took to the stage. Once Zach was in place the guys kicked things off with “Bombtrack,” “People of the Sun,” and “Bulls on Parade.” Fans hardly had time to catch their breath before it was right back into “Bullet in the Head,” Testify,” and “Take the Power Back” the floor which was filled from front to back broke out into several huge mosh pits and even the fans in the seats were jumping. Thru out the set images corresponding to each song played on a large LED screen behind the band, other than that there was not much production, just the band and their instruments. The night wrapped up with “Killing in the Name” which saw all eighteen thousand plus loose their minds, and turned the floor into one huge mosh pit. 

This is a must see tour for any fan of Rage Against The Machine, the guys sound as good as ever and have not missed a beat in their time away.