Zack de la Rocha performing with Rage Against the Machine in Indio, California on April 29, 2007
The Rage Against the Machine reunion tour was a concert tour by American rock band Rage Against the Machine that took place from 2007 to 2011. It was the first tour for the band since they broke up in 2000. This tour saw Rage Against the Machine performing live worldwide sporadically for four years, with the exception of 2009, before going back on hiatus; the band would not tour again until 2022.
History
Rumors that Rage Against the Machine could reunite at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival were circulating in mid-January 2007,[1] and were confirmed on January 22.[2] The band was confirmed to be headlining the final day of Coachella 2007.[3] The reunion was described by Morello as primarily being a vehicle to voice the band's opposition to the "right-wingpurgatory" the United States has "slid into" under the George W. Bush administration since RATM's dissolution.[4]
On April 14, 2007, Morello and de la Rocha reunited onstage early to perform a brief acoustic set at a Coalition of Immokalee Workers rally in downtown Chicago. Morello described the event as "very exciting for everybody in the room, myself included."[5][6] This was followed by the scheduled Coachella performance on Sunday, April 29 where the band staged a much anticipated performance to the largest crowds of the festival.[7][8][9]
This was originally thought of as a one-off show, which later turned out to be untrue. The band later played four shows in the Hip Hop festival Rock the Bells with the Wu Tang Clan, Public Enemy and Cypress Hill, and later an additional night in New York City after the first night sold out in 20 minutes. Rage also played their first (non-festival) concert in seven years at the Alpine Valley Music Theater in East Troy, Wisconsin, supported by Queens of the Stone Age in August 2007.
The band played co-headlining spots at New Orleans' Voodoo Music Experience in late October and the Vegoose Festival in Las Vegas. These shows were the last performances by the band in 2007.
In December 2008, PremierGuitar.com conducted an interview with Tom Morello and when asked about his plans for 2009 he replied:
"Well, I know for sure that I'll be doing a lot of Nightwatchman dates in the coming year and continuing the Axis of Justice organization that I run with Serj Tankian. I got a pretty large cache of Nightwatchman songs that I haven't released yet so I'll definitely continue writing and recording. Also, I had a great time playing Rage Against the Machine shows over the course of the year and half and I have no doubt that we'll continue to do more of those in the future."
In 2009, Morello also went on to work with his nonprofit, Axis of Justice.
Another leg was added for Europe in 2010. The leg included dates at indoor arenas, and outdoor festivals. The band also headlined the Download Festival at Donington Park, on June 12. On July 23, Rage performed at a benefit concert at the Hollywood Palladium theater in their hometown of Los Angeles to protest against the Arizona SB 1070 law. It was their first U.S. show in two years and according to guitarist Tom Morello it will be their only show in the U.S. for the year. In late 2010 they also completed a short three-date South American tour, including a headline set at the SWU Music & Arts Festival. This was the first time they had played in that continent.
On July 30, 2013, exactly two years after its original performance, it was announced on the L.A. Rising's Facebook page that the festival would once again take place in August 2014. Multiple sources reported that Rage Against the Machine would participate in the festival.[12][13][14] However, this never happened.
On October 16, 2015, the 2010 gig in Finsbury Park was released as a DVD and Blu-ray titled Live at Finsbury Park.
Setlist
Throughout the entirety of the reunion tour, the band's setlist was usually of the same structure for every show. The band played various songs at different shows. On each leg of the tour, the band played a new song(s) and added them regularly to the setlist. At a regular performance, the band would play 14 or 15 songs, including an encore.
Guantanamo Bay Intro
In occasion in Europe, and in Minneapolis, the band opened the show dressed like Guantanamo Bay prisoners and performed the first song in these costumes.
^"Check out this exclusive video from the CIW's "Concert for Fair Food"!". Coalition of Immokalee Workers. April 20, 2007. Retrieved May 29, 2014. It was very exciting for everybody in the room, myself included. I mean, the place was just packed to the rafters and even the stage was packed with this ring of 25 photographers two feet away from us while we were playing, so it was kind of a trippy, you know, way to do our first show. But it was a great cause and we were happy to be a part of the Immokalee farmworkers victory.
