Atari Teenage Riot

Wu-Tang Clan

Rage Against the Machine

@ Greatwoods 8/21/97

First they called it off, then they called it on, but no matter what most of us were going to show up and find out what the fuck first hand. It rained all freaking day. I lost my friends during Atari Teenage Riot because they had lawnseats and I had la photo pass so I was dry inside.

Atari Teenage Riot went on first. They were LOUD AS HELL, but that sucked after a while because you wanted to hear. They were off the stage by 7:00 or so I guess. Then it happened. We waited for three hours until the next band came out.

Zack De La Rocha has sprained his ankle in NYC like the day before so he was flying up late. Turned out his plane didn't leave NYC until 8:00pm. When it landed at Logan a bunch of Mass. State Troopers gave him the flashin' escort down to Greatwoods. Envisioning that made it almost worth while.

Rage guitarist, Tom Morello, came out two hours into the wait and explained that Wu-Tang Caln would be there soon- their limo busted down or some shit, and then explained that "This is the first show of the tour that was a sell-out. We owed it to you to play tonight."

Wu-Tangs stage set had been in place for hours, it was funny- we dubbed it the "portable hood"- it was a liquor store with set of stairs leading up to the door and an abandoned store front with a cop car smashed through through the window- in between was the DJ turntables.

Wu-Tang finally showed up and played probably the longest set of arena rap ever. We threw up our lighters, made Wu hand signs, pumped up these fingers, then those, had a Boston booty call, smoked blunts with the pit, sang from the pit, surfed the pi t, threw out hundreds of casettes, seat cushons, towels, and even a 40oz for the blonde who went up for the booty call and stayed to show her tits from the pit. Man it was nuts. At any given time there were 9 dudes rappin, who-whoin, yo-yoin, blow-blowin, and smoke- smokin.

Of course there were some snags- ODB wasn't there cause his limo was busted, or he smoked too much pot, whatever, and I think GZA was missing too. I 'm sorry I'm not an old Wu-Tang man, I don't know them all by name or song.



Rage Against The Machine

So after Wu-Tang stalled long enough for Zack and his new police friends to arrive Rage finally took the stage. It was almost exactally midnight and they hit the shit hard. Nothing but the best, no long long tirades, just getting their shit out.

Rage ripped through the best like, "People of the Sun," "Vietnow," "Fist Full of Steel," "Bullet in Your Head," that Bruce Springsteen "Toam Joad" song, "Bombtrack," and a whole bunch more. They did a mean version of "Killing in the Name Of" as on of the encores well, and ended (of course) with "Freedom."

Zack may have been winged but he was still all over the place. He really projects some fucking fearce energy out there. He just shakes, screams and in this case bounced on one leg . Like a man posessed he really delivers.

Tom Morello is still the balls on guitar- he's a feirce player and really does make all those funky noises out of his guitar. One song he does the police siren, the next he makes his guitar sound like a scratching turntable- it doesn't matter he make s it look flawless.

After waiting that long people were really psyched. We knew it was going to be a short set- you could see the guys on the isde of the stage giving hand signals about how many songs were left- so nobody wasted any time forming a pit, or getting that m iddle finger up.

Rage doesn't hit town often, but when they do you're guaranteed to enjoy it and learn something so you have to go. The people who waited three of four hours in the rain are testiment to the power of their message and music. Personally I get out a fe w months of pent up agression at their concerts, its a buzz that lasts for a few weeks and is totally worth while.

To keep it real Rage Against the Machine ticket prices are $20 bucks, t-shirts are $10 and there are handouts from all sorts of organizations you should support.

Rumor had it that the fine from Greatwoods for playing after 11:00pm is $1,000 per minute- if that is true somebody lost a bucket on the show. I hope it isn't- unless Sony is paying. The pit guys were telling me about it- I guess after 11:00 its a ne w business day and the bands have to pay more rent. Greatwoods got in trouble from the town of Mansfield and has to pay a $20,000 fine themselves and may lose their license for one month.

I think all the fines and shit are bogus- Rage and their fans put up with a lot of shit to get the show on, and the towns people should know by now that they live next to a place that makes noise -and pumps tons of money into their town. I spent hone st earned money at Wendy's and a liquor store- the Wendy's took forever because of all the concertgoers in line and the liquor I bought sat in the car because the cops were practicing for the New World Order in the parking lot by busting EVERYBODY, no matter how old for drinking and hanging out. They threw out some stupid radio station that has like 1,000 people jumping around and showing some skin and that was too much. It was like a police state ou thtere and inside they didn't sell beer and shut down the stands long before the show was over.

Even with all that bullshit the show was THE BALLS!!! So support Rage Against the Machine, get involved, and make sure that they can continue to play wherever they want. Don't let the scared pigs shut down the beer tent out of fear and racism again!

Take the power back.