Rage Against The Machine: ‘Try George Bush as a war criminal’

Protest rockers drive T In The Park wild with headline set

Rage Against The Machine played a passionate headline slot on the Main Stage at the T In The Park festival tonight (July 12), ending their set with a climactic version of ‘Killing In The Name’.

During the band’s first UK show in eight years the band played songs including the aforementioned single, ‘Bombtrack’ and ‘Renegades Of Funk’, and called for US President George W. Bush to be tried as a war criminal.

Producing scenes of mass moshing in the crowd, Rage Against The Machine powered through a relentless set spanning their entire career.

Advertisement

Against a backdrop of the Zapatista flag, the band opened with ‘Testify’, with frontman Zack de la Rocha jumping around furiously to guitarist Tom Morello‘s heavy riffing.

Going on to play classics, such as ‘Bulls On Parade’, ‘Bombtrack’ and ‘Bullet In The Head’, the intensity never let up, with de la Rocha stalking the stage and encouraging the crowd to become even more energetic.

Before ‘Wake Up’, De La Rocha spoke to the crowd about how the band were slammed by TV channel Fox News after their Coachella festival gig last year.

“They said we had said George Bush should be assassinated,” declared the singer. “We did not say that. We said he should be tried for being a war criminal.

“[What they are afraid of] is you,” he said. “If in protest to their war you burn down the American embassy…it’s up to us, generation after generation to beat the system which perpetuates war. Wake up.”

After briefly leaving the stage, Rage Against The Machine returned for an encore comprising ‘Freedom’ and set closer ‘Killing in the Name’

Advertisement

At the climax of the song, thousands of festival-goers screamed the famous “Fuck you, I won’t do what you tell me!” chorus.

Taking their bows, the band were clearly thrilled by their reception and applauded the crowd in return for being part of a memorable headline show.

Rage Against The Machine played:

‘Testify’

‘Bulls On Parade’

‘People Of The Sun’

‘Bombtrack’

‘Vietnow’

‘Know Your Enemy’

‘Bullet In The Head’

‘Renegades Of Funk’

‘Guerrilla Radio’

‘Calm Like A Bomb’

‘Sleep Now In the Fire’

‘Wake Up’

‘Freedom’

‘Killing In The Name’

Keep up with all the action from T In The Park and Oxegen Festival this weekend (July 11-13) as it happens on NME.COM.

For news, pictures and blogs keep checking the NME.COM‘s T In The Park and Oxegen pages. Plus make sure you get next week’s issue of NME – on UK newsstands from July 16 – for the ultimate T In The Park and Oxegen Festival review.

You May Also Like

Advertisement

TRENDING

Advertisement

More Stories