It’s true! While the rock world was buzzing about Rage Against the Machine finally reuniting, it came with disappoint as the band announced only five dates.
Now, the band split with frontman Zach de la Roacha in 2007 just after they released their covers album “Renegades”, and while he tried to make a go of it solo, the remaining members teamed up for two massive supergroups: Audioslave with Chris Cornell and Prophets of Rage with B-Real and Chuck D. Rage managed to get it together to play a reunion gig at Coachella in 2007 and then hit another nine-year gap.
For one of the world’s most political bands, choosing 2020 to stage a comeback after is just good marketing. And aside from this year’s Coachella Festival they chose to schedule three other shows that are all in the “border towns” of El Paso, TX, Las Cruces, NM and Glendale, AZ. While fans were coming to grips with the fact that those five shows just might be the end of it, today, the band announced a full world tour that will begin March 26th in El Paso and run thru September 10th in Krakow, Poland.
No doubt the band will have plenty to say in between songs in this election year, so if you go to a show, don’t say you weren’t warned. I remember them getting kicked off of SNL after one performance simply for having American flags draped upside down on the amp. And that was in 1996. To say the world and the political atmosphere has changed a ton since then is the understatement of a life time.
When the tour does kick off in those three – El Paso, Las Cruces and Glendale- the band plans on donating all the proceeds to immigrants rights organizations. They also plan to donate a portion of ticketing to several charities and activist organizations throughout the year.
For us here in middle Tennessee, a road trip is required to get your Rage on. The closet stop on the “Public Service Announcement” tour is May 16th in St Louis, MO.
Rage Against the Machine Tour Dates
March 26 — El Paso, TX @ Don Haskins Center
March 28 — Las Cruces, NM @ Pan American Center
March 30 — Glendale, AZ @ Gila River Arena
April 10 — Indio, CA @ Coachella
April 17 — Indio, CA @ Coachella
April 21 — Oakland, CA @ Oakland Arena
April 25 — Portland, OR @ Moda Center
April 28 — Tacoma, WA @ Tacoma Dome
May 1 — Vancouver, BC @ Pacific Coliseum at the PNE
May 3 — Edmonton, AB @ Rogers Place
May 5 — Calgary, AB @ Scotiabank Saddledome
May 7 — Winnipeg, MB @ Bell MTS Place
May 9 — Sioux Falls, SD @ Denny Sanford Premier Center
May 11 — Minneapolis, MN @ Target Center
May 14 — Kansas City, MO @ Sprint Center
May 16 — St. Louis, MO @ Enterprise Center
May 19 — Chicago, IL @ United Center
May 23 — Boston, MA @ Boston Calling
June 19 — Dover, DE @ Firefly
July 10 — East Troy, WI @ Alpine Valley Music Theatre
July 13 — Detroit, MI @ Little Caesars Arena
July 17 — Ottawa, ON @ Ottawa Bluesfest
July 18 — Festival d’Été de Québec @ Festival d’Été de Québec
July 21 — Hamilton, ON @ FirstOntario Centre
July 23 — Toronto, ON @ Scotiabank Arena
July 27 — Buffalo, NY @ KeyBank Center
July 29 — Cleveland, OH @ Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse
July 31 — Pittsburgh, PA @ PPG Paints Arena
August 2 — Raleigh, NC @ PNC Arena
August 4 — Washington DC @ Capital One Arena
August 7 — Camden, NJ @ BB&T Pavilion
August 10 — New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
August 11 — New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
August 28 — Leeds, UK @ Leeds Festival
August 30 — Reading, UK @ Reading Festival
September 1 — Paris, France @ Rock En Seine Festival
September 4 — Stradbally Laois, Ireland @ Electric Picnic Festival
September 6 — Berlin, Germany @ Lollapalooza Berlin Festival
September 8 — Prague, Czech Republic @ O2 Arena
September 10 — Krakow, Poland @ Tauron Arena
Here’s the ONE RATR song they were able to perform on SNL; sans the upside down American flags, that were yanked seconds before they went live.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOe5Ug8sibU
And the time they took over Wall Street with a guerrilla performance to film the video for “Sleep Now in the Fire” from the 1999 album, “The Battle of Los Angels“. One of the only pieces directed by Michael Moore that I can truly get on board with.
