Anger is a gift
Well BDO was pretty damn good. Saw Billy Bragg, Arcade Fire, Bjork and Rage Against The Machine. I sprained my back or something over the weekend and it was seriously acting up at the gig making it almost impossible to keep standing during Bjork, my theory is that her performance was actually making the pain worse somehow, probably as a result of her being an Evil Icelandic Insanity Pixie.
I know I was a little 'Tired and Emotional' from a B-I-G weekend but I don't mind saying that seeing RATM was an emotive experience for me, bordering on religious. I was, at times, moved to the verge of tears. My teeth and jaws ached from being clenched in anger. This band literally changed my life, when I was a teenager their music woke me up, showed me that there was a hell of a lot wrong with this world. That if people didn't realize that and speak up then it would only get worse. The course alteration this epiphany had on the direction of my life has literally made me the man I am today. I admit that I have not done the feelings of discontent and righteous anger that they instilled in me the justice they deserve, I have not taken enough action, not changed enough minds, not gained or shared enough knowledge. This is possibly why I found the experience such an emotional one. They woke me up, and I let them down, but I do hope that I have over the course of my life at least made some of the people I have encountered think for a moment about why the world is the way it is and what can be done to resist.
But back to the band; they put in an amazing performance, they had the energy of nuclear detonation and the maelstrom of seething anger and blistering outrage emanating from Zack de la Rocha washed over the crowd in palpable waves. This was simply the most vibrant performance I have ever seen from any band. With that said, there seemed to be mistakes-a-plenty during the performance with bass lines and drum beats tripping over each other momentarily in a couple of songs, but a performance that can have a profound effect on your mental state washes away the complaints of a few timing problems. No errors, though, from Tom Morello who, when he wasn't improvising bluesy solos or rhythmic bursts of noise and feedback, flawlessly reproduced the studio versions burned into my memory a hundred times and more. This man is a master musician, a craftsman, a deity of distortion.
The BDO ticket price was worth it if Rage were the only band I had seen that day, no future gig will be the same for me again.
/Teenage fanboy
I know I was a little 'Tired and Emotional' from a B-I-G weekend but I don't mind saying that seeing RATM was an emotive experience for me, bordering on religious. I was, at times, moved to the verge of tears. My teeth and jaws ached from being clenched in anger. This band literally changed my life, when I was a teenager their music woke me up, showed me that there was a hell of a lot wrong with this world. That if people didn't realize that and speak up then it would only get worse. The course alteration this epiphany had on the direction of my life has literally made me the man I am today. I admit that I have not done the feelings of discontent and righteous anger that they instilled in me the justice they deserve, I have not taken enough action, not changed enough minds, not gained or shared enough knowledge. This is possibly why I found the experience such an emotional one. They woke me up, and I let them down, but I do hope that I have over the course of my life at least made some of the people I have encountered think for a moment about why the world is the way it is and what can be done to resist.
But back to the band; they put in an amazing performance, they had the energy of nuclear detonation and the maelstrom of seething anger and blistering outrage emanating from Zack de la Rocha washed over the crowd in palpable waves. This was simply the most vibrant performance I have ever seen from any band. With that said, there seemed to be mistakes-a-plenty during the performance with bass lines and drum beats tripping over each other momentarily in a couple of songs, but a performance that can have a profound effect on your mental state washes away the complaints of a few timing problems. No errors, though, from Tom Morello who, when he wasn't improvising bluesy solos or rhythmic bursts of noise and feedback, flawlessly reproduced the studio versions burned into my memory a hundred times and more. This man is a master musician, a craftsman, a deity of distortion.
The BDO ticket price was worth it if Rage were the only band I had seen that day, no future gig will be the same for me again.
/Teenage fanboy