Live Review

The Rage Factor – Finsbury Park

• 7th Jun 2010

Rage Against The Machine’s long awaited “Free” show arrived this weekend in thanks for the UK buyers sending their old hit with profanity intact to the number one spot at Christmas. It was a great finger up at the establishment of commercialised pop (mainly at the expense of Simon Cowell – who now doubt could not care less anyway). But gave us one of those moments in time where people and their opinion mattered.

The band Gallows opened proceedings early on in the day after the gates had been open for a few hours – letting attendees bask in the sun and raid the many stands that were selling food, drink and of course merch. Like it’s very only little festival!

Tension mounts later in the day when main support Gogol Bordello hit the stage. And having heard so much about their performance reputation it was a joy to behold such a vision in person. A rag tag of dancing, playing, fiddling, strumming and beating vagabonds on stage lead by a non-stop performance from front man Eugene Hutz – The Gogol Bordello never pause for thought. When one song ends the next has already started and it continues this way for the 50 minutes of so that they are onstage. Like a circus gone mad even their co-singer take to the crowd on the bands large drum which he rides on whilst continuing to sing.

They perform allot of their new material – but leave enough familiar tracks for the hardcore audience to sing and dance too. And there was plenty of dancing going on. Men, Women, Children and probably even Monkeys by the look of it.

After the long break between the screens light up and the animated cartoon that is the introduction by Simon Cowell appears. Yes a short parody on the man as he introduces the main act for this evening ensues which is rightly an added slap to Cowell’s saggy face.

From here a siren wails as the bands star symbol rises in the background of the stage. The band appear and get things going. Da La Rocha has long since dumped the dreaded look and has a frizzy fro and facial hair going. With a wide genuine smile on his face he powers through some of the best remembered songs by the band: Bombtrack, Bulls on Parade, Take the power Back, Bullet in the Head all going down extremely well. Faces literally seem to hit the soil at how well these guys play, and with the added sentiment of all things past it’s a riveting experience to be at a show that has well known songs making relevance in today’s society – and this also itself being an event that is itself a historic occasion as well as being in constant support of putting it to the system.

Some Hippie festival’s may make their points and think they are making the difference and changing the world, but being here you actually know that something was achieved and that it felt pretty good to a lot of people.

So eager were people to get in that even the gates themselves were burst open on at least two separate occasions and literally flocks of people stormed in to the hear the band play. It was quite the sight to see a stream of human bodies run from one spot to another with joy in their hearts and elation that they had managed to get in – with no intention of slowing down or turning back.

Rage came, saw and played their hearts out. At the mid0-point they got the people responsible onstage to thank them for their grand efforts and handed over that 100% proceeds cheque to charity. They then paid vocal tribute to bands like The Who, The Sex Pistols, the jam and The Clash. And they went crashing into a cover of White Riot.

It isn’t a surprise that they are holding back “Killing in The Name” until the end as this is the song that made the moment possible. It’s still hilarious to think that it made it to number one at Christmas. It helps us all feel a little less predictable.

It may be a while before we see something this euphoric again. But rage will continue to play and are set to headline at Download this year. Glasswerk will of course get that report in as soon as humanly possible!