“we gotta take the power back” What a night! Great vibes (on and off the stage), a setlist full of old (but extremely topical) hymns, tension, raised fists and 100% euphoria for an ideal kick of the new concert season.

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The opening act was Taburo Bota, a greek hip hop band from Ioannina city.  Proper underground band with social/political lyrics, they played for 30 minutes trying to get their message through but the arena was not full yet.

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After a 30’ break the place was packed enough and DJ Lord started to warm up the audience with a 15’ long mix of rock and rap classics. But time has come, PROPHETS OF RAGE get on stage with «Prophets of Rage» (Public enemy cover) and then «Testify» which leaves no doubts of how much the people love Rage Against The Machine. Yes, it’s been 19 years from the historic gig of R.A.T.M. in Athens, yes we miss Zack, yes many things have changed (or… not) but you can see the fire in the eyes of the young ones that tonight have the opportunity to see some legends on stage, three members of R.A.T.M. and two iconic figures, Chuck D and B-Real, yes, this is a supergroup that successfully combines two different music worlds.

“So raise your fists and march around”

Sound isn’t ideal (this is not a real concert venue) but who cares, the band is perfect (great performance by Tim Commerford and Brad Wilk) and Tom Morello is out of this planet, not only because of his guitar skills (indeed, no surprise) but also because of his written messages on his guitar (that is used like a war flag).

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Setlist is based mainly on R.A.T.M. songs but of course they have their own good songs and many others by Public Enemy, Cypress Hill, a great hiphop medley, «Jump Around» by House of Pain and an emotional tribute to Chris Cornell (with spotlight on empty mic) with «Cochise» by Audioslave. But «Bullet In The Head» will take the concert to a new hysteric level (extra kudos for the anti-nazi sticker) and people will go completely crazy with «Bulls On Parade» and «Killing In The Name» with a nice dose of «Fight The Power» in between them). Pits all over the place (many shoes got lost this night), old and young fans, metalheads and hiphopers, all together, with smiles on their faces, smiles everywhere. It’s a resistance celebration against fear and resignation. No, music won’t bring revolution but it will change something inside of us… “in the right light, study becomes insight…”

live report: Konstantinos Mindcrimek Vlachos
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How the West was won. In the 90s, it was spreading heavy rock to the thirsty but unsuspecting masses of the world. And then, hip hop bling and exalted consumerism. But for a moment, before style became king and opinions became suspect, there was Rage Against the Machine.

Prophets of Rage (from a song in Public Enemy’s seminal 1988 album It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back) is the band P.E.s Chuck D formed with Rage Against the Machine (bar vocalist Zack De La Rocha) and B Real of Cypress Hill; a continuation of the politically conscious, anti-establishment musical movement Public Enemy spearheaded in the 80s and RATM took over in the 90s. The band relies heavily on RATM material (about half of the songs played), which makes for an odd combination of tribute band and rock dinosaur.

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Regardless, their energy levels were elevated beyond comprehension (I had to google to find out how old Chuck D is: 59 and still a teenager): guitarist Tom Morello is the elfin hyperkinetic figure, part geek and part intellectual funk rocker, who seems to emanate riffs; Tim Commerford plays the bass with his whole body, swinging and grooving; and Brad Wilk’s drums crash and hold the band’s sound together with the funkiest of beats. Their chemistry is legendary. Chuck D and B Real submerge themselves in the band’s noise, delivering their vocal fury with youthful abandon.

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Alternating cuts from all 3 bands’ catalogue, but always returning to the primal force that is Rage Against The Machine, the gig built up with classics like Know Your Enemy, Take the Power Back, and Bullet in the Head, interspersed with Prophets material like Unfuck the World and Hail to the King, plus their version of Cypress Hill’s How I Could Just Kill a Man, then took a break to play a hip hop medley that included Jump Around, and finally reached a banging crescendo with Bulls on Parade, Killing in the Name Of and Bombtrack. The crowd went wild, and everyone went home satisfied. The West was won.

Michael Grammatopoulos Murphy

photographs: Chris Kissadjekian

Setlist: Prophets Of Rage (Public Enemy cover) / Testify (Rage Against the Machine cover) /  Unfuck The World / Guerrilla Radio (Rage Against the Machine cover) / Made With Hate / Know Your Enemy (Rage Against the Machine cover) / Hail To The Chief / Heart Afire / Take The Power Back (Rage Against the Machine cover) / Hip Hop Medley: Night Of The Living Baseheads/ Hand On The Pump/ Shut ‘Em Down/Can’t Truss It/Insane In The Brain/Bring The Noise/ I Ain’t Going Out Like That / Jump Around (House of Pain cover) / Sleep Now In The Fire (Rage Against the Machine cover) / Cochise (Audioslave cover) / Bullet In The Head (Rage Against the Machine cover) / Living On The 110 / How I Could Just Kill A Man (Cypress Hill cover) / Bulls On Parade (Rage Against the Machine cover) / Killing In The Name (Rage Against The Machine cover με intro το Fight The Power από Public Enemy) / Bombtrack (Rage Against the Machine cover)

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