Review: Rage Against the Machine at the Democratic Convention

August 29, 2008

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The music event that was characterized as having the largest potential this week for violence between activists and police went off Wednesday more like a mass training in peaceful resistance.

Joined by like-minded anti-war rockers State Radio, The Coup, Flobots, Jello Biafra and Wayne Kramer from the MC5, Rage Against the Machine headlined an impassioned midday concert at the Denver Coliseum featuring the band’s hits, political speeches and calls for nonviolence.

More than anything, the concert was a respectful nod to Iraq Veterans Against the War, which, along with Tent State, mounted the show to call attention to their agenda: Encouraging a hasty end to the war, providing veterans with comprehensive healthcare, and rebuilding Iraq.

After the headliners capped off a loud, amped up performance with the fan favorite “Killin in the name,” Rage guitarist Tom Morello called on the roughly 8,000 concertgoers to join him and other entertainers in a march for peace to the Pepsi Center.

“We’re going right now,” he said. “We’ll meet you outside.”

Non-violence was the theme of the day.

Earlier on stage, Vietnam War veteran and author of “Born on the Fourth of July,” Ron Kovick, said this was a historic day in Denver.

“We will bring the troops home,” he said, “and we will do this nonviolently, in the spirit of Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela.”

Biafra, a Colorado native and punk legend for fronting the Dead Kennedys, reminded the crowd that there “is such a thing as a police riot,” he said. “Don’t give them any reason” to start one.

Before the concert, Boots Riley, frontman for the political hip-hop/funk band The Coup, said the event was a way of questioning Democrats’ on their Iraq plan. “What they’re talking about is going to take years,” he said. “Meanwhile people are dying.”

Kramer’s band, the MC5, performed during the explosive 1968 Democratic National Convention. He said this day in Denver had “poetic and historic significance” for him.

“Just the fact that I’m here 40 years later is a treat for me,” Kramer said.

http://www.denverpost.com/politics/ci_10318511