Battle Of New York
Nassau Coliseum 12/3/99

This was the 7th and last Rage show for me in 1999. I saw the Mumia Benefit, Dysfunctional Family Picnic (Jones Beach), Tibetan Freedom Concert, Woodstock, Roseland, & Oakland. How do I rank this one? Well, given the fact that there is never a disappointing Rage show, the Nassau show was the best way to round off my 99 tour.

I had bought 8 GA tickets (the max) and dispersed them to 7 friends who have all been to 2 or 3 of the Rage shows with me this past year. So it was very climactic and sentimental to have every one of my Rage heads together for the last NY show of 99.

We started the celebration in the parking lot, blasting Rage songs, getting high and drinking beer. Got into the floor during Dilated Peoples. I missed them in Oakland so I was able to catch their act this time. Couldn't really comment on them, not knowing who they are. They seemed to have a lot of energy though. Gangstarr was much better in NY probably due to the fact that it's their home town so they were able to use that to their advantage and get the crowd going. No boos in this town for Gangstarr.

The crowd must have waited for Rage for what seemed like the longest 40 minutes. Which during that time, there was a lot more entertainment then what was on stage prior to. As usual in a Rage/arena show, the crowd made its way to the floor in herds, one section at a time. It was like a wave. Security at Nassau is not uptight at all so I at least didn't see anyone get unnecessarily roughed up. If they were able to stop some kids from getting down, they just blocked them which were the minority. And the many who made their way down were doing all sorts of leaps. We couldn't help but form our own panel of judges, flashing numbers, rating each leap.

As we were making our way up to the stage, we witnessed a fight with a group of girls. These girls were being really nasty. At one point, some chick wailed at this guy who was walking by and impulsively, he smacked her back in the face. Instead of flinching, she continued hitting. Ultimately, the guys they were with held them down. I have to say, the females at the show were pretty fierce. There are many more girls who go to Rage shows now then ever which is probably why there's so much more sexual harassment. Rage shows used to be one big testosterone fest. So I guess when you include the female species, you're gonna have idiots who can't control themselves. Hence, the speeches Zack has been doing throughout the tour. Coincidentally, Zack didn't make that speech in Nassau. Or maybe it wasn't a coincidence. With the amount of tough chics, you would have been smacked or castrated if you had harassed a girl that evening. No joke. Me being one of them and having been harassed at a recent Rage show myself. Which was why I was completely thrilled when I first heard Zack say something about that in Oakland. But he obviously found no need to say something that night.

As usual for this tour, Rage came out, Zack did the greeting, and they started with Testify while the crowd first noticed the banner that they've been customizing for each area, this time for New York. Of course the crowd went nuts and the Rage evening began. I had more fun in this show than any other I had been to this past year. Partly because there seemed to be more room. I think Nassau under sells their GA tickets because even with the people from the top coming down to the floor, there was still room to jump around. In Oakland, there wasn't even room to breathe. Also, the crowd was pretty tame for a Rage show. The mosh pits were decent and not� like a war zone. I even busted one out during Calm Like A Bomb only 2 feet from the railing. At first, this guy that I bumped in front of me was like, "What the fuck?", turned around and saw that I was this 5'4" chic just going nuts so then he joined in. That was pretty funny. Guerilla Radio was the second song and I just have to say that by judging from the crowd's reaction and Rage's performance, this song sounded like one of their classics already when it's only been around for over a month. The rest of the set is pretty much the same as it has been for this part of the tour. But they did play Vietnow which made me freak out because I didn't think they'd play that at all, judging from the past set lists for this tour. And Ghost Of Tom Joad is always a treat. Before Freedom, Zach made a speech about how they are not for cop killers but rather they are against killa cops. And of course he sang "Freedom for Mumia" right after that.

As best as I can remember, this was the set list (the order may be off a little):

Testify
Guerilla Radio
People Of The Sun
Calm Like A Bomb
Bullet In The Head
Ghost Of Tom Joad
Vietnow
Sleep Now In The Fire
Broken Man
Know Your Enemy
No Shelter
War Within A Breath

Bulls On Parade
Freedom
Killing In The Name Of