Rage in Worcester, Nov. 30th

I have been a Rage fan for years now but have never managed to see one of thier shows. This was my first and I was amped. I arrived at the centrum to be greeted my cops holding signs that read "Rage supports cop killers." Seeing this only got me more excited. After being so gently touched by the friendly men at the door I went to my seat which was behind the stage. They were much better than I had expected. Promptly at 7:30 the opening act came out, it was a band called "At The Drive In." I can only assmume that they were a punk band, but it was hard to tell with the heavily distorted guitars and screaming. Thankfuly they only played 5 songs and then hurried off the stage. Gangstarr came out about 20 minutes after and did a good job of pumping up the crowd. It was amazing to hear thousands of white kids from the suburbs chanting Tupac and Biggie. In any case it was great. About 15 minutes before Rage came out, hundreds of people from the balcony stormed past the security guards and onto the floor. Security couldn't do anything about it. It proved how much energy was in the room. It was 9:30 when the lights finally dimmed. I jumped from my seat as I saw Zack come up the stairs and onto the stage. The relative silence of the crowd was broken as Rage opened with Testify. I had no idea it would be that good. The sound filled every square inch of the Centrum and even the most passive of on lookers had become rebels now. Rage ripped through thier set which went as follows : Testify, Guerilla Radio, People of The Sun, Calm Like A Bomb, Bullet in the Head, Sleep Now in The Fire, Born of a Broken Man, The Ghost of Tom Joad, No Shelter, Know Your Enemy, and War Within a Breath. Perhaps the most amzing part of this set was during Bullet in the Head. During the part of the song where Zack usually says " Standin' in line, belivein' the lies, your bowing down to the flag, you got a bullet in your head..." he was silent. Fifteen Thousand people were filling in for him, screaming with an intensity I've never heard before. I was one of them and I can tell you that I couldn't talk for days after. After that they walked off the stage. I didn't see one person move from their seats. Instead the crowd went wild, shaking railings, stomping their feet and screaming "WE WANT MORE." Rage soon came back out for an encore, which started off with a loud as hell version of Bulls on Parade, very nice. After that came a jam session in which Zack gave his thoughts on the Police boycott. It was something to the effect of, and I'm not quoting, "Before the show tonight we saw some police officers standing outside the venue with sings that said 'Rage Against The Machine Supports Cop Killers.' We don't support and kind of killers, especially not killers........I don't think they are scared of cop killers, I think they are scared of you, scared that you are going to do something......." Zack then dedicated then next song to Mumia. It was Freedom and I held my FREE MUMIA sign high. They went right from Freedom to thier last song, Killing in the Name. The whole crowd was screaming "Fuck you, I won't do what ya tell me !" as the concert came to a close. The lights went up and I was too shocked to move.

This is to anyone who has never seen Rage live: GO GO GO GO!! They are the best live band I have ever seen. It is truly a moving experience.

Dylan, CT