Rage Against The Machine Announce Global Tour, Including Stop In Detroit

Today rap/metal giants Rage Against The Machine announced a global tour with support from incredible duo, Run The Jewels. Their trek will include a stop at Detroit’s Little Caesar’s Arena on Monday July 13th. The band’s lineup includes all original members with Zack de la Rocha on vocals, Tom Morello on guitar, Tim Commerford on bass, and Brad Wilk on drums.

The news is welcome after a nine year hiatus for the band. Shows in the Southwest and some festival stops had been announced previously, but the added dates allow many more fans to get in on the fist up action. The “Public Service Announcement” tour will span seven months, beginning in Texas this March, and wrapping up in Austria in September. Tickets will go on sale this Thursday the 13th at 11 AM local time through Rage Against The Machine’s website and Live Nation.

In typical RATM fashion, the tour will be contributing to several charities through portions of ticket sales, volunteering, and donations. All of the proceeds from the shows in El Paso, TX, Las Cruces, NM, and Glendale, AZ will go to immigrant rights organizations.

Check out the full list of tour dates below…

Rage Against The Machine – “Public Service Announcement” Tour Dates :

March 26th — El Paso, TX : Don Haskins Center
March 28th — Las Cruces, NM : Pan American Center
March 30th — Glendale, AZ @ Gila River Arena
April 10th — Indio, CA : Coachella
April 17th — Indio, CA : Coachella
April 21st — Oakland, CA : Oakland Arena
April 25th — Portland, OR : Moda Center
April 28th — Tacoma, WA : Tacoma Dome
May 1st — Vancouver, BC : Pacific Coliseum at the PNE
May 3rd — Edmonton, AB : Rogers Place
May 5th — Calgary, AB : Scotiabank Saddledome
May 7th — Winnipeg, MB : Bell MTS Place
May 9th — Sioux Falls, SD : Denny Sanford Premier Center
May 11th — Minneapolis, MN : Target Center
May 14th — Kansas City, MO : Sprint Center
May 16th — St. Louis, MO : Enterprise Center
May 19th — Chicago, IL : United Center
May 23rd — Boston, MA : Boston Calling
June 19th — Dover, DE : Firefly
July 10th — East Troy, WI : Alpine Valley Music Theatre
July 13th — Detroit, MI : Little Caesars Arena
July 17th — Ottawa, ON : Ottawa Bluesfest
July 18th — Festival d’Été de Québec : Festival d’Été de Québec
July 21st — Hamilton, ON : FirstOntario Centre
July 23rd — Toronto, ON : Scotiabank Arena
July 27th — Buffalo, NY : KeyBank Center
July 29th — Cleveland, OH : Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse
July 31st — Pittsburgh, PA : PPG Paints Arena
August 2nd — Raleigh, NC : PNC Arena
August 4th — Washington DC : Capital One Arena
August 7th — Camden, NJ : BB&T Pavilion
August 10th — New York, NY : Madison Square Garden
August 11th — New York, NY : Madison Square Garden
August 28th — Leeds, UK : Leeds Festival
August 30th — Reading, UK : Reading Festival
September 1st — Paris, France : Rock En Seine Festival
September 4th — Stradbally Laois, Ireland : Electric Picnic Festival
September 6th — Berlin, Germany : Lollapalooza Berlin Festival
September 8th — Prague, Czech Republic : O2 Arena
September 10th — Krakow, Poland : Tauron Arena
September 12th – Viena, Austria : Wiener Stadthalle

 

Article by Tiffany Cuthrell, featured photo courtesy of Live Nation, tour promo courtesy of Virgil Abloh

Rage Against The Machine Is Returning In 2020!

Dreams have come true for Rage Against The Machine fans the world over.

With fists up, we received the exciting news that the powerful band will be reuniting in 2020 with five shows in the southwest. Many of the band’s songs have touched on immigration and struggles of those our society has passed over. With 2020 being an important election year, it must be no mistake that the dates are all very close to the US and Mexican border.

Rage Against the Machine last performed together in 2011 in Los Angeles, and a reunion has long since seemed implausible. The band’s members have frequently been questioned about such a reunion, but all have been busy with their own endeavors. Rage’s leader, Zack de la Rocha, released a single entitled “Digging For Windows” in 2016, but no other solo material has come since. Influential offset, Prophets Of Rage was born in response to the 2016 election. The supergroup consists of Rage’s guitarist Tom Morello, bassist Tim Commerford, and drummer Brad Wilk, as well as B-Real of Cypress Hill, and Chuck D of Public Enemy.

The five dates were posted through the band’s Twitter, leaving no doubt that this news is legitimate. Venues are yet to be announced, but the dates in California coincide with Coachella’s two weekends.

El Paso, TX – March 26th, 2020
Las Cruces, NM – March 28th, 2020
Phoenix, AZ – March 30, 2020
Indio, CA – April 10th, 2020
Indio, CA – April 17th, 2020

Rage will no doubt make waves, take a stand, and bring their welcome voices to the forefront of America next Spring. Here’s hoping more announcements and dates are soon to follow.

Chilean protests photo by Susana Hidalgo, courtesy of @RATM twitter

Run The Jewels Are G-O-L-D In Detroit

This past Saturday, Run The Jewels took to the stage as champions of killing mikes, of (literally) golden albums, and on February 18th, champions of the sold out Royal Oak Music Theatre.

The rappers were ready on the right to go hard, and take no prisoners.

First to the stage was talented beat master, Nick Hook. The New York resident’s full length debut LP, “Relationships” is available now via Fools Gold.
The DJ threw down creative tracks, and made sure to include the audience. With tremendous energy he stated, “I am the opener, so let’s get this open!”
He sampled and shouted out to Danny Brown, as well as showing some Detroit love.
“Shout out to P-Funk and Motown. This town will never die. I’ve seen it reborn from nothing.”
He stuck on the stage for the following artists, and at one point, played Zack de la Rocha’s tremendous new single, “Digging For Windows”.

Next up was the poetic Cuz Lightyear. Cuz is certainly no stranger to the Royal Oak Music Theatre, having been the first opener for Run The Jewels when they made a tour stop here back in October of 2015.
Even without the impactful mask her wore last time, Cuz was equally as tremendous.
The wordsmith encouraged the crowd, “Say what up Cuz?”, and the audience would echo back.
Cuz included second to none acapella freestyles, as well as tracks from his latest LP.

Third to the stage was Gangsta Boo, also no stranger to the Run The Jewels family. She was featured on the fun track “Love Again” off of Run The Jewels second album.
She started off the night with her honest track, “Hard Not 2 Kill.” Next was her marijuana friendly jam, “Loc’d Out Smoked Out”. She told the crowd, “I just made a video for that in LA in a weed house”.
Next, Gangsta Boo presented her collaboration with Yelawolf and Eminem, “Throw It Up”.
After the songs completion, Gangsta Boo shouted out to Eminem and said, “What if Eminem would’ve came out here? Y’all would’ve fainted!”
The powerful gal continued on with a frank, powerful, and superb set.

The final opener was the spirited Gaslamp Killer, who created a vibe and flow entirely his own. The DJ is touring in support of his latest album, “Instrumentalepathy”. Gaslamp Killer pulled in musical influences from all over the map to jive and dance behind his turntables. GLK danced wonderfully and wildly to his mixes, machine gun motioning to the beat into the crowd. When he sampled Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright”, it seemed that the entire audience sang along to every word.

Before RTJ’s set, hydration hero Nick Hook returned to the stage to toss bottles of water to thirsty audience members. Security guards soon followed suit.
The restless crowd was ready for Run The Jewels to appear, starting to chant out “R-T-J” right around 10 PM.
Emerging to a wave of applause with their typical Queen legend entrance anthem playing, the air was thick and right with RTJ’s favorite smokable.
The duo started off the night with their lead single off of their new album, “Talk To Me” from Run The Jewels 3.
EL-P shouted out, “HOW YOU DOING, CHICAGO?”, which was the night’s previous stop. The audience was silent as Killer Mike corrected him. EL-P joking said, “Have you ever gotten so high you can’t remember what city you’re in?” The talented rapper rectified himself with an even bigger shout to Detroit. Soon after, EL accepted a joint from an audience member.
The MCs churned out powerful tracks from their latest album, as well as a few from their last acclaimed record, “Run The Jewels 2”. The pair also included their catchy collaboration with DJ Shadow (with an equally entertaining video), “Nobody Speak”.
Around mid-set EL-P stopped and proclaimed, “After this next song, I am leaving Run The Jewels to pursue a poetry career”. He then started into the intro for “Panther Like A Panther”, snapping his fingers in applause with the crowd after its conclusion.
“I’ll flood the speakers with heat seakers and keep sneakers cleaner…”
Killer Mike exclaimed, “Give him more of a hand than that! He is brave. He is beautiful.” The pair continued the song acapella until DJ Trackstar kicked in the beat after the first verse.
Run The Jewels made sure to include some love for the ladies. Killer Mike turned to the crowd, “When I say pussy, you say power!”
Gangsta Boo then joined the stage for the fun loving “Love Again”.

Continuously commenting on the incredible energy from the crowd, Run The Jewels made it known how grateful they were for the turn out. “I don’t know what we did to deserve you, Detroit, but we’re so happy to be here.”
Before “Lie Cheat Steal” from the pair’s 2014 album, the duo remarked that they only hear 5 words coming out of these politicians mouths. EL-P reflected, “We’re all a community. We believe the same fucking thing. You are born free.”
Run The Jewels closed out the night with an encore of “Close Your Eyes”, as well as the uplifting reflective track “Down”.
“I coulda died, y’all
A couple times, I took my eyes off the prize, y’all
I know a couple people pray for my demise, y’all
But even birds with broken wings want to fly, y’all.”

With continuously sold out shows, endless buzz, and music that’s somehow getting better and better, Run The Jewels are sure to keep running the world on this Run The World Tour.
RTJs are next headed to Canada, then back to the US for a string of dates before heading overseas.

 



 

 

Words and photos by: Tiffany Cuthrell

A Christmas F****** Miracle, Run The Jewels Release Third Album Early

Run The Jewels are here with a tremendous Christmas gift for their fans: their highly anticipated album dropped three weeks early!

This was so exciting, that, in fact, Run The Jewels’ site temporarily CRASHED!

Both available in tangible pre-order format, as well as a free download for all to enjoy, the release was announced on Christmas Eve. Accompanying was a video of the duo brainstorming promotional ideas on an upcoming episode of “Portlandia”. Schemes included faking EL-P’s death, hiding the album in the mouth of a baby (in a baby Jessica type of scenario), and the four horseman of the apocalypse carrying the album into society, perhaps pony express style.

In typical RTJ fashion, their third chapter is empowering, insightful, honest, thought-provoking, unapologetic, and political where it should be.
The album finds Killer Mike and EL-P both effortlessly plowing over beats, as well as more minimal soundscapes for lyrics to dance across, letting their characters shine bright.
With bumping beats, word play for days, and the cleverest of relentless rhymes, Run The Jewels show that are STILL on the collaborative (and EL-Producto production) top of their games.
EL-P’s musical mosaic and sonic creation on the album is second to none, creating as canvas of sound perfect for RTJ verses to paint across.

The MCs touch on surveillance, being high as cosmonaut, weed legalization, good things with gold bad bitches, aliens (and A-T-Liens), news persuasion, losing friends, and police brutality (to name a few).

With notable appearances by talented artists such as BOOTS (his musical ear is more than evident on his “2100” collaboration), beautiful Joi, TV On The Radio’s talented Tunde Adebimpe, Kamasi Washington, Trina, and Danny Brown (check out his verses on “Oh Hail No”, from EL-P’s LP, “Cancer 4 Cure”).
There’s also a nod from Killums in approval (yes?), and a sampling of MLK on the powerful track “Thieves! (Screamed The Ghost)”.
There might even be a stop by a very special anti-myth rhythm rock shocker on the last track…

Run The Jewels are embarking on a “Run The World” tour across the globe. They’re likely to be in or near YOUR city, and there’s no doubt their live performances will mirror the fire of their latest LP.

“Begging your pardon, Run The Jewels live at the garden”.

 

Check out the album below:


 

 

Review by: Tiffany Cuthrell

Zack de la Rocha Goes Hard On New Solo Single

Zack de la Rocha is back on the musical scene with a tremendous new single.

 

“Digging For Windows”, released on September 8th is de la Rocha’s first flagship marker of more to come since his days with Rage Against The Machine.
After Rage Against The Machine’s split, the poetic microphone fiend’s last complete EP appearance was with Mars Volta’s Jon Theodore on the band’s self-titled 5 song, “One Day As A Lion”.
Since, de la Rocha has appeared on collaborative efforts with the likes of Deltron 3030’s second concept LP, as well as Run The Jewels’ latest album, “Run The Jewels 2”. The single, “Closed You Eyes (And Count To Fuck)” helped launch Run The Jewels into the hip-hop stratosphere.

EL-P, who is half of the hip-hop power duo Run The Jewels, produced “Digging For Windows”.

With a steady beat, riffs, and lyrics that go hard, it seems de la Rocha has finally found a signature sound to present to the world.

“Digging For Windows” was released as a free download.

The thought-provoking cover art entitled, “Fireworks For The Infant Jesus” was created by the late Manuel Alvarez Bravo, according to thanks on the MC’s twitter page.

According to EL-P, de la Rocha’s yet to be named solo album is set for a 2017 release.

 

Spotlight by: Tiffany Cuthrell

 

 

“Digging For Windows” lyrics:

Fuck that bright shit
The spot of the flashlights
We in L.A. ducking both
In the shadows with lead pipes
The days are all night

See if I pay Edison
No medicine
These blues ain’t more better when
My fever rise in the jungle
As quick as the price spikes
The days are all night
Yeah, they all night

My future snapped like a rubber band
Off my fold on a hand to hand
He drew from his waist
I put two in his roof
And I can still hear his screams
All night
These days are all night

Now they ride their portfolios
Like rodeos
Rise every time my cherry glows
On the end of my cig as
The smoke blows through the bars
And the co’s laugh fades
As he strolls away
Says I gotta pay
Off that roll away
Or it’s fuck your visitation days
So I pop off and in solitaire
I dream of offing these Fred Astaires
And the skin off my fingers tear
We digging for windows here
Where the days are all night
All night

This city’s a trap my partner
Under the lights of they choppers
Bodies tools for they coffers
Not worth the cost of our coffins
I stare at a future so toxic
No trust in the dust of a promise
Won’t mark the name on a ballot
So they can be free to devour our options
And just like you I’m a target
Ill defined by the guap in my pocket
But the stage make figures
As quick as it off em
What Marley and Pac get?
I put these caps in capitals
Leave minds blazed in they capitols
I step with a fury so actual fact
that my offense could be capital

We digging for windows here

 

diggingforwindowscoverart