Rage Against The Machine

Next up was a tour i was looking forward to for quite some time. The chance to work with truly one of the legends of music. So off to Germany i went for my first show with Rage Against The Machine. After arriving in Frankfurt, we had an hour and half drive that turned into a 5 hour drive due to a huge traffic jam on the Autobahn. Eventually we arrived on site for rehearsal with the band and then overnight lighting programming once it got dark. Always a strange place to do a show, in the shadow of the platform where Hitler gave his address at the Nuremburg Rally.

I guess on one hand its a reminder of a dark time in history that no one wants to repeat. But anyway, first show was great and we were onwards to Rock Am Ring where we were sharing the stage with

Jay-Z


Slash


Another great show at ROCK AM RING with a crazy audience as always


After the 2 shows in Germany we were off to London for the whole reason that the tour was booked.

For those who don't know.

Every year since 2005 the UK Christmas No.1 single has been the winner of the TV show X-Factor. Its a huge ready made advertising campaign that generates millions for people like Simon Cowell while preying on fame hungry kids desperate for their big shot. In Dec last year however, a Facebook campaign was started by 2 people, Jon & Tracey Morter, to get Rage Against The Machines 1992 anthem "Killing In The Name" to the top of the charts instead of the X-Factor.
The campaign started to gain supporters and the sales started to pile up. It was a very tight race but as we got closer to the end of the week, the sales were evening up and by the Saturday it was announced that Rage had taken the chart and had their first ever Number 1 Pop Single. It was an amazing campaign considering that X-Factor had 500,000 copies of the single and millions in advertising budget and a TV show that was constantly suckering people into buying the same pop schlock over and over. The Facebook campaign had no budget, and only had the download chart to count on.

And yes i've heard all the arguments about bout both the singles being on the same label etc etc (which isn't really true, both labels are owned by the same Multi-national conglomerate, but that is true of almost all the labels in the world) . That wasn't the point, the choice of song was not important, what was important was that a group of people decided it was time to stand together against what was a pre-disposed certainty that was the accepted outcome. The band were more impressed by this than by getting a Number 1 single, so much so that they pledged to donate any royalties to charity and decided as a thank you they would play a free show.



So here we were at Finsbury Park in London for the Rage Factor. The band gave away every ticket free and paid for everything themselves. We had comissioned a cartoon of Simon Cowell to Intro the band onto the stage.



The band also brought the people who started all this out on stage for a presentation



The total money donated was £162,713.03

Of course the big moment was saved for the Encore and we couldn't resist a cheeky dig at the X-Factor so we put together a quotes reel set to the X-Factor song that lost out as the intro to "Killing"


Also check this video posted a bunch of guys who had climbed the trees at the back of the venue. Made us all laugh
"it Don't get much better than being in a tree"



Of course the whole place went insane for 'Killing in the name". This was a fantastic night and one i am proud to be able to say i was a part of.

So next day after all the celebrations had passed we were off to Dublin for a show at the O2 Arena. Week 2 of the tour was a slightly crazier schedule

Tuesday
7am - Load In Dublin Show
3PM - Soundcheck
6PM - Doors
9PM - RATM
11PM- Load Out

Tues into Weds
1am - Return to Hotel
4am - Leave Hotel
6am - Flight to Amsterdam
9am - Land
10am - Drive to Arnhem
2pm - Load in
5pm - Soundcheck
6pm - Doors
9pm - RATM
11pm - Load Out

Weds into Thurs
1am - Drive To Amsterdam
3am - Arrive Hotel
8am - Leave Hotel
11am - Fly to Madrid
4 pm - arrive Madrid
6pm - Load In
10pm - Lighting Programming

Thurs into Friday
3am - return to Hotel
12pm - Depart for Venue
6 pm - Doors
9pm - Cypress Hill
10.45pm - janes Addiction

friday night into Saturday and into Sunday
12.30 am - RATM
2.30am - Load Out
4.15am - Arrive Hotel
5.30am - Leave Hotel
7.00am - Fly To London
9.00am - Arrive London
10.00am - Drive to Donnington
2.20pm - arrive
3.00pm - Load In
5.00pm - Megadeth
7.00pm - Deftones
9.00pm - RATM
11.00pm - Load Out

2.00am - Drive to London
5.00am - Arrive Hotel
8.00am - Depart Hotel
10.00am - Fly Home


So as you can see there was not much room for sleep anywhere in there as one day bled into another. And who says touring is glamorous eh

Though we got through it as we always do with good humour. Although we did have the cops called on us at Madrid Airport.
As we approached the security line where they have those barricades that go back and forth over and over to condense the people who are lining up we noticed that there was no one in line so we ducked under the tape barrier to make it easier for oursleves so that we wouldnt have to double back on ourselves 6 times. Security were not happy about and started yelling at us in Spanish and getting really annoyed with. We explained that we werent skipping past anyone as there was no one there before us and they were trying to amke us go back to the start and walk all of it to get back to the exact same spot where we were currently standing. we said no and they called the cops who came over all heavy handed until we told them why we did it and the cops starting laughing at the airport security.

When we did eventually get thru security we found we were not the only ones who were a little tired. Apparently the guy at the British Airways desk had a late night too



But anyway, here are a couple of pictures from the shows in Dublin and Holland








But there you have it. 7 shows playing to 350,000 people ,5 countries, 12 flights in 11 days.

Still very glad to have been a part of it as the band and crew were very nice people and the shows were amazing night after night.....and who knows....maybe we'll do it again sometime!!!