To see all the photos from the RATM gig click HERE
I sat in my allocated seat waiting for the second coming, feeling like I’d sold out by not getting pit tickets. But looking down on Bubba and friends with their tiger patterned mullets I realised that unlike the regular-sized pit folk that already thought it was getting a bit squashed, I would survive, and in living, be able to continue the righteous fight. Viva la Revolucion!

The Ent Cent was getting mighty restless with plenty of obligatory ‘crowd-mistaking-roadie-for-bass-player’ false starts and a Mexican wave that was going strong until the fascists around me crossed their arms. The house lights gave way and there was a split-second of stunned silence before the crowd erupted. As the band marched onto the darkened stage, I could picture the crowd drowning in their own froth. We’d waited eight Rageless years for this, and while I admit I did a few other things in the meantime, there were definitely people there who had filled the “*RATM* creative differences period” with shrine building and Audioslave denial. And the two words that coaxed them out of their freaky incense filled basements? Zack’s back.

After Zack left the band in 2000, all parties pursued other outlets but the subsequent US Government’s tyranny regalvanised them to the cause and they reunited in January 2007, surely the one great achievement of the Bush Administration. They launched the show with Testify, and down came the house. The crowd turned into a churning, heaving ocean as soon as the first few chords rained down. Zack, Tom, Tim and Brad were together again and electrifying from note one.

Second came Bulls On Parade and it’s at this point that I must direct readers to my aforementioned alternate review. People Of The Sun, Bombtrack, Vietnow and Bullet In The Head, were all delivered with the passion and incredulity of young men who just realised how fucked up the world actually is.

Each member is utterly watchable but I couldn’t take my eyes off guitarist Tom Morello. The last time I saw Tom was on Guitar Hero III scoring 87% playing Welcome to the Jungle on hard level. But I have to say, seeing him in the flesh may have been even better. It was as if he had his distinctively high slung Stratocaster in a headlock – jabbing at knobs and switches, threatening to snap its neck if it didn’t do what he wanted. With sweat dripping onto his fret board and untrimmed strings spraying from his headstock, he rattled off the entire feedback/string-scratch solo playbook. A playbook he wrote in the first place.

More gold followed with Know Your Enemy, Guerilla Radio and Renegades Of Funk. Wake Up was the official set-ender, during which Zack recontextualised his anti-Bush call to arms by endorsing the Howard ousting. They left the stage after just fifty-five minutes, and without playing Killing in the Name yeah right dudes. An encore of Fuck you I won’t do what you tell me! rang out over scores of quivering security guards- one was overheard telling a photographer to tell his wife he loves her. Lucky for him the overriding feeling of the night was joy at the fact the foursome was back together again, not hatred toward anything in a fluoro vest.

The set was short but incredible. They played everything I wanted them to play and I lost just the right amount of hearing. Rage has discovered the perfect creative differences work-around – don’t write anything new and just play the old stuff. There’s plenty of money to be made as a Rage covers band, especially when you’re that authentic.

Check out the photos from the Sydney RATM gig HERE