Prophets of Rage Are Anything But Calm

Prophets of Rage w/ AWOLNATION and Wakrat
White River Amphitheater, Auburn, WA
09.10.16

Less politically charged but still garnering plenty of fists in the air, super group Prophets of Rage – featuring three quarters of Rage Against the Machine (minus lead Zack de la Rocha), Public Enemy‘s Chuck D, and Cypress Hill‘s B-Real – bombarded Auburn, WA’s White River Amphitheater with some badass 90s nostalgia. The fierce lyricism of the original tracks held true for the current cultural climate, and the present believers raged right along with an onslaught of the band members’ various tracks, retooled for the current lineup.

The night kicked off with a sparse crowd for opener Wakrat – featuring RATM’s bassist Tim Commerford – with a heavy alt-punk set. “Here’s the way I see this,” said Commerford, “it’s like a classroom and you guys showed up on time.” While their lyrics leaned too heavily on the word “fuck,” and its various incarnations, their musicianship incited at least one headbanger up front. Unsurprisingly the tracks centered on political and cultural scathing. Their debut record comes out November 8th.

Directly supporting POR for the tour was AWOLNATION, who have been surmounting the alt-rock airwaves over the last year with frenzied genre-bending anthems. The addition of AWOL to the tour was an interesting call and felt a bit off given the amount of serious RATM fans in the house who may not cling quite so tightly to what AWOL has to offer, but once the band was a few tracks in, they had the crowd jumping. AWOL put on an unsurprisingly great performance, with front man Aaron Bruno working the stage like a pro, but it was likely his ability to power through a major scream that was appreciated the most at this particular show.

Beginning the POR set, DJ Lord came out, “Need y’all to do one thing. Pay attention,” he said. Lord has toured with PE for years, and quite frankly, his 15-minute “warm up” was the kind of incendiary DJ set that made everyone stop and actually pay attention. With DJs and producers leaning so heavily on their laptops these days, seeing a professional actually turning some tables with Lord’s skills was that much more impressive.

By then the floor had filled in, although the amphitheatre in general was undersold. No matter, those who showed up were ready to get down to business. The band came out, all five members with their fists up, and immediately whipped out PE’s namesake track “Prophets of Rage.” Guitarist Tom Morello, holding much of the spotlight at the front, delivered blistering riffs, while Chuck D and B-Real rapped their way through an intense night of covers.

Crowd members sported red hats and t-shirts emblazoned with the band’s Trump-ripping “Make America Rage Again” slogan while they moshed heavily to tracks like “Guerrilla Radio,” “Take the Power Back,” and “Know Your Enemy.” The back-to-back hits of all three original bands mashing into one infectiously unified set. The amount of testosterone boiling on the stage was a powerful representation of trademark 90’s, angst-ridden rap-rock, swirling with nostalgic immediacy. And the crowd ate it up.

Prophets of Rage Set List
Prophets of Rage (Public Enemy cover)
Guerrilla Radio (Rage Against the Machine cover)
Bombtrack (Rage Against the Machine cover)
Cochise / She Watch Channel Zero?!
People of the Sun (Rage Against the Machine cover)
Miuzi Weighs a Ton (Public Enemy cover)
Take the Power Back (Rage Against the Machine cover)
How I Could Just Kill a Man (Cypress Hill cover)
Testify (Rage Against the Machine cover)
Hand on the Pump / Can’t Truss It / Insane in the Brain / Bring the Noise / I Ain’t Goin’ Out Like That / Welcome to the Terrordome / Jump Around
Sleep Now in the Fire (Rage Against the Machine cover)
Calm Like a Bomb (Rage Against the Machine cover)
Bullet in the Head (Rage Against the Machine cover)
Shut ‘Em Down (Public Enemy cover)
Know Your Enemy (Rage Against the Machine cover)
The Party’s Over
No Sleep Till Brooklyn / Fight the Power
Bulls on Parade (Rage Against the Machine cover)
Killing in the Name (Rage Against the Machine cover)