Still, people were a little nervous. Rage against the Machine was in the local news already for performing a brief unscheduled (and unwelcome by authorities) two song a-capella set surrounded by hundreds of police the day before on the lawn of the state capitol. The performance, amplified only by a megaphone and the voices of fans, took place at the very end of a free, all day music festival boasting positive, peaceful acts such as Matisyahu and Michael Franti. Winona LaDuke, respected environmental activist, gave an impassioned speech for change, as did world famous explorer Will Steger. Rage showed up at the last minute and were refused access to the stage by police, who had been closely monitoring the proceedings from both near and afar, from horse top and roof top. The festival, put on by Substance, had permission to use the stage only until 7pm, so Zacary de la Rocha's lyrics were delivered from the grass where festival goers sat, presumably in awe. I was there at the capitol all day for the music but left before Anti Flag and the impromptu Rage set due to other fabulous music commitments. Here is footage of that from Minnesota Public Radio:
Rumors of a free Rage show had been abundant since the announcement of them doing a free concert in Denver outside the DNC, and since Tom Morello and friends was scheduled to play a Service Employees International Union benefit called Take Back Labor Day on Harriet Island the day before.
So there was a degree of uncertainty about how this show would go down and De la Rocha even admitted on stage at Target Center that he was not sure if the show would be allowed to go on. When we entered the venue just in time to hear opening band Anti-Flag ripping through "I Fought the Law (and the law won)", the place was perhaps half full but still there was a lot of energy in the place. When the house lights came up after the Anti Flag set, it was easy to see the place filling up. People flooded onto the arena floor both legitimately and by jumping from the lower seating areas, cheered on by thousands watching from above as security tried futilely to stop them.
When the four members of Rage Against the Machine came out in orange Guantanamo style jumpsuits complete with head covering hoods while a siren echoed through the Target Center, the place was on its feet and there was a tangible electricity in the crowd that I can only compare to the only other time I have seen Rage play, last summer at Alpine Valley. After standing in silence in the middle of the stage for several minutes, Tom Morello was given his guitar, Brad Wilk was given his drumsticks, Tim Commerford was given his bass, and Zach de la Rocha was given his microphone. RATM tore into a blistering version of one of their most recognizable songs, "Bombtrack". Next was "Testify", the song that came out in 2000 in the run-up to the election. Featuring the line "It's right outside your door..." there was no denying how well these lyrics, written some eight years ago, still captured the intensity of the moment.
"The war is right outside your door!"
Here's the full setlist:
Bombtrack
Testify
Bulls On Parade
People Of The Sun
Know Your Enemy
Bullet In The Head
Katrina song
Born Of A Broken Man
Guerrilla Radio
Ashes In The Fall
Calm Like A Bomb
Sleep Now In The Fire
Wake Up
RNCFU
Freedom
Township Rebellion
Killing In The Name
After an absolutely ablaze show ending "Killing in the Name" that had thousands of fans, many rocking brand new "The Battle of Minneapolis" T-shirts, jumping and screaming "Fuck you I won't do what you tell me!". Before setting us loose into the well armed streets, Zackary took a moment to address the fired up crowd. He encouraged us to remain peaceful. I think a lot of people both inside and outside the arena were surprised and even more relieved that he did that. Throughout the show Zachary expressed the simple yet extremely poignant and powerful notion that just because we are peaceful, that doesn't mean we are passive.
Thousands of Americans from the Twin Cities and beyond had peacefully voiced their opposition to the war and their dissent from the Republican agenda throughout the week. We were peaceful, but not passive. We marched in the streets. We stood up, and we were counted. We proudly held signs demanding peace, and an end to torture, and an end of an era, and an end of an error. We attended free outdoor concerts on the lawn of the capitol, despite the looming squads of fully armed agents nearby and the heavily armed people looking down from atop buildings. We showed the cameras that we are proud participants in this democracy. We were not passive. We were peaceful. We did not stay home in order to avoid potential hassle. We did not avoid St. Paul, because that would have been passive.
Some people, an extremely small contingent of people, came with different intentions and wanted to disturb the convention. After the Rage show, 102 people were arrested. Initial results suggest that those arrested were given plenty of time to disperse after disrupting traffic. It seems some people wanted to be arrested, and some people took out their frustrations by screaming in the faces of police. That's not protest. That's not nonviolent demonstration. That's just being foolish.
Photo from Star Tribune:
