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Rage Against the Machine will reunite for Coachella
Red Hot Chili Peppers and Björk also top the bill for the three-day music festival.
By Geoff Boucher, Times Staff Writer
January 22, 2007
Rage Against the Machine, the seminal L.A. band that made heavy music into political manifesto, will reunite after a seven-year lull for one show as the headliners at the 2007 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.
Sources say Rage, which played the main stage at the first Coachella in 1999, will be joined by other familiar faces for the eighth edition of the festival, which covers three days this year and begins April 27: Red Hot Chili Peppers, which headlined in 2003, are back, as is Björk, who topped the bill in 2002.
Organizers were mum this weekend and it was not clear which day Rage or the other acts were slotted to play; that announcement is expected in the next few days. Other acts expected in the eclectic lineup: Arcade Fire, Interpol, Willie Nelson, the Roots, Manu Chao, the Decemberists, Arctic Monkeys, Sonic Youth, Crowded House, Air, Tiësto and Kings of Leon.
Tickets go on sale Saturday, via Ticketmaster. Three-day passes will cost about $250 and there will be a limited number of single-day passes available.
The headliners are not novel, but they are potent. The Peppers are up for their first best album Grammy right now, and Björk remains a mesmerizing figure to fans of avant pop. But in Southern California rock circles, there is very little that could compete with the excitement of a Rage Against the Machine reunion. The quartet's hybrid of funk, rap, metal and leftist ideology was as subtle as a Molotov cocktail; in the 1990s, its aggro-anthems made it the only band that mattered to a fan base that included East L.A. protest kids as well as those in Hollywood punk circles, college dorms and mainstream rock festival mosh pits, where politics were secondary to the group's feral energy.
The band is vocalist Zack de la Rocha, guitarist Tom Morello, bassist Tim Commerford and drummer Brad Wilk. Their split came amid rumors of bad blood between De la Rocha and his mates, who went on to work with Chris Cornell in Audioslave. However, Morello and De la Rocha appeared together at a 2005 rally for the urban farmers of a South Los Angeles community garden.
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More from LA Times:
In a story running in the Times on Monday, my colleague Geoff Boucher reports that Rage Against the Machine will join the likes of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bjork, the Arcade Fire, Interpol, Willie Nelson, the Roots, Sonic Youth, the Arctic Monkeys, Air and Tiesto at this installment of Coachella. Who will play which day has yet to be determined. Tickets for the three-day festival (April 27-29) go on sale Saturday.
As usual, Los Angeles will be well-represented -- with Satellite Party (the new project from Perry Farrell) and artists such as Silversun Pickups, Busdriver and Ozomatli lined up to play, according to a variety of sources. The contingent of English bands is also characteristically strong.
Most anticipated? Maybe Damon Albarn's new band, the Good the Bad and the Queen, which features bassist Paul Simonon (the Clash), guitarist Simon Tong (the Verve) and drummer Tony Allen (Fela Kuti).
Pulp front man Jarvis Cocker will be at Coachella too, touring behind a strong solo release. Up-and-comers the Kooks and the Cribs are on the bill, as are soft-rockers the Feeling and -- in the Whatever Happened To Dept. -- Travis.
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Monday morning @ 7:15, KROQ's Kevin & Bean unveil the complete Coachella line up
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