
Tom Morello Welcomes Slash, Perry Farrell, Flea at All-Star “Justice Tour” Stop Tom Morello kicked off his seven-city “Justice Tour” last night by calling every able-bodied rock legend in Los Angeles for a surreal night of music and social awareness at the Troubadour. “This is what happens when I go through my Blackberry,” Morello joked to the crowd before Stuart Copeland snuck behind the drums and Perry Farrell grabbed the mike for a thundering version of the Police’s “Message in a Bottle” just twenty minutes into the evening. It was the start of a marathon night that would showcase unforgettable collaborations by rock royalty for more than three and half hours. The concert featured early acoustic performances by Morello, Pete Yorn, Jerry Cantrell and the MC5’s Wayne Kramer. Morello — acting as master of ceremonies and orchestrating the chaos — then brought out what would serve as the nucleus of the evening’s house band: Travis Barker on drums, Flea playing bass and a rotating lineup of Steve Vai, Slash, Dave Navarro and Morello sharing guitar duties. The dream team backed up Cantrell for a version of Thin Lizzy’s “Jailbreak” and rocked out covers such as Rihanna’s “Umbrella” and Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition.” Throughout the evening Morello spoke about the tour’s goal of promoting local social activism and tackling problems endemic to each host city. While the activism is integral to the tour, Morello is quick to point out that the mood is celebratory and he views each night as “a freedom party.” Sen Dog and B-Real of Cypress Hill didn’t need any help celebrating as they arrived onstage (joint in hand) to knock out “Insane in the Brain” and “Rock Superstar.” Morello closed out the show with a poignant rendition of the Woody Guthrie classic “This Land is Your Land” (like he did at SXSW) that had every voice in the packed club singing backup. [Photos: Shinn/Retna]
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Publicado: 2008-04-16 Proveedor: Rolling Stone Etiquetas: Rock News, Live Shows
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Vegoose Festival Report: Rage Against the Machine, the Stooges, Shins, Daft Punk, More For three years now, the Vegoose festival has been bringing Las Vegas the sort of eclectic acts the city normally shuns: metal, hip-hop, politically motivated tunage and indie rock’s latest beloved. This year was no exception: the first day alone delivered Mastodon, Public Enemy, M.I.A. and the Shins. Throw in Saturday night performances by Iggy and the Stooges and Daft Punk, and you might just have the most musically diverse day in Sin City history. (For a full photo gallery from Vegoose, click here.) From the start great music was plentiful. Gogol Bordello opened the festival with one of the strongest sets of the weekend. Backed by two percussionist/dancers, ferocious fiddle playing and singer Eugene Hutz’s manic presence, the band won over an audience that seemed delightfully surprised by the band’s gypsy-punk attack. As with many of the afternoon bands, the Vegoose set was only the beginning of their Vegas trip. After performing, the band did a signing in a makeshift Zia Records tent in the Vegoose field, before heading to downtown Las Vegas where bandmembers spun discs at Beauty Bar until 3 AM. Not everything worked. Bands like the Shins (who wore costumes) and Blonde Redhead (who did not) found their more intricate music bleed away by the acoustics of a vast field and competing bands. Vegoose has three active stages and overlap between sets made it hard to see everything even for the most dedicated fans. Perhaps the biggest disappointment of Saturday was competing sets between Cypress Hill and Public Enemy (who arranged for that?). Still, some of the Cypress audience popped over long enough to join Chuck D for a rousing chant of “Fuck George Bush.” Other of Chuck D’s pronouncements on affairs of State might have been a bit over the crowd’s head: His complaints that the Euro and Pound were kicking American ass ellicited a collective “huh?” As night descended with dust filling the air from the dirt field, Iggy and the Stooges came out and gra
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Publicado: 2007-10-30 Proveedor: Rolling Stone Etiquetas: Rock News, Live Shows, Festivals
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