LA Rising July 30th 2011 at the Los Angeles Coliseum
LA Rising consisted of 3 opening bands, playing alongside 3 huge bands which are well known around the world. LA Rising seated nearly 60,000 people on July 30th, and to keep moshing to a minimum, there were 9 separate mosh pits on the floor.
The GA doors were opened up at 12pm so fans on the pit could get as close as possible without waiting in line with fans that had seats. Doors, for those who had seats opened up at 1pm. The three opening bands came and went while people came into the venue. Openers included, El Gran Silencio, Immortal Technique, and Ms. Lauryn Hill, all which were different types of music which didn’t fit the genre of the main acts.
At 5:35 Rise Against hit the stage and fans went crazy. Fans were waiting for a band to actually get the moshing and head banging on its way and Rise Against did just that. Throughout their 14 song set bassist, Joe Principe, and guitarist, Zach Blair, constantly were seen jumping off speakers, in which the crowd reacted to by crowd surfing. After they performed 9 hard rock and punk songs, singer, Tim Mcllrath stopped to take a minute to shout out to the Iraq soldiers and continued to play, “Hero of War” with his acoustic guitar. The band ended their set with crowd favorites including, “Ready to Fall” and “Savior”
As the stage was set up for Muse, many fans left from their seats to get shade from the sun, but that wasn’t an option for the front row of the mosh pit where some people couldn’t even turn around. As the sun was setting, fans got more and more anxious. When lights dimmed they chanted, “Muse! Muse! Muse” It was only around 8:40 when fog appeared on stage and lights shone in different colors. The band opened with “Exogenesis: Symphony, Part 1: Overture” which sounded almost like it belonged in a classical music production. The fans went crazy once singer, Matt Bellamy started to sing. The band quickly altered to a more known rock song known as “Uprising” and once fans heard the bass riff of Chris Wolstenholme, the fans went insane. Their set consisted of 16 songs and you could tell the three members of the band were having a good time when in between songs played AC/ DC’s “Back in Black” which alternated to the “Star Spangled Banner”. As the band was about to go into their 13th song, they had a tribute to headliner, Machine Head, by playing a riff to “Bombtrack”, one of Machine Head’s well known songs. As a crowd favorite “Stockholm Syndrome” riff began to play and the fans head banged, and workers from backstage threw huge balloons into the crowd. Throughout the venue the white balloons with eye balls on them, and confetti inside them, were being tossed and popped. The band ended with songs “Plug in Baby” and “Knights of Cydonia” with all sorts of lights being shinned on the crowd.
By now, there was no moving available in the nine separate mosh pits, but that was fine since no one wanted to move and miss the headliner. Rage Against the Machine fans waited for years and now were lucky enough to see the one and only Rage Against the Machine performance for all of 2011. As the band members of Rage Against the Machine walk onto the stage, the cheers echoed through the entire venue. Singer Zack de la Roche asked guitarist, Tom Morello and bassist, Tim Commerford if they were ready and once everyone confirmed, the band went into “Testify” with Roche, jumping around. As fast as the band started, was as fast as the moshing and crowd surfing started. Each separate pit had their own mosh pit. The band performed 12 songs, including two encores. By the 3rd song, as a crowd surfer was being pulled out of the pit, he started a fight with security. It took over 4 security guards to put him to the ground and then his friend attacked the security which called for two policemen to help the situation. Both men were soon escorted out. It that wasn’t enough, by the 4th song, one of the 9 pits, started a fire, which the fire department quickly extinguished. The entire Rage set was intense with not one song going without a crowd surfer or moshing. By the 7th song “Bullet in Your Head” another fire started in the pit, which got bigger by the second and took a few minutes to get put out. Throughout the bands set, there was chaos which almost everyone seemed to enjoy, excluding the police officers, though some of them were caught singing the lyrics. After the bands two encore songs “Freedom” and “Killing in the Name of” fans left the venue, too see police on every block. Streets were closed off and guarded with policemen all around the Coliseum. Though drunks couldn’t drive their way home without getting caught, fans were more than satisfied, seeing three amazing bands and getting to know some of the openers. It is a concert, to be long remembered.
Rise Against
Muse
Rage Against the Machine
