Rise Against
August 13, 2015
Hollywood Palladium- Los Angeles, CA
Supporting their seventh studio album The Black Market, Chicago punk rock giants, Rise Against came to Los Angeles for 2 SOLD OUT shows. LetLive and Killswitch Engage warmed the crowd up with their intense, hardcore performances, but Rise Against sealed the deal with an 18 song set consisting of songs from six of their seven albums.
Rise Against have been on the scene since 1999 and aside from being one of the biggest punk rock names out there, the band is also known for their advocacy of animal rights and most of the members, excluding drummer Brandon Barnes, are straight edge. They support many causes which really shine through their lyrics and is a big reason why they have such a dedicated and supportive fan base.
On August 13, Rise Against kicked off their set with The Great Die Off, one of two songs that were performed from their latest album. The song was followed by one of their most popular hits, The Good Left Undone and the pit and crowd surfers were instantly underway. As singer Tim McIlrath shouted his vocals with such passion to the point where you could see veins emerging from his neck, bassist Joe Principe and guitarist Zach Blair were constantly running past each other, jumping off of everything they could, at every chance that they had. The band really puts on a performance and really give it all (pun intended) that they have each time they perform. During Give It All, McIlrath wanted to get up close and personal with fans so he leaped from the stage and stood on the barricade, holding the microphone out as fans crowd surfed toward him, in attempt to touch him. As the song ended, he smiled into the crowd and high-fived as many people as he could.
Following Re-Education (Through Labor) McIlrath asked the crowd if any had seen Rise Against before and as 90% of the audience raised their hands and cheered, he smiled. “So good to see all these familiar face.” He continued by saying that they all survived whatever life threw at them in order to be there. As the crowd cheered, he introduced Survive. Soon after, the band took it back 2008 for Collapse (Post Amerika). McIlrath explained that he had a lot of memories from the Hollywood Palladium and told fans that many of their first shows were here. “Opening of course, it took us a while before they would let us headline a venue as nice as this. I wanna say this was 7 years ago- it’s all a blur… you’d think that being straight edge, I would have a clear memory but it’s all a blur,” As fans laughed, he made circle motions with his finger so that a mosh-pit could ensue. “I didn’t come here for pizza, this is called Collapse.”
As the set was reaching it’s half way mark, McIlrath stopped to speak with the crowd again. He began by talking about first starting Rise Against and wanting to start a fight- a fight with everything around them that they didn’t understand or agree with. He explained that people start these fights and at a point there comes a moment of uncertainty of whether you will win the fight and as you keep fighting, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. He continues, “We are one step closer to treating gay citizens as first class citizens because right now they are treated like second class citizens.” He then introduced Make It Stop (September’s Children), a song which references the September 2010 suicides of multiple gay teenagers.
After several more songs, the band slows things down with Hero of War and Swing Life Away, which were done acoustically. The night was finished off with two encores of Dancing For Rain and Savior.
It is no question as to why Rise Against is constantly able to sell out shows and have such a strong fan following. They speak about real time issues that are going on in the world today and really want to put a change to all the problems. They speak for those who sometimes cannot and help people get through dark times. And of course, they play good music and put on one hell of a show; if you blink you will definitely miss something. This is a band everyone has to check out.
Review by: Nicole Lemberg
Rise Against
Killswitch Engage
