Guitar icon and political activist Tom Morello is currently on tour with a full electric backing band, as well as support from Hip Hop fusion act The Neighborhood Kids. Each stop on the tour has also featured special guests — the “Friends” of the billed Tom Morello and Friends — with prior appearances by Max Weinberg, Ike Reilly, and Tim McIlrath. The tour came through New York City this week with two nights of performances, the first in Brooklyn at Warsaw and the second in Manhattan at Irving Plaza.
I don’t remember the first time I heard the iconic wah-wah rhythms that open “Bulls on Parade,” but I do remember how much they stuck with me once I did. I couldn’t get the sound out of my head, couldn’t stop thinking about the power of the song. I saved my allowance and bought Evil Empire on cassette, and I’ve been hooked on Morello’s riffs ever since.
I finally checked RATM off my bucket list a few years back at MSG, and years before — also at Warsaw — I experienced Prophets of Rage and set a personal record for the amount of sweat I can lose in a single show. Walking into Warsaw this week, I had a feeling the night was going to echo that prior, chaotic energy.
The Neighborhood Kids took the stage first and got the crowd hyped; the dancing was contagious as fans couldn’t help but move to the band’s rhythms. This wasn’t just their first time playing NYC — it was, by their own admission, the very first time they’d ever stepped foot inside the city limits. Their excitement was clear, as was the blast they were having throughout their performance.
Like Morello, The Neighborhood Kids use their voices to fight for equality. Their songs were dedicated to the voices silenced for their beliefs, the band offering to speak for those who can no longer speak for themselves. “My pen is my weapon,” vocalist Verde noted when introducing “Tomboy,” a track she wrote about her lived experiences.
In a time of political division, their message of love, unity, and creativity over violence rang out the loudest. That belief in equality extended to their stage presence as well, as they made sure every member had a moment in the spotlight to showcase their skill and feel the groove of their upbeat, genre-blending tunes.
Leaving the stage on a high and positive note, the room was then turned over to Tom Morello and his band. Taking the stage in low lights, the drummer counted in and the band launched into “Soldier in the Army of Love” as the stage lights blasted both band and crowd into full brightness.
Morello was playing to the crowd and posing for the cameras, feeding off the energy of the fans packed shoulder-to-shoulder inside Warsaw. “Welcome to the last big event before they throw us all in jail!” Morello yelled into the mic, leaning into the blurred line between reality and tongue-in-cheek exaggeration.
Earlier in the evening, I told a photographer friend how fired up Morello’s music had always made me, but also how discouraged I’ve felt in recent years. We’ve been yelling “fight the power” for decades, yet the powers that be seem only to grow stronger, more nefarious, more evil. How do you keep that fighting spirit alive when America feels like it’s on the ropes? Somehow, Morello’s riffs still manage to ignite it.
His set showcased the full range of musical outlets he’s explored over the years — medleys of Rage Against the Machine riffs, a stirring run through Audioslave’s “Like a Stone,” selections from his solo project The Nightwatchman, and covers of Woody Guthrie, KISS, and Bruce Springsteen. Through it all, Morello preached a message of unity and resistance, urging the crowd to fight the creeping threat of fascism at every step.
Joining him late in the set — both in spirit and in blistering musicianship — were hometown heroes Living Colour, who helped deliver an epic rendition of “Cult of Personality” and MC5’s “Kick Out the Jams.” Closing with KISS’ “Rock and Roll All Nite” was the only proper way to end a show where everyone in the room had done exactly that.
An electrifying night like this all but guaranteed an equally wild follow-up across the East River the next evening — not to mention the Atlantic City and Connecticut stops later in the week.
