Somewhere after 5 and a half hours of LA traffic, missing the entire set of Lauryn Hill and half of Rise Against, and discovering that our seats were 3 rows from the back of the motherfucking back of the Coliseum, my boyfriend and I sat on the concrete steps high enough to watch the Downtown LA at sunset. We laughed about it all as he drank his $9 beer and I munched on my $3 M&Ms.
The sky darkened and Muse's green laser lights flooded the field.
I'm a Twilight-soundtrack-roadtrip Muse fan, meaning, if their songs are nestled between some other good shit I'm going to rock out in my car, but I wouldn't listen to them by themselves. To me, Muse = Coldplay + harder drums + glam rocker voice + more allusions to the stars and moons. But I'll tell you this: they really do care about putting on a spectacle show.
The green laser lights that covered the whole 100,000 person Coliseum were awesome, and the use of shooting steam to act as intense columns were a sick visual to end one of their songs. Singer Matthew Bellamy was giving it his all, and he and his fellow guitar mate Christopher Tony Wolstenholme had a nice report with the light show illuminating them as opposing forces with their sound.
Still, in the crowd setting of black leather jackets and fishnets, it was suddenly very obvious to me that they are not rockers--they're alternative hipsters playing with louder toys. They tried their best to be edgy, but if you actually listen to them, they're just louder in earnestness. I enjoyed them, and if the happen to be in a future lineup, I wouldn't mind seeing them again, but I wouldn't seek them out.
Despite what the poster says, LA Rising was first and foremost a Rage Against the Machine show, and the crowd was buzzing as they waited for them to take the stage. The lights dimmed and video reel played of their history in the 90s as being anarchists metal heads unhappy with the state of the world, and how they've grown into more political activism through the years. The music started and the whole field turned into circles of moshing.
My first thought: holy fuck, who is that lead singer? I have never witnessed such a ferocious whirlwind of energy from a performer. He spit in the mike fucking hard, he ran across that stage fucking hard, he jumped in the air fucking hard, he brought this ball of fire to the crowd and they fucking ate it up.
Before this show I knew all of 3 Rage songs and nothing about them. I didn't realize that they were one of the first front-runners of the rap-metal sound and were a part of the Rodney King grunge/metal/rap scene during the riots of LA. I might not particularly like the shrill of the Zack de la Rocha's voice, but I can respect what they as a band mean to LA and that energy of pissed-off Americans under the system.
I may never see Muse or Rage Against the Machine again, and I sure as fuck won't be heading back to the LA Coliseum again, but if you're a fan of either bands, you will not be disappointed with the heat and spit of Rage and the earnest anthems of Muse. Be sure to bring a black shirt.
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