RATM Grows up

Feb 21,2003 - Denver, Colo
The artists formerly known as "The Chris Cornell/Rage Against the Machine Project" opened their North American tour at Denver's Fillmore Auditorium on Friday. Since rumors have been circulating for over two years about the band's stability, I thought it might be wise to catch their act while I had the chance.

I used to dig Rage Against the Machine in my early college days and their debut disc had a lengthy run in my CD changer. I simply thought their follow-up, "Evil Empire", was a horrible album and stopped following the band around that time. Plus, the band's polictical hobby annoyed me. With a bunch of pro-communist crap, I always wondered why a couple of guys who hate supposedly capitalism would be okay with SELLING and making MONEY off of their CD's? I like my music to be big and dumb - not "enlightening". Paul Stanley of KISS said it best: "We are idiots...we shouldn't be telling you how to vote and what to think".

Chris Cornell and Soundgarden were another "college days" favorite of mine. When Soundgarden died in 1997 I was bummed, but heard that Chris Cornell was looking to do some of his own stuff. Well, his "own stuff" sucked and it wasn't until he hooked with Rage Against the Machine as Audioslave that he grabbed my attention again. On paper, Audioslave sounded like Rage Against the Machine without the annoying political crap- and they had replaced the rap vocals with a more traditional screamer who could actually carry a tune. It was like Rage Against the Machine had stopped screwing around and upgraded. I approved of their debut CD, despite the fact that it sounded like Led Zeppelin in some spots. Dubbed a "supergroup" by the media, the band performed in Europe, Japan and two live spots on American TV before officially launching their tour in my hometown.

The Fillmore Auditorium in one of three Colfax avenue concert venues in downtown Denver. From east to west, there's the Bluebird, Ogden and Fillmore. The Fillmore's the biggest of the three and has the longest tenure as a concert hall. It used to be called "The Mammoth Events Center" and before that, "Mammoth Gardens". As the "Gardens", it played host to hockey games, boxing matches and the occassional pro wrestling card in the 50's. In the 80's, it functioned primarily as concert hall- usually with smaller, non-arena acts. During those days, it's main contemporary was Southeast Denver's Rainbow Music Hall (which still exists today...as a Walgreens). In 1997 or so, a couple of ambitious guys bought the Mammoth and renovated it to resemble San Francisco's more famous Fillmore.

Situated on Colfax avenue, it's a bitch to find parking for the Fillmore. I ended up parking roughly eight blocks away and arrived about halfway through the opening act, Burning Brides. The group didn't impress me and none of their tunes stuck in my head. They're a three piece outfit, with a singer/guitarist, drummer and a bassist. Taking a cue from early 90's alternative rock, the bassist is female. I only had to sit through roughly five or six tunes, but it was quick and painless.

During the break, I took the time to wander around the Fillmore. The place has bars everywhere, all charging 5.25 for a Coors Light. And that was the special. The walls of the Fillmore have framed pictures from past acts and there's even some faux stone carvings hanging on one side. Hockey and ice skating pictures, alluding to the joint's past. The audience was predominantly male, with all of them having either a crewcut, slightly spiked hair (a la Bart Simpson) or a shaved head. I talked to a short semi-dumpy blonde chic in glasses and leather drawers who complimented me on my Denver Grizzlies jersey. I saw a few "old school" metal fans roaming, including one who looked like Chuck Billy from Testament (hey, it may have actually been Chuck Billy). Of course, no concert crowd is complete without the mandatory Jesus Lookalike, as I spotted such an animal walking around in a tanktop.

Out in the lobby, a "No War in Iraq" table had been set up. I glanced at some of the fliers and almost had one of the guys behind the table believing that the US would soon attack Venzeula over oil prices (an idea stolen from slappyjack.com)

Audioslave then roared onto the stage with "Light My Way". I had expected them to open with their single "Cochise", but when they didn't, I figured it would be called upon for the encore. Guitarist Tom Morello was wearing some type of black uniform and hat, no doubt of a communist influence. Chris Cornell was wearing a wife-beater t-shirt, as was bassist Tim Comerford. The latter apparently wanted to show off his matching shoulder tatoos. Hey, if you'd spent that much time and money making your shoulders look like THAT...you'd wear tanktops alot, too. Each string players flanked the sides with Cornell in the middle, in front of a standard drum kit. The drum kit sat upon a slightly techno-ish riser, while rows of angled lights would pulse with the music. All this was in front of a simple backdrop, with the band's gold flame symbol in a sea of black. They followed the opener with "Set it Off" which seemed to lift the audiecne off its feet. Their fourth number was their current single "Like a Stone", which didn't seem to get the response from the crowd one would expect of a "current hit single". "Gasoline" was another first-half highlight, as Cornell really wailed.

The band's sound was tight and closely resembled the CD. Usually when you see a band live, some songs come out completely different without the benefit of studio effects. The music followed the CD, almost note for note. Tom Morello rotated among roughly three guitars, mostly using a black monster with "SOUL POWER" etched across the body. Morello's unsettling guitar solos came off quite well. I'm not crazy about his molestation of effects pedals and weird solo-ing techniques, but he has his moments. His solo for the song "Like a Stone" is one of the more distinctive solos in my recent memory. However, sometimes his guitar work seemed out of place, most notably on the slower "I am the Highway". I take it that the slower, more melodic numbers are a work in progress for Audioslave and will probably improve with time. These tunes are where Cornell takes the lead and the rest of the band follows.

It's been almost nine years since I've seen Chris Cornell perform live- the last time being in May 1994 when Soundgarden headlined Red Rocks. In both shows I walked away impressed by Cornell's vocals. He has the type of intensity and range that can steal a show. His frontman antics were decent and he rarely held the microphone out to the audience for a song's chorus. That's always been a pet peeve of mine- a lazy singer who can't be bothered to sing the chorus he made famous, so he asks the audience to "sing it for me (NAME OF TOWN)!!" Cornell was anything but lazy. He had one questionable line, however. During the encore, he came out with an acoustic guitar to perform "I am the Highway", and said "this goes out to all the people who got fucked up in that stupid fire the other night", referring to the ill-fated Great White show in Rhode Island. Maybe his sentiments were sincere, but his words lacked class and seemed almost sarcastic.

The band's set closed with "Shadow of the Sun". At the conclusion of that number, it sounded like Cornell's microphone may have gone out. He appeared upset and violently tossed the mic as the band left the stage. As mentioned above, he returned to start the encore with "I am the Highway". At that point, the band had played almost their entire album, with one notable exception. As expected, they fired up "Cochise" to end the show. The audience sang the entire song and the entire floor seemed to move in one massive rhythymic wave. The chorus of "Cochise" could be swapped with Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" and nobody would notice. Especially the line "...and take it out on meeeee". I even sang: "...want a love lotta' love" for those parts.

The house lights then came on and everybody ran for the doors. It took about 20 minutes for the place to empty. Ironic, considering that security guards had been walking around all night, telling us to "make note of the exits". A new "safety measure" that concert security is obligated to ask since the Great White fire. A reporter from the Denver Post even interviewed me to get my opinion on this. I mentioned that it was similar to the famous airline ticket counter question- "Did anyone approach you or put anything in your bag without your knowing?". Completely worthless and something the staff just says to avoid a lawsuit.

Overall, a tidy little concert. If you like Audioslave's CD, you'll like their live act. I'd recommend seeing them now and not waiting until this summer's Lollapalooza clusterfuck. You'll get a better read for the band and your impression wont be dilluted by eight hours of sun, sweat and interference from lesser, shittier bands (cough cough ~~Incubus~~ cough cough). So be like Your Pal ES and go see Audioslave.

Oh yeah, one final thingie. I'm assuming that somebody out there bootlegged or recorded this show somehow. If you did, I'd be grateful if you could make me a copy. Visit the bootleg trading page and see if there's anything that frosts your cupcake. If you can't find anything, I'd be willing to shovel your driveway or walk your dog.

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