It
has been over two and a half years since Rise
against last played at Bristol Academy, the last
time was back in February 2009 and brought politic
punk mates Anti-Flag out on the road with them,
this time around they have brought out Tom Morello’s
The Nightwatchmen.
The atmosphere in the Academy tonight is buzzing,
the show is over sold out and everyone is packed
into the small venue like a tin of sardines sweating
from head to toe, Tom Morello’s The Nightwatchman
took to the stage at 8.20pm and they came out
to an extremely warm reception with everyone in
the Academy tonight wanting to get that little
bit closer to the Rage Against The Machine legend.
 The Nightwatchman played a short 7 minute set
and between each song Morello took time to address
the audience on certain situations in the world
such as greedy bankers and billionaires to the
whole Rage Factor situation which saw thousands
of people come together to screw over Simon Cowell
and his X Factor by making Rage Against The Machine
Christmas number one ahead of the X Factor winner
who normally get’s the top spot every year,
and this prompted Morello to say that we can do
anything in the world and make changes if we all
pull together.
The music that Morello and his band played was
a mixture of electric and acoustic guitar numbers
and from the start Morello proved that he really
is an guitar god letting off those fantastic sounds
during his guitar solos which basically had your
mouth touching the floor in sheer shock and approval,
the lyric’s throughout the songs all featured
a strong message and it was the acoustic ‘Black
Spartacus Heart Attack Machine’ which went
down the best and also the intro and outro of
the classic Rage Against The Machine song ‘Sleep
Now In The Fire’ which seriously got the
crowd moving.
 There was a short wait for Rise Against but as
soon as these guys took to the stage you just
knew they meant business as there 18 song set
was full of pure super charged energy and excitement
with the band only taking a break and slowing
down for a couple of acoustic numbers.
Tim Mcllrath was on top form with his vocals
tonight sounding as power and clear as they do
on any one of the Rise Against studio albums from
their back catalogue, whilst guitarist Zach Blair
and bassist Joe Principe were full of energy like
a pair of Mexican jumping beans charging from
each side of the stage and doing big jumps at
appropriate moments, and let’s not forget
drummer Brandon Barnes who has been smashing the
drums for Rise Against since 2000 who simply put
on one fast paced show which must of saw his arms
aching throughout at the end of the night.
 The set that Rise Against blasted through was
like a massive greatest hits, and the fans here
tonight were proper hardcore Rise Against fans
who sang along word for word for the whole show
whilst also jumping around like their lives depending
on it in the pit.
The songs which got the biggest reactions of
the night were ‘Make It Stop (Septembers
Children)’, ‘ Help Is On The Way’,
‘Prayer Of The Refugee’, ‘Audience
Of One’ and the extremely angry yet catchy
anthem that is ‘Give It All’.
But it was the acoustic moments which carried
the biggest message with Tim Mcllrath putting
everything into the acoustic ‘Swing Life
Away’ with nearly 2000 people joining him
to sing “We get by just fine here on minimum
wage”, and moments later lead guitarist
Zach Blair joined Tim for an heart warming rendition
of the ever so emotional ‘Hero Of War’
which saw the same amount of people singing “They
took off his clothes, they pissed in his hands,
I told them to stop but then I joined in”
with the rest of the band re-joining the stage
towards the end of the song to give it a full
on electric outro.
It is safe to say that all the hard work that
Rise Against have put in over the years is really
starting to pay off as I am pretty sure this could
be one of the last times that you will be seeing
Rise Against play at the Academy sized venues
as they take that positive leap to headline to
headline some of the bigger venues across the
UK in the near future.
The Nightwatchman 4/5
Rise Against 5/5
Review By Robert Lawrence |
