Customer Reviews

Rage Against The Machine - Live at the Grand Olympic Auditorium

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This DVD captures Rage's final concert performance in 2000. The event was laid down on film, not video, so it's got a professional vs. a made-for-Canadian-TV look. Unfortunately, however, the editing includes too many cut shots with effects (slo-mo, drop-frame, etc) that takes away from the overall package. I would have preferred a straight-forward, almost documentary style for a performance this strong - there's no need to hype it up like a music video. The straightforward look is on display for the bonus material of the performance outside 2000's Democratic National Convention in LA; plus, this may be an even better musical performance than the Canadian show.

Both performance are as tight and energetic as you'd expect. They both also highlight the contrast between the heavy rock of Tom Morello, Tim Commerford and Brad Wilk vs. the hip-hop lyricism and delivery of Zach de la Rocha. I don't believe that any of them will ever equal Rage while working on their individual side projects (i.e. the valium pill that was Audioslave). One constant irritation was that both shows would have benefitted from unplugging the mic in front of Commerford - stick to the bass, my man. Also, the obvious opportunity for an unforgettable audience participation moment during "Killing in the Name" went surprisingly flat - come on, don't you people know the words?

Overall, a pair of great performance packaged together at a super-cheap price. Highly recommended for the Rage completist or anyone interested in seeing what they're all about. Finally, the liner notes contain contact information for a number of political action groups that they support - no matter what you think of their politics, you've got to admire that they've apparently done their homework and are challenging the listener to do the same.

The best part of the DVD in my opinion is found in the bonus material, the concert in front of the 2000 Democratic National Convention. It is awesome! It shows the meaning of Rage Against the Machine. Get the DVD and go straight to the bonus material!

i was at this concert and it was the best i've ever been to! the energy of the band and audience mixed with the amazing sound quality inside the grand olympic auditorium is gonna make for a great dvd. there were so many cameras in there, i know there is going to be alot of great angles. this was rage's last concert, and it really captures the electricity of their amazing live show

Zack's voice has changed over the years. His earlier performances carry more hyped / firery vocals - as if he was screaming directly into the face of every single person there. Over the years however, especially since Battle Of Los Angeles (1999) his voice, still maintaining that aggressive edge, lacks that hype where you feel like he's running round the stage throwing his fist up in the air and making gestures to the crowd.

It can be hard to notice in some songs (Bulls On Parade) yet listening to earlier performances of 'Know Your Enemy' and then this one I kinda feel like he should be screaming those lyrics down the mic like its '92.

As far as live Rage CD's go (given that there are only two commercially released ones) this is by far the best produced one. The quality is outstanding, touching all the right notes and all members of the band are as tight as ever. For Rage fans its not one to be missed, however there are other performances that can be gotten hold of capturing more of Zack's rage!

In some of my other music DVD reviews, I take the tact of applying a set of standards to a release and establishing how the DVD in question measures up. Let me say in advance that when I take this tact, it usually means that I was disappointed in the release, but this would be only slightly true with Rage Against The Machine's Live at the Grand Olympic Auditorium.

A memo should go out to all bands and music DVD producers that says at minimum: "1) Music DVD's should be produced to the highest standards. 2) The musical performances within should represent the talent that made the studio recorded CDs sell. 3) Theatrics are very cool too, as long as you can pull them off without deterioration in the quality of the music."

Let's break it down then for Rage's Live at the Grand Olympic Auditorium:

1 - "Music DVD's should be produced to the highest standards." - The picture quality in Rage's Live at the GOA is fair at best. I think this is due to a combo of two things: Old technology was used to film the performance, and there is a deliberate use of a technique that makes the picture a bit grainy. This grainy effect is hardly noticeable on a standard def TV, but it's very noticeable on a high def plasma TV. Seemingly, the band and the director chose to deliver what they felt was some kind of "atmospheric production" versus giving the viewer a front row seat to the performance. Hence, the relatively poor picture takes a bit away from the DVD.

On the other hand, the visual doesn't jump all over the place every 2 seconds as is true with way too many music DVDs (for some reason the notion all too often is that changing the visual projects the energy of a song...and that's a stupid notion). The camera shots in Rage's Live at the GOA mostly give you a nice long look at each performer at the right time; if you were actually at the show, you'd probably be looking at the performer that the camera is on. This made for a viewing experience that enhanced the illusion of having a front row seat to the show.

The sound is great in Dolby 5.1. You get your choice between Stereo and Dolby 5.1. Dolby 5.1 is far superior even when listening on a stereo system. My home theater Surround system in 5.1 made it feel like I was at the show. When I tried stereo on my portable DVD player the bass was mixed way too high and the sound was distorted; this was instantly remedied by switching to 5.1.

2 - "The musical performances within should represent the talent that made the studio recorded CDs sell." - The guys prior to hitting the stage must have huddled and committed to each other to go out and play the music true to the studio versions of the songs. All of the tracks on Rage's Live at the GOA are performed precisely. Absolutely amazing.

Tom Morello is incredible. Morello is ranked in the top half of Rolling Stone magazine's list of "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". And particularly his solo in Bulls on Parade is often noted by Guitar World and other music magazines; it was awesome to see him precisely pull off live the magic sounds he makes with a guitar that you might think he could only make in the studio.

The band gives you all of the songs that you'd really want to hear:

1. Bulls On Parade
2. Bombtrack
3. Calm Like A Bomb
4. Bullet In The Head
5. Sleep Now In The Fire
6. War Within A Breath
7. I'm Housin'
8. Killing In The Name
9. Born Of A Broken Man
10. No Shelter
11. Guerrilla Radio
12. How I Could Just Kill A Man (w/guest Cypress Hill)
13. Kick Out The Jams
14. Testify
15. Freedom

Bonus material includes:

"People of the Sun" and "Know Your Enemy"
The 2000 Democratic National Convention performance, featuring:
"Bulls On Parade"
"Testify"
"Guerrilla Radio"
"Sleep Now In The Fire"
"Freedom"
"Killing In The Name"
And video clips for "How I Could Just Kill a Man" and "Bombtrack"

The Grand Olympic Auditorium main performance is fabulous. The bonus material, especially the performance at the 2000 DNC, is interesting to watch and much more politically oriented than performance oriented.

3 - "Theatrics are very cool too, as long as you can pull them off without deterioration in the quality of the music." - There are no over-the-top theatrics...which is great. The guys just play the music, and as I said earlier, they perform the songs to perfection. There is a clear air on the stage that "this is our last show together". These guys all click and tonight they are clicking on all cylinders.

Zack de la Rocha's (and the band's) political message is highly visible (and audible) throughout. During the show Rage and de la Rocha voice their extremist support for revolutionary socialism that includes a sweeping condemnation of the police and corporations. Um...yikes! I can't say that I'm a fan of Rage's message, but their music rocks! And the show recorded on Live at the Grand Olympic Auditorium also rocks.

All in all...Live at the GOA is a shouldn't-miss DVD if you like or ever liked Rage Against the Machine. But so much for this recording being their last performance; a 2007 reunion has been announced. Perhaps we'll get an upgraded high def performance DVD to rally 'round the family with.

As one of the many people who had the honor of seeing RATM perform in their prime, I can tell you right now that this isn't anywhere close to what they used to be capable of.

I bought the CD because ... well, I had to. It's Rage. But it sucks.

I'm a big fan, too, so that's hard for me to come out and say, but hey, you can't ignore the facts. The problem with this album is that it's clear their hearts are no longer in it. This isn't a bang; it's a whimper.

I can go into a track-by-track analysis, but I'm not going to waste your time.
If you're looking for Rage in their prime, with all the energy and nerve they once posessed, check out the bootleg live album. If you're just a fan, pick this up I guess, but there's really nothing new on it.

I am only doing the review for this dvd and not all three that I bought, which they were all three of Rage's dvd's. I dont think you should really take my review as a legitimate review. Rage is my favorite band of all time. Zach and Tom are two of my idols and inspiration, so of course I am going to have a really bias review for all three of their dvd's I bought. If I was getting paid to tell the truth, I would say this...All three of Rage Against The Machine's dvd's are the raw deal! They are pure rock on all three of the dvd's. Tom is slashing it up, as does Tim (who does his chiming in at times for backup vocs). Brad is completely emotional on the set. He plays like its the last time he is ever going to play again; but does this every time he plays! Blood, sweat, tears, are constantly dripping down all of them as they play their hearts out. Then there is Zach. If this band had somebody such as Maynard, Cornell, Serj, or any other vocalist; then Rage would SUCK! Zach makes completes this band in ever way possible. The pure, untamed, unrestrained, raw, and unconfined emotion that flows through his veins is the only reason you need, to buy any one of their three dvd's. Trust me on this you will not be let down if you buy one, plus they are all really quite inexpensive. Each one comes with bonus stuff that's awesome! One has a interview with Marcos! One has Mexico City trip with Tom and he visits Lenin's home there before he died. The list goes on and on. Just buy one, and honestly for the $40 bucks I spent on all three, it was far out better than pinchin or cinchin your junk in a zipper!! You should get one.

There has been some discussions about how this dvd really captures a live RATM show. I think those opinons couldn't be farther from the truth. The video is so extremely over-edited that I find it impossible to watch. The sound quality and performance (i think) are good, but overall this does not capture the essence of a show simply because of it's dizzying camera work and quick edits.

This performance (RATM's Last) covers the band in full force. From the early rants of Bulls On Parade to the fists in the air at the end of Freedom, Rage once again proves to be one of the most revolutionary bands out there. Covering songs from all three of their albums, it also includes three tracks from Renegades including How I Could Just Kill A Man with Cypress Hill and others. The camera angles in this DVD are much more spectacular than Mexico City, although the sound quality is about the same.
I was disappointed with the performance coverage of the DNC protest. I thought the camera angles would be better from that, and the sound is much worse than the Olympic Auditorium show. But you get an awesome bunch of concert clips of theirs while How I Could Just Kill A Man play, as well as an old musicvideo of Bombtrack.
Overall, this is a must have DVD, much better than Mexico City. If you are a true Rage fan, then you have to get this. You won't regret it!

With the exception of the footage of the Democratic Convention protest, this DVD tends to focus less on political extras and more on the music. I suppose this would make sense, with the band broken up it would be difficult to arrange documentaries and interviews of the type found in Battle of Mexico City.

On the basis of the music and the DC protest footage, I can give this DVD four stars. If the auditorium performance were as good as the protest concert then the DVD could have easily gone up to five stars for my rating.

The concert in the Grand Olympic Auditorium is filled with great music. But with the exception of the giant red star being unveiled at the start of Bulls on Parade and the appearance of Cyprus Hill and Zack's comments about the DC protest there was little else that hasn't been seen in some other form on the other DVD's. But it is a good concert nonetheless, with the familiar fan participation in some of the songs. At some points Zack even asks the crowd questions like how many of them were at the protest or how many of them had heard of MC-5, this seems like a great way to build a, "Fan-Band," relationship. Still, this did not excite me very much compared to the seas of humanity at their European performances in the self titled DVD. There is also a scene that was edited on this DVD but was uncensored on the self titled one, in which Tom Morello's mother introduces, "The best band in the f***ing universe." In this DVD, the profanity was bleeped out.

The protest concert was obviously more than just a musical event, but a situation in which ratm could directly contradict their enemies. This feeling is amplified by having helicopters flying above Zack as he sings, police patrolling the fence of the concert and eventually threatening and attacking the crowd that was clearly motivated to keep up the good fight just by having Rage there. If anyone is reading this who was actually at that protest, all I can say is, "Good show!" Its almost like the old lines between the band and their fans was made thinner and they seemed to be working together to make the place as rebellious as possible; Rage with the provocative music and the fans with their, well, rage (no pun intended). It is in this performance that the Rage seems to be more than just a band, but some sort of alternative fighting force, bombarding the police and the democratic convention with radical lyrics and funk. If at any moment during that day the democrats got the idea that they were doing going to have their convention without any major confrontation outside the building, it probably got stomped by Rage's feet at they stepped onto the stage.

This DVD is a welcome part of my Rage collection.