Rage Against The Machine - Live at the Grand Olympic Auditorium

Studio: Sony
Product Type: DVD

Average customer rating:

Clearance to Run the Interference
get mexico city instead
RATM - okay but not great
Amazing
At least its not Audioslave.

Rage Against The Machine - Live at the Grand Olympic Auditorium

Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

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( R ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Rage Against the Machine
The Battle of Mexico City
Audioslave: Live in Cuba (with Bonus CD)
Live at the Grand Olympic Auditorium
Renegades

ASIN: B0000WVV7O
Release Date: 2003-12-09

Customer Reviews:

Clearance to Run the Interference.......2007-03-26

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.

get mexico city instead.......2007-03-25

this concert dvd blows compared to mexico city.

(1) you can tell the party is over / they don't have their usual energy

(2) bass is mixed too high

(3) Know Your Enemy not on here

enough said.

RATM - okay but not great.......2007-02-13

My 15 year old was somewhat disappointed about this DVD. Somehow she expected it to be more "dynamic" and to give more a feel of being there at the concert (a tall order for sure). Since the DVD didn't do this, she's giving it an average rating.

Amazing.......2006-07-09

I like Audioslave, but have listened to little of Rage Against the Machine. I checked out their first CD, but I wasn't used to the way Zack De La Rocha's vocals sounded and I didn't really pay attention to the lyrics. A couple weeks ago I heard the song "Bulls on Parade" for the first time and decided to check out their concert DVD. For 75 minutes they play the Grand Olympic Auditorium and they f**king rock. These guys are great live. But it is a great amount of talent; Zack De La Rocha has very political views and lyrics, and raps them to a rock background. He's got a great stage presence and clearly knows how to put on a show. Tom Morello is an amazing guitarist, he does stuff with his guitar that some of the best guitar players ever can't. Tim Commerford is a killer bassist, he cranks out some really great basslines. And Brad Wilk's drumming is fairly simple stuff actually, but he makes it work. The only songs I had heard (out of the ones they were performing)
were Bulls on Parade, Bombtrack, and How I Could Just Kill a Man, but I found that I liked every song they did. This is a great concert DVD (although the camera work jumps around a little to quickly at times), even if you just kind of like RATM, you should check this out.
SET LIST:
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. Guerilla Radio
12. How I Could Just Kill a Man (Feat. Cyprus Hill)
13. Kick Out the Jams
14. Testify
15. Freedom
GRADE: A

At least its not Audioslave........2006-01-12

Rage Against the Machine, even in their worst moments, was still a very explosive band. This show is fair, but if you've seen them live in 1993 or 94', you'll won't like this much. Zach's voice is too worn out, Tom's guitaring isn't heavy enough, and Tim's bass lines are too loud.

The song selection is only from the "hits" on their three albums, you won't get to hear underrated classics such as "Settle for Nothing, "Fistful of Steel," "Take the Power Back," and "Township Rebellion." Plus, Tom's creativity on stage is gone, the solos in his songs sound the same as if you were listening to the albums, but back in the day he did alot of crazy s*** when he had to solo. For example, in "Killing in the Name," in the middle of the first chorus of "Some of those who work forces...," Tom would make a shrieking noise like in "Freedom," and his solo for the song sounded really different and f***ed up compared to the studio recording. At least there's a video of "Bombtrack" and after seeing the performance, it doesn't hurt as much that they broke up, but Audioslave is far far far far worse, so this is lightyears better than "Live in Cuba" from Audios***.

If you want to hear that perticular version of "Killing in the Name" I was talking about, get their self-titled DVD and watch that live video clip. Hell, get that DVD because its so great.

If you want a live Rage' DVD thats way better, hunt on eBay for a bootleg DVD called "Live in Philly 1993," which is basically them performing at a nightclub and they only played classic Rage' tracks. The video and sound quality is a little bad, but the band's show was AMAZING.

Let boring people watch boring stuff.

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