Watch Rage Against the Machine Play ‘No Shelter’ for First Time in 15 Years
Rage Against the Machine continued their reunion tour Tuesday evening at Chicago’s United Center, just one night after frontman Zack de la Rocha injured his leg at the same venue. He was seated throughout the entire night but still managed to put on a stellar show that included the group’s first performance of “No Shelter” since 2007. Check out the fan-shot video right here.
“No Shelter” originally appeared on the soundtrack to 1998’s Godzilla, a truly wretched movie that paired Matthew Broderick with the iconic radioactive monster. The studio presumed this would be an enormous blockbuster on par with Jurassic Park and Independence Day, and they spent a fortune marketing it. That included a soundtrack where Jimmy Page remade Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir” with Puff Daddy as “Come With Me,” and the Wallflowers covered David Bowie’s “Heroes.”
“No Shelter” received a fraction of the attention of those two songs, but it towers above both of them. The title makes it seem like it’s about frightened people trying to seek shelter during a Godzilla attack, but Rage clearly had something slightly more important in mind when they wrote it. “Cinema, simulated life, ill drama/Fourth Reich culture, Americana” Zack de la Rocha snarls. “Chained to the dream they got you searchin’ for/The thin line between entertainment and war.”
(Let’s compare that to the “Come With Me” lyrics: “Fuck my enemies/Fuck my foes/Damn these hoes/You’re stepping on my toes…I want to fight you/I’ll fucking bite you/Can’t stand nobody like you.”)
Most people weren’t very entertained by the war between humanity and Godzilla, and the movie was an enormous box office disappointment, even though it ultimately pulled a profit. But “No Shelter” became a Rage classic and a regular part of their live set in 1999 and 2000, but they only played it a single time on their 2007 reunion tour.
The Rage show also featured the first performance of the Evil Empire deep track “Vietnow,” which was also last played in 2007.
The reunion tour continues on July 15 at the Ottawa Bluesfest in Ottawa, Ontario, and will be on the road through at least April 2, 2023. The extent of de la Rocha’s leg injury is unclear at this point, but the odds are high he’ll be seated for at least the next few shows.
