Rage Against The Machine Sound Cut Mid-Set At Leeds

Amid fears of crowd crush...

by Hazel Sheffield
Sunday, August 24, 2008

Rage Against The Machine Sound Cut Mid-Set At Leeds

Festival organisers pulled the plug on Rage Against the Machine mid-way through their headline set at Leeds festival yesterday.

The decision came half way through fourth track ‘Bombtrack’, amid fears of a crowd crush. The politically-fuelled cacophony was plunged into silence and darkness, as a bouncer took to the stage to talk to frontman Zack de la Rocha.

The American rapper then pleaded with the crowd, “We don’t want to have to stop the show. Help our brothers and sisters up front: everyone take a couple of steps back.”

Their set was rapturously received, despite commencing half an hour late and lacking the theatrics of their previous night’s performance at Reading festival, where they took to the stage in Guantanamo boiler suits.

Leeds festival-goers can look forward to more top-class bands today, as one of the best festival lineups of the summer closes with Editors, The Raconteurs, Bloc Party and The Killers.

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(6)

we only went to the leeds festival this year to see rage and we were so let down. The sound was so bad that it sounded like the tv was on a low volume in the next room with the door closed. the vibe at leed was not a good one we even left early. overall Saturday at leed was a bit of a letdown with not much to do in the way of passing the time till the next band and not much to look at
~ by gazduncan | Send Message | 8/24/2008
The crowd was absolutely horrendous. I was in the middle when the set started..but unfortunately, it got so bad we had to pull my small, female friend out. Barging past people. Some who didnt want to co-operate to save a life..absolutely ridiculous. They played a good set, but it did seem choppy indeed. I saw one lad on a stretcher with 6 paramedics and a gas mask on. I have also come home early with the lack of interest.
~ by Nemo-FromLeeds 8/24/2008
Perhaps if the organisors changed the security company to one that was actually trained in crowd control and not one that advertises on gumtree for stewards then this thing wouldnt happen but we said this to them last year
~ by sue 8/25/2008
The sound during RATM was good quality, you’d have to have stood pretty far away for it to sound like it was on a low volume tv in the next room... I don’’t see how a security company could stop pushing with a crowd that was probably about 60,000 strong. I was at the very front when it came to the end they pulled me over the barrier, checked i was alright, and gave me some water. If you don’’t want to be pushed, don’’t stand
~ by Matt 8/25/2008
They were awesome - I don’t see how anyone can be let down by their set... Amazing! I was at the front to start with and it was crazy - but after moving back slightly, it was quality! I’’ve seen over 100 bands live and none of them compared to Rage.
~ by Bexx 8/26/2008