How often will San Francisco bear witness to a line up like this year’s Rock The Bells? Think: EPMD, Public Enemy, all eight remaining members of Wu-Tang, and seven-year-retired Rage Against the Machine. Bands that we thought we’d never see perform again. On top of that, add veterans Cypress Hill, Mos Def, The Roots, MF Doom, and Pharoah Monch--the 40,000 tickets were sold out long in advance. Arriving at noon, the ticket line extended along the shore almost to the Bay Bridge. The water-side venue (without a view of the water) was the parking lot for AT&T Park. Newly emerging and viscously political lyricist Immortal Technique was scheduled for 12:50pm, but there was no way most ticket holders were going to get a chance to see him. The day was unusually hot and there was no shade, just pavement. The fans who’d made it inside looked confused by the lack of seating and ate deep fried hot dogs to ground themselves. From the distance, the Main Stage hurled its thunderous beats. Near the entrance the Paid Dues Stage, the smaller of the two stages, greeted the audience. Billed as an “independent rap” festival, the Paid Dues tour originated in 2006 and already boasted some of the best lyricists out to date, before teaming up with Rock The Bells this year. Now artists like Murs 3:16, Sage Francis, The Coup, and reclusive MF Doom were greeting eight times larger audiences. At 1:30, Immortal Technique left the stage, his lyrics trailing behind him like smoke behind a Scud.
At the Main Stage the crowd was thick, and left-wing politics were flying. A man stepped up after Mos Def and Talib Kweli’s set and yelled the names of men awaiting state execution, after which the crowd yelled “free them!”. Then the mic cut out and was not turned on again until Razhel’s awesome solo beat-boxing came through, followed by The Roots, who kicked into swing with an impressively complicated rhythm scheme. Captain Kirk on guitar and the dancin’ man with the sousaphone gave a great performance. Next up were Public Enemy’s Chuck D and Flava Flave, who burst on stage with an energy that unfortunately soon subsided. Even the brilliant red beard of Anthrax’s Scott Ian couldn’t maintain, since his road-beaten guitar was inaudible. However, it was Public Enemy.
As the sun began to sink, Cypress Hill lit up the night. Their set was incredible. A couple songs in, Sen Dog asked B-Real if it might be time for a chronic break. Getting the appropriate response from the crowd, B-Real lit a huge joint, all the more massive for being displayed on the giant video screens on both sides of the stage, while DJ Muggs fashioned some beats to inhale by. Behind the group bobbed an inflatable gold Buddha with a green pot leaf on its belly. Cypress Hill covered all the old hits and ended with an aggressive version of Rock (Superstar) that got everyone on their feet, properly setting up the next group: Wu-Tang. Wu-Tang came onto the stage like an army. The eight members stood in front with special guest Redman while their crew filled in the back. Method Man was soon crowd surfing over 36 Chambers while Ghostface Killah, the RZA, the GZA, Raekwon, U-God, Inspectah Deck, and Masta Killa held it down. At times the excessive amount of talent on the stage left one or two of the Wu dynasty standing idly, waiting their turn, but the sound was flawless and amped. A hardcore performance of Wu-Tang Clan Ain’t Nuthing Ta Fuck With began completely a cappella. They took a break in honor of Ghostface’s birthday and took the opportunity to announce a new album coming out this spring. The only other break in the music was a moment of silence for Wu-Tang member Ol’ Dirty Bastard, who passed away in 2004.
Finally, it was time for Rage Against the Machine. The minutes passed like hours in anticipation as the whole audience pushed to the front. Then Zach de la Rocha, Tom Morello, Tim Commerford, and Brad Wilk appeared through the red synthetic smoke and launched into Testify. Immediately, three massive mosh pits erupted in the middle of the crowd. The performance was so high-energy that Zach accidentally fell over the monitors at one point. Morello's guitar sounded better live than the studio recordings and Commerford’s bass filled up every spot in the parking lot. Rage ended the show with Killing In The Name and Zach made a slight but poignant change in the lyrics: "some of those that hold office, are the same that burn crosses." Then the immense assembly exited on foot, taking over 3rd Street and backing up traffic for 45 minutes, until the riot police got out of their vans and the sirens began.
