Rage Against the Machine‘s Zack de la Rocha is still raging, albeit from a seated position. After recently injuring his leg during a show in Chicago and having to be carried offstage, the tour did indeed go on over the weekend with festival appearances in Ottawa and Quebec with de la Rocha performing while sitting on one of the band’s touring road cases.
The RBC Ottawa Bluesfest took place Friday night (July 15), while Festival D’été De Québec followed on Saturday (July 16). In both cases, the singer used the improvised setup to still entertain the audience, letting the passion snare the crowd through his vocals while he bobbed along and motioned from the seated position at center stage.
While there was question if the band might inquire about Dave Grohl’s guitar throne that he and other musicians have used when dealing with leg injuries onstage, it look as though the road case setup seems to do the trick for the band. In fact, it comfortable seats four as you can see at the end of the fan-shot video below of the band’s encore celebration of “Killing in the Name” saluting the audience. Fan-shot footage from both shows can be seen below.
The injury initially took place while the band was performing “Bullet in the Head” during their July 11 performance at Chicago’s United Center. “I don’t know what happened to my leg right now, but you know what? We’re gonna keep this fuckin’ shit goin’,” stated de la Rocha at the time. “If I have to crawl across this stage. We’re gonna play for y’all tonight. We came too fuckin’ far.”
Indeed it has been a long journey back to the concert stage for the band who initially announced plans to reunite in 2019 with a 2020 planned before the pandemic forced the continued delay of the run. The North American tour leg continues into late August. Get your tickets here.