"NOBODY FOR PRESIDENT," Tom Morello's guitar read
HOLMDEL -- "NOBODY FOR PRESIDENT."
The message was taped to the backside of Tom Morello's famed Mongrel Custom -- the same sky-blue, "Arm The Homeless" axe he's wielded since his days stomping with Rage Against The Machine -- and was revealed to Friday crowd only when Morello brought the instrument to his mouth, to shred with his teeth.
The trick earned roars from a PNC Bank Arts Center audience that was peppered with red "Make America Rage Again" baseball caps -- the Trump-mocking motto for Morello's new, pseudo-throttling supergroup Prophets of Rage.
The band, which also comprises former RATM members Tom Commerford (bass), and Brad Wilk (drums), plus lauded Public Enemy grenadier Chuck D. and Cypress Hill's longtime leader B-Real on vocals, seem to unite out of necessity this Spring, in efforts to combat "this mountain of election year bulls---," Morello told Rolling Stone in May. Last month, the group earned the nation's spotlight again in Cleveland, as it played gigs around the city that protested the Republican National Convention.
The Prophets, named for Public Enemy's seething "Nation of Millions" track," have built their fury into a full U.S. tour, spouting the slogan "dangerous times demand dangerous songs."
And in Holmdel, the band forged for its collective subversion was best when it stuck to its setlist, to 30 years of "Fight the Power" and "Take the Power Back," and avoided new proclamations -- like "nobody for president" -- which seemed almost innocuous when wedged within such an insurgent songbook.
Chuck D, left, and B Real, of new rap-rock supergroup Prophets of Rage, at PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, Aug. 26, 2016. (Mark Brown | For NJ.com) The power-pack that was Chuck D. and B-Real trading lines and fists to the sky for Rage's pounding "Guerrilla Radio" or "Bulls On Parade," or Morello's guitar screaming through breaks on Enemy's frenzied "Miuzi Weighs A Ton," were infinitely more effective gestures of rebellion than Chuck reminding it was only 82 day until the "presidential selection," or B-Real decreeing that the crowd's "enemy" was "the two clowns you're voting for president."
Of course the members were going to speak up, but every message provided was already better blueprinted within the night's incendiary hits, and tracks off the band's EP "The Party's Over," also released Friday.
The audience was receptive to the themes -- they must have expected as much, considering the band's primary purpose. But those who filled the PNC seats about halfway and barely made a dent in the sprawling lawn just seemed excited to hear the music in any iteration, from two of the most strident acts to galvanize the mainstream through the '80s and '90s' .
Though he seemed to tire by the end of the nearly two-hour set, Chuck D. was a sledgehammer on RATM's adamant jams, slamming with conviction and his patented deep delivery. The setlist favored Rage tunes; Public Enemy's calling cards "Bring the Noise" and "Fight the Power" were relegated to mashups, as was Cypress Hill's "Insane in the Brain."
Consequently, Morello, 52, was often the night's focus, as he ripped his innovative list of shrieking, droning, looping solos -- during "Testify" he somehow managed a rhythm by unplugging the amp cord from his guitar and tapping the metallic end into the palm of his hand.
Tom Morello of new rap-rock supergroup Prophets of Rage, at PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, Aug. 26, 2016. (Mark Brown | For NJ.com) Morello took lead vocal for another crack at Bruce Springsteen's "The Ghost of Tom Joad," which he and the Boss -- "the only boss worth listening to" Morello quipped Friday -- also played Thursday night, at Springsteen's MetLife Stadium marathon. The rendition backed by Bruce's E Street Band was stronger.
The whole show was performed before a deliberately provocative backdrops -- the red and gold fists and five-point stars all but screamed communism. But for all of the show's brood, from the tenacious lines on "Bullet in the Head" to "Terrordome," everything seemed to come -- almost ironically -- from a place of hope and faith.
A portion of the night's proceeds benefitted the New Brunswick hunger charity Elijah's Promise. And before the set's closer "Killing in the Name," B-Real thanked the crowd from allowing the group to be their voice, when "everything out there is talking about nothing."
THE SET LIST
- "Prophets of Rage" (Public Enemy cover)
- "Guerrilla Radio" (Rage Against the Machine cover)
- "Bombtrack" (Rage Against the Machine cover)
- "Miuzi Weighs a Ton" (Public Enemy cover)
- "People of the Sun" (Rage Against the Machine cover)
- "Take the Power Back" (Rage Against the Machine cover)
- "(Rock) Superstar" (Cypress Hill cover)
- "Testify" (Rage Against the Machine cover)
- "Hand on the Pump" / "Can't Truss It" / "Insane in the Brain" / "Bring the Noise" / "I Ain't Goin' Out Like That" / "Welcome to the Terrordome"
- "Sleep Now in the Fire" (Rage Against the Machine cover)
- "Cochise" / "She Watch Channel Zero?!" (Audioslave / Public Enemy covers)
- "The Ghost of Tom Joad" (Bruce Springsteen cover)
- "Bullet in the Head" (Rage Against the Machine cover)
- "Shut 'Em Down" (Public Enemy cover)
- "Know Your Enemy" (Rage Against the Machine cover)
- "The Party's Over"
- "No Sleep Till Brooklyn" / "Fight the Power" (Beastie Boys / Public Enemy covers)
- "Bulls on Parade" (Rage Against the Machine cover)
- "Killing in the Name" (Rage Against the Machine cover)
Bobby Olivier may be reached at bolivier@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BobbyOlivier and Facebook. Find NJ.com on Facebook.