On Thursday, December 11, 2008, I heard Tom Morello play at The Belly Up. I missed the opening acts on purpose because I hadn’t heard of them. This is my review.

Tom Morello is known for his talented guitar work in the bands Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave. He creates a lot of his own effects and makes sounds that are difficult to reproduce. Tom even has a college degree and a good understanding of music composition and theory.

For the most part, I enjoyed Tom’s music. I had been warned by a friend that he was playing an acoustic set and I thought that was silly. He’s known for his electric guitar work and effects! He ended up playing acoustic guitar on a few songs, no guitar (e.g. banging a drum while doing some spoken word), a bit of harmonica, and electric guitar on a few songs. His best ones - in my opinion and by the crowd’s reaction - were the ones that sounded like Rage or Audioslave; the ones with a solid hook or cool effects. He had Boots Reily, one of the opening acts, sing/rap on one song and it reminded me a lot of Rage Against the Machine. It was the biggest crowd-pleaser of the night.

The unfortunate part of the concert was his politics. He made a few anti-George Bush comments. He reminded me of Eddie Vedder, who did the same in 2006 at The Forum. I suppose Tom’s politics are very important to him and a motivation for him to write and play, otherwise I would expect him to focus more on music and less on politics. Even though I didn’t agree with his suggestion that George Bush be held at Guantanamo Bay and be tortured by Rage Against the Machine 24/7, I chuckled at the sentiment and shook my head.

Since I hadn’t heard his songs beforehand, I went in fresh, not knowing his lyrics or anything. It gave me a chance to simply listen to the music. It was good music and I’m glad I could appreciate it, even from someone I disagree with politically. Music should be fun and exciting and it should transcend politics, even if someone wants to try to get you to focus on them.