Fans holding their breath for Rage Against The Machine to resume its truncated reunion tour might want to go ahead and exhale: Per a Wednesday social media post by drummer Brad Wilk, the band “will not be touring or playing live again.” As he wrote in the caption of the post, adding an extra layer of apparent finality to the statement, “Bottom of my heart.. Thank you to every person who has ever supported us.”
“I know a lot of people are waiting for us to announce new tour dates for all the canceled RATM shows,” Wilk wrote in his post. “I don’t want to string people or myself along any further. So while there has been some communication that this may be happening in the future… I want to let you know that RATM (Tim [Commerford], Zack [de la Rocha], Tom [Morello], and I) will not be touring or playing live again. I’m sorry for those of you who have been waiting for this to happen. I really wish it was…”
The trouble with Rage Against The Machine’s highly anticipated Public Service Announcement reunion tour began back in 2020 with a number of COVID-prompted postponements. The band finally took the stage in July of 2022 for its first live show in 11 years, but during the tour’s second show, Zack de la Rocha suffered an onstage Achilles tendon tear. The RATM frontman went on to perform the rest of the band’s 2022 North American leg from a seated position. Following a five-night stint at Madison Square Garden in August, the band canceled an upcoming 13-show European run due to take place that fall. In October, the band canceled all of its planned U.S. dates per de la Rocha’s doctor’s orders.
Related: Rage Against The Machine Brings Reunion Tour To Madison Square Garden [Review/Photos]
Prior to Wilk’s statement on Wednesday, Rage Against The Machine had made no official announcements regarding rescheduled tour dates. In March of 2023, Tom Morello expressed in a contentious Rolling Stone interview that neither he nor any of the band’s members knew when they would regroup. In October of 2023, fans seemed to get some encouraging news about de la Rocha’s progress when he took the stage—on his feet—with Run The Jewels to deliver his guest verse on the 2014 Run The Jewels 2 collaboration, “Close Your Eyes”.
Rage Against The Machine was recently inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Guitarist Tom Morello was the only member of the band to appear at the induction ceremony.
Read the full post from Brad Wilk about the future of Rage Against The Machine below. Revisit Live For Live Music‘s review of RATM’s August 2022 Madison Square Garden stint—the last run of shows before the cancellations—here.
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