Tom Morello – October 16th – The Gothic Theatre

Photos by Jim Mimna

Tom Morello has always been known for doing things differently, he is the epitome of unique both on and off the stage.  Over the years his groundbreaking guitar style coupled with his ultra-hardworking, anti-establishment values have paid off for Morello in both commercial success and satisfaction in the journey.  His show at The Gothic Theatre supporting his new album The Atlas Underground was no different.  It began with a sit down Q&A session with a local radio DJ and a bottle of Stranahan’s whiskey, and ended with him inviting the audience to join him on stage.

The start of the conversation focused on his new record, The Atlas Underground, a genre bending mix of songs put together by an all-star cast of artists that varied from track-to-track.  He talked about why he choose each artist for each track and what nuances they brought to his work as he tried to fuse old-school analog power with new school electronic sounds.  The event was about as intimate as it could be with the entire venue seated, on and off the stage, and Tom so forthcoming in his musings as he covered everything from the first time Rage Against the Machine played for an audience, to how he came up with some of the most iconic guitar sounds on Rage Against the Machine albums, to the time RATM shut down the NYSE on the battle call of Michael Moore as he was being arrested.  He talked about his life from a young age and what influences helped shape his future.  He talked about his Harvard education, and his experiences employing that political science degree in our political system and what effects they had on his art.  His anecdotes were always captivating and poignant in their place in the greater story, reinforcing Morello’s incredible ability to tell a story with or without the musical accompaniment.

Throughout the show he would grab a guitar and crank out a riff relevant to the story, further enriching the experience.  At one point he talked about first meeting his friend Chris Cornell with Rick Rubin, and then later about the time Chris had been missing for an extended time and suddenly texted him a poetic sentiment to let him know he was okay which lead to him writing the song “The Garden of Gethsemane,” which he then played.

Morello talked about his life like he was in a room of friends, not a venue full of strangers, which I saw as a truly rare experience in today’s world.  The event finished with Tom DJing a few tracks off the new record accompanied by lyric videos, and then asking the entire audience to join him on stage for his last tunes.  He kept exclaiming, “Are we in this together?” and with that thought he finished the show together with his audience by his side on stage as he played the American classic by Woody Guthrie, “This Land is Your Land” (see the video below), followed by “Killing In The Name Of” to end the show.

Its not often I see a show and feel like I saw something different, but this night I certainly did, Thanks Tom.