Rage, Bjork, Chili Peppers Highlight 2007 Coachella Festival
Progressive rock-rap act Rage Against the Machine will be headlining this year’s Coachella Festival, along with Bjork and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The announcement was made on Monday.
The Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival has been a field day – or days – for rock, alt-rock, hip-hop, electronica, indie and world music junkies and sculptural art enthusiasts for the last eight years. The three-day fest will be held – as it always has – at the Empire Polo Field in Indio outside Los Angeles, with its kick off penciled in for the 27th of April. Tickets will be available starting this Saturday, with the three-day pass going for $249 each and the one-day pass gong for $85 apiece.
Joining the three headlining acts are Arcade Fire, Willie Nelson, the Decemberists, the Arctic Monkeys, the Roots, Jarvis Cocker, Sonic Youth, Placebo, Satellite Party, Stephen Marley featuring Jr. Gong, Kings of Leon, the Kaiser Chiefs, the Black Keys, Amy Winehouse, Mexican guitar duo Rodrigo Y Gabriella, and Silversun Pickups. Crowded House, who just like RATM has recently reunited, will also be performing.
RATM goes back in the spotlight via the annual fest after a seven-year quiescence which began when lead vocalist Zack de la Rocha departed the band in late 2000 due to differences with his band mates Tom Morello, Tim Commerford and Brad Wilk. During his absence, the three remaining RATM members joined forces with Sound Garden’s Chris Cornell to form Audioslave, which spawned the hits ‘Like a Stone’ and ‘Be Yourself’ in 2002.
Apart from placing two records in the US charts during the peak of rock-prog-rap music in the 1990s, Rage Against the Machine is best known for its radical, leftist and anti-capitalist stance, as expressed through their trademark melodies combining metal, rock, hip-hop and punk and fierce, aggressive and protest-laden rap lyrics.