When you must choose between two great bands—one from your past and one from your present—there is bound to be regret in your future.
I'm sure the line above is paraphrasing a famous quote from somewhere (even if Google is not showing me one), but it accurately describes my situation when I attend the 2008 Lollapalooza music festival. My wife and I will be making the journey from New York to Chicago to see the festival on August 1-3, in what would best be described as the culmination point of my favorite bands ever— Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails, Rage Against the Machine and Wilco.
The only problem is that Lollapalooza is three nights, not four. Thus, when the scheduling was released last week, I was distraught to discover that Wilco and Rage Against The Machine are playing on opposing stages at the same exact time.
Suddenly, my dream festival has hit a snag— I'm forced to choose between seeing only one of two of my favorite bands ever. I cannot stress enough what a terrible example this is of scheduling on the part of the Lollapalooza promoters. I mean, the following night has Nine Inch Nails playing at the same time as Kanye West, which makes sense since they play completely different music.
But Wilco and Rage are both rock bands. Granted of course, they are totally different genres of rock, but rock nevertheless. I don't think that they are polar opposites like Kanye and NIN are. I'm sure I am not the only person who is disappointed about this scheduling. Sure, the beauty of music festivals is that there is a plethora of music to see and experience, and much of it is going on at the same time. But to have two rock headliners on stage simultaneously seems to defy logic. Why can't one of these bands be moved up to an earlier time slot in the day?
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Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - El Bicho
"Why can't one of these bands be moved up to an earlier time slot in the day?"
Ego.
If you love both equally, it comes down to whether you want to relive that Rage concert from '97 because it will basically be the same selections as they have nothing new or do you want to see Wilco play new tunes that you didn't see before?
Also to add to the equation is there's no telling if Rage is staying together after their comeback tour, and you are less like to be assaulted during a Wilco performance.
2 - Jordan Richardson
I'd pick the RATM show, without a doubt.
3 - Glen Boyd
Wilco, hands down. As shred-tastic as Morello can be, it's probably not gonna be that different than what you remember. Wilco on the other hand, have added the amazing Nels Kline since you last saw them. Not only is Kilne no sloch on the guitar himself, he actually is the missing piece this band has always needed in a live performance setting.
I love em' both too. But on this night, I'd pick Wilco with Kline. No contest.
-Glen
4 - Mark Saleski
yep, Nels Cline trumps Morello...and i love 'em both.
5 - Andy
I'll be watching Rage. To me, as much as I love both bands, the decision is an easy one as I've never seen Rage live before. But even if I had, I'll have the chance to see Wilco again. Might not have the same chance with Rage. Tweedy will forgive me. I have a feeling he'd do the same if he could. THAT said... Wilco has played Lolla before and did it earlier and it was great - not sure why they messed with that for their return.
6 - S.Rod
If Mark wants to find me I'll be watching Wilco...unless he guarantees we will get to see them later this summer.
Do you think the Rage stage will be safe for a titanium supported 5'puertoruvian?
7 - Mark Sahm
Bicho: Actually, Rage has released 'Battle of Los Angeles' since I saw them live. But your crowd assault point is the lone detractor from seeing them as Commenter #6 will not be able to stay anywhere near the jumping writhing center of the crowd.
Glen & Saleski: I had heard about the great skills of Cline. Has he assumed full lead guitar duty for Wilco now? He is definitely another x-factor in this whole decision.
8 - Glen Boyd
Yup. Not only has Kline assumed the position, he owns it.
-Glen
9 - Mark Sahm
Andy, you never know, Tweedy could have an epiphany and make only Loose Fur records from now on. :)
I joke, but seriously I had a chance to see Nirvana in '92 or '93, but passed because I didn't have money to get tickets. I told my friend at the time that I'd catch them on the next go-round... never to be.
Of course, you can say that same thing about Rage right now. De la Rocha is bound to lose his cool though about something, or maybe he's come to realize that Rage is all he's got?
10 - Mark Saleski
i'm tellin you, you're gonna see Cline and then you'll want to be checking him out when he comes to nyc with one of his groups.
i'll turn you kids into jazzers yet!! ;-)
11 - Mark Sahm
Did he make the "100 Greatest Guitarists According to Mark Saleski" list? :o)
12 - Mark Saleski
ah, he shoulda been. hmmm, i don't even think i knew who he was back then. anyway, both Ribot and Frisell were on the list, so the territory was covered. sort of.
13 - Mark Sahm
I just researched that Cline had actually just joined the band in 2004 when S.Rod and I saw Wilco. Outside of the fact that they played 8 cover songs that night, they did sound amazing.
But then, so was Morello's live solo on "Bulls on Parade".
14 - Fabio
Im saw rage in modena, italy in 14 giune 2008.
they are amazing, 20.000 people crazy for they.
Rage all life.
ciao
15 - Eric Whelchel
Wilco. Then look for a recording of the Rage show.
16 - Kevin Eagan
Oh God, don't even bother with the Rage show, because a Wilco show in Chicago (even if it's filtered through Lollapalooza) is one of the best concert experiences available.
Rage can wait!
17 - Bec
I echo Wilco and for the godlike Nels Cline. You will NOT regret it!
18 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
Didn't care much for Rage even when they were a hit.
I was never into Wilco...
Doesn't look like a hard decision for me, Skip Lollapalooza and wait for NIN to play their own show.
As for Kanye West... He just purely f*cking sux! Even if he was considered rock, he has no musical integrity to be on the same bill as NIN!
19 - Josh Hathaway
I'm not a Rage fan so this is no conflict for me. I respect Morello's brand of guitar insanity, but Wilco has the songs and the musicians to deliver something special.
It has to be Wilco, man.
20 - Robert J. Squires
RATM, most definitely! Why does everyone seem to assume that they have not evolved since 1997? Morello and de la Rocha are not to missed!
Wilco is cool. They will play their hometown again, no doubt.
21 - Barbara
Choose Wilco. They are the best group around today, and they should even better live than they do on their recordings.
22 - Bec
so what's the decision then? :)
23 - Dave
Rage quit innovating years ago. Wilco is still on top of their game. This is an easy choice.
24 - Mark Sahm
If I went according to the comments, I would choose Wilco by a margin of 9 to 5 over Rage (assuming Bicho meant to vote for Rage, and Guppus declined). Thanks to all for the commenters, it was fun to hear the opinions.
For once, I will agree with the masses and choose to see Wilco on August 2nd. Here's why:
1. My teenage years would not have been even half as tolerable without Rage being there to cradle my angst into a nicely packaged "F-U, I won't do whatcha told me" followed by a toxic Morello solo that sounded like a turntable on acid. Also, I discovered Allen Ginsberg's poetry not because I took a class, but because Zack read 'Hadda Be Playing On A Jukebox" on this bootleg Rage concert CD I owned.
That being said, I don't identify much with that 19 year old lad anymore. To see Rage now would be more about nostalgia for my youth than being into the music. Worse yet, I confess that I haven't listened to most of the Rage tracks in months, some even years.
2. I discovered Wilco in late 2002, about 6 months before I started dating my wife. Originally, she lived in Connecticut and I lived on Long Island. Every Wednesday, I would take a train into NYC for work, then another train up to CT after work to see her.
At 11pm, I would then take both trains consecutively back to LI. Along the way, Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot played endlessly. Thus, those early moments are forever linked. Since I'll be at Lolla with her, Wilco just makes too much sense to not miss.
KICKER: Wilco's only show this summer in the NYC area (on 8/13) is all sold out, and Rage is not coming around at all. However, should the unscrupulous bastards selling Wilco tickets for triple price be forced to sell at face value, then we would choose Rage and see Wilco in NYC instead.
25 - El Bicho
I have seen Rage a number of times, from before their debut dropped as they opened for Porno for Pyros' third live performance to their headlining at Vegoose, and they have always been absolutely stellar, creating an energy as intense and as wonderful as you are likely to feel from music.
I have never seen Wilco, so how I would vote for me and how I would vote for you would be two things entirely different. Besides as long as S Rod can keep pace with the jumping, not the mosh pit, but the general pogoing taking place, she shouldn't fall down.
Although if they told me they would be playing "Hadda Be Playing on a Juke Box" I might have to pass on Wilco. Next to "Maggie's Farm," it's one of their best tracks and I can't believe they never recorded it. If anyone reading this has never heard it, get thee to YouTube now.