I rode over to St. Paul after work yesterday to see what was going on... I figured that, if the RNC insisited on having their stupid convention in my metro area, I might as well go see what they were all about.
I arrived at the capitol building to find a full-on hippy festival, complete with hula hoops, pot, and music. I texted a friend, and she responded, "Yeah, 93X [a radio station] texted me that Rage [Against the Machine] would be there."
A free Rage show? It was too good to be true...
I knew that they were playing September 3 (tonight) at the Target Center for $60 a ticket, which is clearly designed to squeeze Republican conventioners for all they're worth... a worthy goal, but not helpful for the locals who don't have that kind of money.
So the warm-up bands finished and we waited for Rage to step up. They didn't. They couldn't: Sheriff's office deputies were detaining them. The power was cut to the stage.
We waited and watched. We chanted "Free speech!" and "Let them play!" We sang the Star Spangled Banner.
Meanwhile, riot cops with black body armor, tear gas, and clubs lined up nearby on the green. Spotters for snipers were on top of nearby government buildings.
They weren't letting Rage play. One of the roadies said "They want us to riot! Don't give them what they want!"
I responded, "They'll be waiting a long time; we're Minnisotans. We don't riot." Write strongly worded letters to the editor, yes. Riot, no.
The Star Tribune reports that they didn't "a proper permit," but I'm not sure how that works, since it was the Ripple Effect event coordinators that would've been holding the permits. The band did get there pretty late, but there was time for at least two songs... which would have been fine for a free concert in advance of a normal concert the next night. They should've just let Rage play.
The crowd was getting restless, but then something great happened. Zack de la Rocha and the rest of his bandmates came over, had all of us sit down like kindergardeners, and led us in a few songs a capella with a freaking bullhorn. Needless to say, we got pretty fired up, singing along, when we reached the refrain, "Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me!"
After that, we marched on the RNC to protest the war. Peacefully. The cops looked mighty nervious, but we never once got out of line or were unruly with them.
If a Rage Against The Machine concert halted by The Man didn't result in violence, I can't imagine what would. That's why I don't buy any of these reports of violence and lawful arrests. My town doesn't work like that.
The RNC is going to have to do better than that if they want us to validate their "violent liberal protester" wet dreams.
VIDEO UPDATE thanks to xxdr zombiexx