There are lots of events scheduled for Democratic National Convention week that could turn into clusterfucks -- but nothing seems likelier to degenerate into chaos than the ticket distribution for Rage Against the Machine's August 27 show at the Denver Colesium. Interested parties can sign up for a ticket lottery with members of Tent State University, one of the sponsoring organizations, from 11 a.m. through 6:30 p.m. Sunday, August 24, through Tuesday, August 26, at Cuernavaca Park -- but you can bet the lion's share of them will want to get their names in early. Given the popularity of Rage, which hasn't played Denver since November 1999, that means something like 20,000 people (double the capacity of the venue) could descend on a park with access issues and precious little parking all at once. Hope Tent State hasn't assigned a couple of guys with clipboards to process this mob, or they'll be throwing themselves into I-25 traffic by noon.
There is a little bit of good news, though. Tom Morello, Rage's guitarist (and a past Westword profile subject) implies that the band may be even more fierce in Minneapolis-St. Paul, where the Republican National Convention will take place, than it will be in Denver.
Morello recently told The Pulse of Radio that Rage has aligned itself with Iraq Veterans Against the War, another sponsor of its convention appearances because "they have something that neither George W. Bush nor I have -- that is, they've served under fire. So I think that their tales from the frontlines and the things that they've seen and been involved in and their perspective on the war is a very important one, that it's very important for the Democrats to know, because the Democratic Congress was elected two years ago to end the war, and completely failed."
His words about the Republican confab were even harsher, however. "At the RNC, we're gonna give 'em hell," he said. "We're there to support the protesters and to be among them, and let our voices be known that these crimes shall not stand, and while the world spotlight is on St. Paul and Minneapolis, we're gonna be there too. We're gonna be on the side of the barbed wire fence with the rest of America that's being kept out."
Half of whom may show up at Cuernavaca Park less than a week from today. -- Michael Roberts
