SPILL LIVE REVIEW: TOM MORELLO w/ SNOTTY NOSE REZ KIDS @ THE DANFORTH MUSIC HALL, TORONTO

TOM MORELLO w/ SNOTTY NOSE REZ KIDS

@ THE DANFORTH MUSIC HALL, TORONTO

JULY 17, 2005

Tom Morello has had a busy few weeks. In addition to releasing his most recent single, “Pretend You Remember Me”, Morello did an exceptional job curating Black Sabbath’s recent Back To The Beginning farewell concert as the musical coordinator. Just this week alone, he performed at Toronto’s Danforth Music Hall, before heading out for a headlining set at the Ottawa Blues Fest. Now, Morello has returned with his band, The Freedom Fighter Orchestra, to The Danforth Music Hall for his second sold-out performance in Toronto this week.

Snotty Nose Rez Kids took the stage for an explosive set that left the venue vibrating. Backed by a drummer, a DJ, and a guitarist, Darren “Young D” Metz and Quinton “Yung Trybez” rapped with a fervent bombast unlike I’ve seen in sometime. Their performance embraced a roughness and, at times, a sense of weirdness, that seemed so far removed from the expected sleek production of a rap show as they displayed a genuine fusion of hip-hop, rock, and even metal. Like Cheech and Chong or André 3000 and Big Boi, Young D and Yung Trybez have the chemistry of a timeless duo. Never before have I seen an opener command an audience to such a degree, making Snotty Nose Rez Kids exceptionally promising.

Morello and his band, featuring his 14-year old son, guitarist Roman Morello, took the stage to a sold out hall. As Morello conjured the sound of a symphony with his guitar, the band kicked off their set with “Solider In The Army Of Love” and “One Last Dance”. While Roman would leave the stage at this point, he would return at different moments of the night, making for an energetic presence among the band’s performance. Morello delivered a career spanning set that included a pair of medley’s of crucial Rage Against The Machine riffs – from “Testify” to “Snake Charmer” and “Bulls On Parade” to “Bullet In The Head” – and even dusted off Audioslave’s “Cochise” and “Like A Stone”, the latter, along with a stunning performance of “Garden Of Gethsemane”, was performed in tribute to Chris Cornell. Impressively, Morello’s array of folk inspired music, “Keep Going”, “It Begins Tonight”, and a cover of “This Land Is Your Land” that had the entire venue singing along, managed to stand alongside his high-octane riffs as Morello approached each with an equal level of conviction and intention. A perfect example of this was his stirring cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “The Ghost Of Tom Joad” before diving head on into “Killing In The Name”. Between these two thrilling performances, that should have been the end of the night, but Morello had more in store when he invited Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson on stage to perform “Limelight”. Again, this should have been enough to conclude the night, but then he called on Sum-41 guitarist and bassist, Dave “Baksh” Brownsound and Jason “Cone” McCaslin, along with Young D and Yung Trybez to join Lifeson and his band in an exhilarating rendition of MC5’s “Kick Out The Jams”.

In an increasingly uncertain age, Morello brought songs of solidarity, resilience, and hope to The Danforth Music Hall. As his music bellowed through the venue, the audience sang along, echoing along with each and every wail of the guitar. Amid the moments of silence and the moshing, there with a growing sense of community among the sold-out audience, to a degree of which I’ve never felt at a show before. Armed with an impressive body of work and an unparalleled guitar tone, Morello demonstrated why he remains among the most versatile and thrilling guitar heroes of our time while curating a sense of unity among the good people of Toronto.

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