Las Vegas Sun

April 26, 2024

Public Enemy, Rage bring social conscience to stage

In its third year, Vegoose may have offered its most eclectic lineup yet.

Newer acts such as the Shins lived up to the hype while older artists such as Iggy & the Stooges proved they still matter.

More importantly, with the Iraq war now in its fifth year and a crucial election just around the corner, the messages of Public Enemy and Rage Against the Machine got a well-deserved listen from a new generation.

A few highlights:

In between microphone tosses, Chuck D and Flavor Flav cranked up the volume, bouncing around the stage as they led the crowd in anti-Bush chants and called for revolution. Clearly encouraged, an impassioned Chuck D took it one step further: He lamented how the euro and the pound are kicking the American dollar's butt. Sounding a bit like Republican presidential underdog Ron Paul, he lost most of the audience with that one. Still, it was a noble effort.

Then Flavor Flav ruined everything by thanking the audience for making his mind-numbing reality TV show on VH1 so popular. At least he treated us to a decent drum solo.

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