Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.0

Rage Against the Machine Live at Finsbury Park Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 19, 2015

There’s a certain delicious irony that Rage Against the Machine raged against the machine that is Simon Cowell and his talent search program called The X Factor. While the U.S. version of the show never really attained the status of American Idol, either in terms of its popularity or perhaps more importantly in terms of the popularity of the “stars” it discovered, in the United Kingdom, among other controversies, the show became famous (perhaps infamous) for “owning” the charts around Christmastime every year, providing a series of U.K. X Factor finds with Number One hits during the festive season. It might seem like an odd thing for a segment of the populace to get exercised about, but English DJ Jon Morter has made “unseating” supposed automatic chart toppers from the X Factor stable from happening a pet cause of his, choosing alternative singles that he proffers in their place. He succeeded admirably with his 2009 choice, Rage Against the Machine’s “Killing in His Name” (not exactly the most Christmas-y tune you’ve probably ever heard), in the process also getting the benefit of a live Rage Against the Machine concert in Finsbury Park in June 2010.

Rage Against the Machine is probably one of the more “anti-Cowell” sounding bands out there, a hard charging band that doesn’t seem to care one whit about the sort of image based stardom that is part and parcel of Cowell’s approach toward the contemporary music industry. The band is in extremely energetic form here, at times to the detriment of being able to understand Zack de la Rocha’s vocals. The rhythm section fairly bursts with momentum, delivering a high octane concert which will delight most fans. The band’s set list is:

Testify
Bombtrack
People of the Sun
Know Your Enemy
Bulls on Parade
Township Rebellion
Bullet in the Head
White Riot
Guerilla Radio
Sleep Now in the Fire
Freedom
Killing in the Name

Rage Against the Machine Live at Finsbury Park Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Rage Against the Machine Live at Finsbury Park is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Universal Music Group and Eagle Vision, an imprint of Eagle Rock Entertainment, with an AVC encoded 1080i transfer in 1.78:1. This concert video suffers at times from problematic lighting choices (once again washes of red and blue) as well as an increasing darkness as the concert ventures into nighttime, all of which can tend to minimize detail at times, as well as to make things look soft at times. Extreme washes of color get typically close to posterizing territory on occasion. This is another exercise in quick cutting and handheld jiggly cam, and the brevity of many shots leads to at least the perception of softness, since nothing is ever anchored long enough to register as precise looking. In relatively stable shots and under decent lighting conditions, the image is rather nicely sharp and well detailed (see screenshot 1).

Rage Against the Machine Live at Finsbury Park Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Rage Against the Machine Live at Finsbury Park features both a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix as well as an uncompressed LPCM 2.0 stereo option. Both of these tracks have occasional prioritization problems, probably more so on the surround track, where the fuller sounding mid- and lower range can bury de la Rocha's vocals at times. Otherwise, though, things sound precise and very forceful, with really good punch helping to drive the blistering rhythm section home with a fair amount of intensity.

Rage Against the Machine Live at Finsbury Park Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Behind the Scenes (1080i; 4:45)


• Interview with Jon and Tracy Morter (1080i; 6:35)

Rage Against the Machine Live at Finsbury Park Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Jon Morter's campaign did indeed give Rage Against the Machine a Number One single during Christmastime, though it was a short lived victory, for that year's X Factor "superstar" topped the charts the following week. Despite the really interesting back story informing this concert, the calling card here for Rage Against the Machine fans is the high energy concert the band gave the following June as a celebration of the Morter campaign. Video is a bit soft looking here at times, and the audio has a few prioritization issues, but overall, Rage Against the Machine Live at Finsbury Park comes Recommended.