WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED WITH RAGE:

Seriously, did nobody else notice that the bass was cut almost completely out and the sound dropped multiple decimals either before or during ‘Killing in the Name’? This was one of their last songs, if not the last song…can’t recall exactly…

Rage was scheduled to perform until 11 and stopped before 10:30. In my opinion, this had nothing to do with noise ordinances or they would not have been scheduled until 11:00. Promoters don’t generally wish to have people leave the headliner set feeling ripped off.

During ‘Killing in the Name’, right after the sound was cut down–presumably to chill out the mosh pits and avoid the near rioting that occured after Rock the Bells at Randalls Island–Zach slipped in one or two subtle messages, screaming “RIGHT NOW! Now you’re under control!!!” while pointing firmly down to the stage then out at the audience. Did anyone else catch this???

I am not normally a conspiracy theorist, but I am about 99% sure that the promoters made a calculated decision to start bringing the volume down during the most anthemic and angry of rage songs because the crowd was getting crazier by the second.

I know RATM doesn’t cater to promoters or fans even, but do you really think they would just stop playing early without a real encore on the final date of a long and successful reunion tour? I think they were pissed and just didn’t want to continue at half volume.

They got shut down early. Nobody wants another Woodstock ‘99, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

This piss poor assessment of the greatest festival concert I have ever been to shows how anemic the old guard of the music industry has become. It’s on the effing death bed when it’s allowing journalists who call Daft Punk anti climactic to publish their comments. I almost impaled people with my glowsticks I was orgasming so hard the entire set.

Best show ever, thank you Vegoose, the Public Enemy/Cypress Hill f up and the short set from rage made no difference in how incredible it was.

Rage is the best live act ever

To not be simply blown away by what Daft Punk offers live is utterly unbelievable…..they have the most off the wall and life changing stage show known to the music world….if you were at Vegoose and were not altered forever by Daft Punk then you my friend wasted your money and time…..|>

Please let another year happen. One of the best times I’ve ever had. Phenomenal festival overall.

Kuddos to the organizers.

wow… this article blows in all aspects. no need to repeat all of the weaknesses and omissions apparent in this review but really RS? Really?? get it together, the entire festival was likely the best weekend of music this year

writer your dumb. daft punk was simply amazing. didn’t get to see rage, definately not taking you “professional” interpretation of anything. i just boycotted rolling stone. well done.

I’ve got to agree. This is a very negative, inaccurate account of the concert.

dude, show moe. some respect, they were one of the headliners, and they show up every time. Rage put on the show of a lifetime.

The Jooce hit Vegoose but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t the same event that this writer was at.
My goodness man, what planet were you on to think that Daft Punk was anything other than sensational?
The Jooce, and everyone else at Vegoose, thinks you’re a goose. I reckon the only bigger goose at that place than you was the guy who put Public Enemy and Cypress Hill on at the same time…truly idiotic.
But anyway, Daft Punk anti-climatic? I’m pretty sure you’ve been fired by now so all the best for the future….

I know many here have already voiced their opinion about this article. And I doubt that this may even get read, particularly by the writer himself, but this article upsets me.
I mean, in a very negative way. I first read it last night, and it honestly put me in a very irritable mood. All day today this article has been on my mind, and at this point, I am still apalled.

I am 22 years old, and have been to many, many shows. At least more than a dozen per year. I am very familiar with many forms of music, a musician myself, and as I sware I do not want to sound like an arrogant a**hole: this is crap.

Daft Punk’s set. Something I was well unaware of, and only knowing their most popular songs, ABSOLUTELY was breathtaking. Not because of the rave lit pyramid, but beacause of their acute attention to amazing music, that I have yet to see duplicated. So much in fact, I cannot stop talking or thinking about it. I now own all of their music.

As for Rage, this was my third time seeing them.; Once in 1999, once at Rock the Bells San Francisco, and, Vegoose. It was by far, without a doubt, the most solid, amazing performance I have ever seen Rage play. 80 minutes, my friends, is not abrupt.

The accompanying acts of Atmosphere, Queens of the Stone Age, Fredrico Aubele, Lupe Fiasco(all of which were completely failed to mention) along with Thievery Corporation, M.I.A. Muse, and many more, made this event honestly the best musical experience or festival I have ever attended.

Please, Rolling Stone, please, get off of Hunter S. Thompsons’ bandwagon that you never fail to mention, and hire respectable, dedicated writer’s, who do not place themselves in the VIP section, not experiencing the actual music taking place. And if they are not sitting there, at least make sure they don’t portray that through their writings. Talk about the music. All of it. That is what you’re magazine is meant to be. Four or five paragraphs? Are you kidding me? Not mentioning many, many of the acts even involved? Richard Abowitz. Wake up. Do you see how many negative comments have been left by your sorry excuse for coverage of an amazing event in music. Especially for this year. I cannot see much that would live up to this event in 2007. What? Smashing Pumpkins. Billy Corgans’, money making campaign, with a half effort album.

Please Rolling Stone. I’ve been, and still am, a subscriber to your magazine for 6+ years. But this is absolute crap.

I think the phrase ‘anti-climatic,’ will go down in this magazines’ history as one that should have never been mentioned.

Give me a more important, and musically filled event this year, and then let me know why this got little-to-no, accompanied by,terrible, coverage.

If anyone feels as I do, thank you.

I am very sorry I droned on for so long. Like I said, I was in a very irritable mood.

being from iowa, we corn growers dont know much about this techno music, but daft punk is something special. i have never danced so hard in my life OR had a smile on my face for so long. everyone around me was doing the same. i left completely satisfied, wishing i could bottle their awesomeness and take it back to iowa. By far, THE coolest show I have ever seen.

Great time at Vegoose! Respect to the organizers for thinking outside outside the box with thier bookings and not going the “jam-band” route. Great mix of all styles of music. Daft Punk has set the bar for live performances. Incredible. You Tube vidoes don’t do it justice, it was a must see event.

The sclapers on the outside are out of control and give Vegas that rip-off atmosphere…Celebrate the gift of rage…pleez…and the nudity and drugs in sin(satan)city…ghastly. Liked Umphrey’s McGee, Muse, Moe, Michael Franti and anything else beginning with an M!!!!

I thought daft punk was great, but living in vegas I understand what he’s saying, hard to be blown away by a light show or techno if you spend any time in this town. don’t get me wrong I loved it, but I didn’t have any OBE’s

I thought Muse was pretty much awesome, much better than I gave them credit for.

And Rage was insane, much tighter than Coachella.

I hear this was the last year for vegoose…I hope that’s not true, but have a feeling it is. The crowd has gotten noticably smaller every year.

RATM was out of control!!!! To Anonymous: We must of been at a different concert or something or your ears were blown caused by how hard Rage rocked the house! I was at Coachella, and Rock the Bells this show was by far the best! You didnt even mention the new song they performed wich was bad ass!

II41,

I guess you don’t understand sarcasm voiced in a criticism. I have known about Daft Punk for years and was eager to see them perform at Vegoose. They simply did not live up to expectations. However, I am thrilled that you enjoyed the set.

Rage did not skip out on their set. The cities of Las Vegas and Henderson have a noise ordinance that prevented them from continuing past a certain time. I would like to say 10:00…so in essence…they played 30 minutes past. Either way they kicked ass.

Wow I’ll bet Vegas style that this writer didn’t even stay for Daft Punk’s set. How can a supposedly informed music writer write that Daft Punk was anticlimactic? The crowd was in a frenzy of joy and dance. Like in LA Daft Punk was THE event and not just a show.

Agreed.

Frank, I’m sorry but you don’t really know how influential Daft Punk are. Go read about them, before putting stupid comments like that. And obviously, you don’t know their music. Why would they waste their time setting up that ridiculously amazing set up, and just play a CD?

pogo, on stage, with Iggy Pop.

Vegoose Rocked.

i have never heard daft punk untill this weekend… and all i have to say is breathtaking! i hated house/techno untill that show, they rocked so hard that they completely upstaged rage, who has been one of my favorite bands for a really long time.

i think that this writer needed to get out of vip, and get into one of the best crowds ever to experience the robots.

fat vips-who cares…..
i am a 51 year old chick from kansas who partied in the dirt with everybody else.
rage-public enemy-ghostland-ruled.
my family had the best fun…..

Perhaps I was too harsh with my comment about Daft Punk being Daft Stupide. After watching the Stooges, it’s tough to switch gears. The ET opening gave me a laugh and I actually enjoyed their show. Having witnessed the evolution of electronic music and its adoption into popular music, I appreciate Daft Punk’s music and stage presence. Kraftwerk meets Devo. Not a particularly clever band or musically competent but they cut a mean dance groove even if neo-fascistic.

Seriously, you weren’t even there. Daft Punk, Anti-climactic? I doubt anyone who saw that show could call it anything but mind-blowing.

As a dedicated and inspired fan of Rage I went to Vegoose to see Rage and my friends. I was only vaguely familiar with Daft Punk.

However I was not ready for what happened next.

The curtains were pulled away and the boredom experienced while suffering through Queens of the Stone Age were gone. The opening synthesized notes of Daft Punk rang out onto the much expecting crowd.

Within minutes we were taken to a level of musical and visual expression not seen often in American mainstream music. The beats were pounding, the lights were brilliant and so intricate that in order to catch everything one would have to watch the whole show two or three times. As a member of the audience you had no choice to surrender yourself to the purity of happiness that is Daft Punk’s music. It was fun and exciting to be in the audience that night with Daft Punk.

Nothing could have stopped the feeling of joy and peace that seemed to fill the entire desert. Even when the show was over no one wanted to leave and many of us sang along with “Happy Trails” playing out of the pa system.

Daft Punk made the whole trip worthwhile and I was totally blown away and ready for Rage Against The Machine.

Day 2…..

We arrived a hour before Rage was to take center stage and already people were so jammed that you could hardly breath. People were anxious and tired from a second full day of desert heat, Vegoose music and now they wanted to tear it up with Zack and some of the fiercest music ever created.

The lights went out and Rage Against the Machine tore into the night.

All the energy was there, the passion and the power. I was close enough to see Zack’s face he was smiling, and seemed to be enjoying himself. But something was wrong; it seemed like they were playing just a twinge out of tune. I let it slide in my mind because after working in live stage I know that sometimes shit happens. Rage belted out several songs more and they were of their most powerful caliber . Testify, and People of the Sun have always been staples of Rage that make me think about how I could help the world heal from injustice all over our world.

However no matter how much that music means to me I couldn’t help but to notice how out of tune and slow some of the songs were performed. At one point the entire band walked off stage and when they returned to play the guitar and drum techs redid a sound check. Maybe a technical issue or maybe not but no matter what the reason Rage could not get into a sync with their own music or the audience.

I am not a professional musician and there could have been many reasons why things went as they did but what really disappointed me about the show was that Rage Against the Machine skipped out on the last 30 minutes of their set. This is Rage the band that preaches justice and equality. Well what kind of justice is it that I and several hundred if not thousand people got cheated? Most everyone I met came from somewhere other than Las Vegas. We all paid for hotel rooms, concert tickets, food, and took time off work to see Rage and hear their message. Instead we got cheated and I blame the band for not doing something to make up for it. A explanation or longer set or something but no.

When the band decided to stop they hugged each other and waved their hands and left. People looked at each other and said “this is a joke right?”

No…..Rage skipped out on the people that supported them by paying to see them. They skipped out like criminal corporations or dishonest government skips out on owning up to the truth.

Rage Against the Machine? How about Rage against Zack and his Machine.

If it had not been for the performance of Daft Punk Vegoose would be looking at a lot fewer attendees next year.

Am I the only person here who noticed how bad the mix was? The mainstage guitars were way too loud in relation to everything else, with the bass too low. You could barely hear any low end, even on bands like Rage and Muse, who use that extra bass punch more so than other rock acts. Likelwise, I caught Infected Mushroom, but their drums and guitars were way too low, drowned out by the samples and keyboards. I was only at day 2, so who knows, maybe day one had better sound guys.

That is too bad that this article is the main one that pops up about vegoose. What an idiot that writer. You would have to have no pulse to actually think that Daft Punk was anticlimactic. They were like nothing I had ever seen. He didnt even mention all of the talented women prancing everywhere in the crowds. Rage made my life complete.

obviously this guy is an overpaid idiot. Rage against the machine was incredible. I had to stand a little back because I was with my girlfriend, and STILL everyone around me was going absolutely nuts.

And Daft Punk put on a GREAT show. If you were familiar with their material, and understood how amazingly seemless they cut it all up and put it back together in a completely different way, then you would appriciate it. If you were hearing all that for the first time, I GUESS you could not get it, but damn….both were incredible.

daft punk was earth shattering. people were still groovin hours after the show stopped. the rest were still standing in shock.

rage…oh rage.

NO EASY ACCESS TO WATER = very dangerous. bus lines insane, otherwise a big high five.

Daft Punk - Daft Stupid — two French guys preening in a post-apocalyptic pyramid — they might as well have put a cd in the sound system and acted like Milli Vanilli. Good in South Beach; bad in Vegas unless they replaced Celine Dion.

In contrast, the rest of the bands (humans) supported the great tradition of live music.

Iggy Pop and the Stooges prove that you’re never too old to rock. Who else could reach out to the audience and invite them to “Dance with the Stooges”. Magic in the desert.

The organizers should be congratulated for a great Vegoose (other than scheduling Cypress Hill at the same time of Public Enemy).

rage was the best no other rock band will ever get to the level that rage has grabbed and held on to for years join the revolution

First of all, if you were there for Daft Punk then you would know how amazing they were and how energetic the crowd was, they were highly climactic. Second, Rage deserves a line such as “one of the best shows in modern time” or “a show worth dying for”….etc…

Rage delivered in a huge way! No monkeying around with the songs, straight forward jammin’… deft punk was everything their fans built them up to be and then some….

Anticlimactic is the word you’re looking for (which the Daft Punk set was not), not anti-climatic. Also, The Shins sounded great, maybe you arrived late and we’re in the back.

jesus were you even there?
anti-climactic? Go ask thousands that had outer body experiences to that.

daft punk isn’t even of this world, that show was incredible! And the Shins sounded fine too. Not one complaint about accoustics here.

were you just observing from some high horse back near the VIP tent?

me, 50 year old woman ejected from event on day 2 because i questioned management about vIP teatment. no vegoose again. no rage for me. so sad.

Vegoose, Baby, Vegoose!
Rage Against the Machine rocked so hard! I’m glad I survived the crowd!! =] Can’t wait till next year, VEGOOSE!!!