Concert Review: Tom Morello at Irving Plaza in NYC

Tom Morello of the legendary Rage Against the Machine brought some friends with him for his sold-out evening at New York City's more intimate, iconic Irving Plaza, and it was most certainly epic in every way as the crowd was ready.

Tom took to the stage, kicking off his set with "Soldier in The Army of Love" which is total badassery as Tom's riffs cannot go unrecognized due to the very obvious reasons. Blasting further into his set, he performed a mash-up of Rage Against the Machine instrumentals that had fans absolutely pumped as his transitions from one song to the next were captivating and mind-blowing.  After a few more solo songs, Tom invited the one and only Eugene Hutz of Gogol Bordello, and he performed "We Mean It, Man!" which brought along that high energy that Eugene brings to every stage he steps on. Tom paid homage to his friend and bandmate, the late Chris Cornell, besides the incredible work they created together with Audioslave, Tom wrote an acoustic song for Chris called "The Garden of Gethsemane" Before he performed this song, he asked for silence, and that request was granted as there was total silence throughout the entire room. Immediately following, Ike Reilly was invited up to perform "This Land Is Your Land" which had a strong crowd participation.

The room was electric, and as the night carried on the opening riffs to "Like A Stone" by Audioslave filled the room as everyone was singing along while a giant portrait of Chris Cornell was projected in the background which was powerful and emotional to some, but all amazing at the same time. As there were even more friends on the bill, Living Colour's Vernon Reid and Corey Glover came out to perform "Cult of Personality" and followed by Jesse Malin to perform MC5's "Kick Out the Jams" which was then followed by DMC of the legendary RUN DMC performing "King of Rock" and "Tricky".

Closing out the night was Tom performing "Killing in the Name" which was a full-on sing-along by the crowd. Then, invite all guests on stage for John Lennon's "Power to the People" and "Rock and Roll All Night" by Kiss

It was an absolutely incredible night. If you get to catch Tom Morello on this tour, you will not regret it.