Tom Morello
w/ Seven Hours After Violet
House of Blues – Anaheim, CA
Thursday, February 6th, 2025
Review/Pics: Manuel Gay
Summing up Tom Morello’s career and impact on rock music in a few lines is nearly impossible (but I’ll still try). Not only is he regarded as one of the best guitar players alive, but he also has one of the most varied discographies ever. Obviously, Rage Against The Machine is the first thing that comes to mind, but it’s impossible not to mention Audioslave either or his involvement in other acts, such as supergroup Prophets of Rage which included RATM members as long as rappers from Public Enemy and Cypress Hill. He has also contributed to a couple of Bruce Springsteen’s records as well as touring with the Boss for a while; he released three acoustic folk records under the alias The Nightwatchman and three albums under his own name and has collaborated with hundreds of other artists from Linkin Park to the Wu-Tang Clan. In addition to being one of the most prolific musicians around, he has been a very outspoken activist along with his fellow Rage band members. On February 6th he blessed the Anaheim House Of Blues with a sold out electric show packed with a few surprise guests.
At 8pm, the venue was already full when Seven Hours After Violet took the stage. As a massive System Of A Down fan, I consider myself beyond lucky to have attended Shavo’s new band’s first ever public performance at Mayhem Festival last year. A few months have passed since then and the guys sounded even better this time around.
S.H.A.V. performed nine out of the eleven songs of their self-titled debut album which I consider to be a “no skips” record so there was no down time during their set. The energy on stage was incredible. Shavo is a known showman (watch any SOAD show) and seems to always thrive on-stage like a koi fish in a pond. Same goes for his bandmates whose stage presence was flooring. Taylor Barber (vocals) acknowledged that they might have been a little “too hard” for the Morello crowd but managed to get a circle pit going on in the middle of the floor. I am still amazed at how Taylor’s growls and Alejandro Aranda’s angelic voice pair to perfection.
Shavo took a moment to thank Mr. Morello who called him a couple of days prior to the show to offer them to open for him. I loved the whole set from beginning to end but I’d say “Paradise” and “Float” were the highlights of the thirty minutes of fury that Seven Hours After Violet unleashed upon us.
The main event of the evening was scheduled for 9:15pm but was eventually pulled in to 9pm on the dot when Tom Morello and his Freedom Fighters Orchestra stepped on stage. Along came the first guest of the evening: Roman Morello, Tom’s very own son and guitar wonderkid.
Indeed, the RATM axeman has recently released a couple of singles in collaboration with his son, which were the openers for the night “Soldier In The Army Of Love” and from the Venom soundtrack “One Last Dance”. Roman is thirteen and already slaying on the six string, soloing with his guitar beyond his head. You could see the pride in Tom’s eyes. As mentioned above, Morello’s catalog is large and varied and his setlist is a little bit of a sampler plate which lets you get a taste of about everything on the menu.
Throughout the night, we got treated with a few Rage Against The Machine medleys that encompassed all the hits “Testify”, “Bombtrack”, “Bulls On Parade”, “Bullet In The Head” … you name it. If you ever saw Rage live you know Zach’s energy on stage was electric, but Tom Morello proved that he could handle himself on those tracks. Next guest to join him on stage was Thomas Raggi (guitarist of Måneskin) with whom Tom has recorded “Gossip”, one of the Italian band’s bangers on their sensational album RUSH! (2023). The live rendition was quite something.
Tom and his orchestra played a variety of Tom Morello and Nightwatchman material with strong political messages as you can imagine. In between songs, Tom shared his political views and summed it up efficiently when he played a guitar solo with his teeth, revealing a message at the back of his guitar “FUCK ICE”.
In addition to his many occupations, Tom is also a voting member of the Rock’n’roll Hall of Fame and worked hard to get the MC5 inducted last year. He paid tribute to the band and their guitarist Wayne Kramer who passed a year ago with a cover of “Kick Out The Jam” that he had previously covered with Rage as well. Thomas Raggi came back for that one. Luke Spiller (of The Struts) and Shavo joined the gang next for an all-stars cover of AC/DC’s “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap”. Audioslave’s debut album is one of my absolute favorite albums, so I was thrilled when we got treated with a “Cochise” / “Like A Stone” medley on which the crowd sung every word. Roman came back for a high intensity “Killing In The Name Of” bomb which everybody was waiting for. Tom closed his set as he usually does with a cover of John Lennon’s “Power To The People”.
I sadly missed out on ever seeing Audioslave perform and like many fans I miss Rage Against The Machine’s performances. Seeing Tom Morello is not a way to cope, nor it is a consolation show. It is a celebration of a man’s contribution to rock music, a celebration of his music legacy, and a music history class at the same time. It is an inclusive political event and a party with the most headbangable setlist. I had seen him perform at a festival before, but I believe that an intimate show with a two-hours set is a much more enjoyable moment. I’d recommend anyone to run see him live.
Related Links
Tom Morello
Seven Hours After Violet
