It appears Rage Against the Machine has played their last show.
In an Instagram post Wednesday, drummer Brad Wilk writes, “While there has been some communication that this may be happening in the future … I want to let you know that RATM ([bassist] Tim [Commerford], [frontman] Zack [de la Rocha], [guitarist] Tom [Morello] and I) will not be touring or playing live again.”
“I’m sorry for those of you who have been waiting for this to happen,” Wilk adds. “I really wish it was.”
The news marks the end of the third iteration of the influential “Killing in the Name” outfit. Their original run lasted from 1991 to their break-up in 2000, and saw the release of the albums Rage Against the Machine, Evil Empire and The Battle of Los Angeles, as well as the covers compilation Renegades. Rage reunited in 2007, and continued to play live until going on hiatus in 2011.
Towards the end of 2019, Rage announced that they would be reuniting for a planned tour in 2020, though that was postponed to 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. When the tour finally did happen, de la Rocha suffered a torn Achilles tendon on just the second date of the run. Rage still finished out the leg with de la Rocha seated during subsequent performances, but their planned tour of the U.K. and Europe for later in 2022, as well as U.S. dates scheduled for 2023, were canceled.
The status of Rage then became even murkier when the band was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in November 2023, and only Morello was in attendance.
In the caption of his post, Wilk writes, “Bottom of my heart.. Thank you to every person who has ever supported us.”
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