The Rage Against the Machine reunion continues. Boston Calling announced on January 28 that the group will be the third headliner for this year’s festival. Fellow headliners the Foo Fighters and Red Hot Chili Peppers were announced in November.
RATM will headline the May 23 show, while the Foo Fighters will play May 22, and Red Hot Chili Peppers on May 24. More than 60 other artists—including Liam Gallagher and The 1975—are scheduled to perform at the music festival.
Firefly also announced the same day that the band would be headlining its festival, along with Billie Eilish, Blink-182, and others June 18-21 in Dover, Delaware.
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Rage first hinted at a reunion on November 1 with a then-unverified Instagram post that listed what appeared to be five concert dates, including two in Indio, California, the home of Coachella. The same day, a source confirmed to Billboard that the Grammy-winning band would be headlining the festival.
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The rumors became reality on January 2 when RATM were announced as the Coachella headliner for April 10 and 17, two of the dates on the band’s initial and now-verified Instagram post. Boston Calling was not included in the five original dates, and the venues for the remaining three dates have yet to be announced.
The political band, which formed in 1991, has gone through a few breakups in the past 20 years, with singer Zack de la Rocha first announcing his exit in October 2000. “It is no longer meeting the aspirations of all four of us collectively as a band, and from my perspective, has undermined our artistic and political ideal,” he said in a statement at the time.
They eventually reunited for a Coachella set in 2007. That led to a world tour the following year, including a protest show at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota. RATM also reunited in July 2011 to play L.A. Rising. Guitarist Tom Morello later went on to help form Prophets of Rage in 2016, but per bandmate Chuck D after RATM’s Coachella announcement, supergroup Prophets would be ending as their respective “bands rock on.”
Three-day tickets for Boston Calling are on sale now at BostonCalling.com. Single-day admission will be available at a later date to be announced. Tickets for Firefly go on sale January 31 at 10 a.m. ET.
