Prophets Of Rage

London Shepherd’s Bush Empire

Factions are united in common cause.

The dots between rock and rap were joined up long ago, but arguably it’s not until now that the full picture has been painted in such vivid colours to include racial oppression, class conflict and Herculean amounts of weed. If Prophets Of Rage’s explosive show tonight proves anything, it’s that insurrection can mine a groove and unify threads in a way that the other side never will.

It takes something special to get people mobilised on a Monday night, and something truly magnificent for them to lose their shit to. Here, tonight, shit is lost to such an extent that the rest of the week is effectively written off because nothing over the next seven days is going to touch Prophets Of Rage.

So it is that everyone in the entire venue – that’s the stalls and three balconies – is on their feet and uniting with Rage Against The Machine’s Tom Morello, Tim Commerford and Brad Wilk, Public Enemy’s Chuck D and DJ Lord and Cypress Hill’s B-Real in an explosion of catharsis.

Incendiary versions of Insane In The Brain and Bring The Noise are matched as the audience sings in tribute to the late Chris Cornell during Cochise. And while the group’s own material is warmly welcomed, the biggest outpourings, not unexpectedly, occur during Rage Against The Machine’s Killing In The Name and Bullet In The Head to create a righteous response to these darkened days.