The Nightwatchman, aka Tom Morello, performed at the North Star Bar in Philadelphia, PA; June 25, 2007.  Special thanks to Jaxon and 93.3 WMMR (Everything that rocks!) for their support in getting to this show.

I first heard this album at the suggestion of my coworker, Ron, and was pleasantly surprised to learn that I am finally a fan of Tom Morello and The Nightwatchman’s gritty style of folk/protest rock.  The Nightwatchman is frequently referred to as a “side project” of former Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave guitarist Tom Morello.  Morello plays all of the instruments on the album, but his minimalistic stage show features just him, a nylon-stringed guitar, and a harmonica around his neck.  The result is best described by a lyric from the song ”Maximum Firepower”: “You don’t gotta be loud, son/to be heavy as shit.”  The sound is a throw-back to the folk-country style of Woody Guthrie and 60s protest rock, with Morello singing in a gravely voice reminiscent of Tom Waits.  Rather than unleashing hell with his guitar, as in his previous musical groups, The Nightwatchman wails on his audience with his deeply political lyrics.  Morello, a rampant activist for various liberal causes, has composed a protest album for our modern time, unleashing a tirade against not only the current political administration, but against greed and oppression throughout the world.

And then I was told that to attend his meet and greet, I needed to purchase his merchandise.  Yeeeeeeeeeeah.  I’ll get to that later.

I saw The Nightwatchman at the Bonnaroo festival two weekends ago and was blown away by his charisma and live performance.  He brought this high-energy to his show for a crowd of roughly 300 people in a small venue in Northwest Philly.  Initially, the set list and stage banter were exactly what I had seen two weeks prior; I was slightly disturbed by this fact, as I had thought Morello’s stage presence at Bonnaroo to be surprisingly natural.  Turns out his script may be more rehearsed than meets the eye… however, it didn’t weaken the point of his message to those hearing it for the first time.

Morello played a 75-minute set, long enough to go through almost the entire “One Man Revolution” CD (except for the opening track, “California’s Dark,” which is one of my faves… why, Tom, why don’t you play this one??) and for a three-song encore.  He reprised his acoustic version of “Guerilla Radio” that he played at Bonnaroo, an unexpected fave for this Philly crowd.  He also covered Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land,” providing the history of this generally censored piece of music with an explanation repeated verbatim from Bonnaroo.  Still, the audience, eager to please their hero, got to jumpin’ and singin’ along.  I bounced around too - I am far too tall and lanky to jump.  I could hurt someone.

Morello as the Nightwatchman didn’t let his political message overshadow his sense of humor.  He regaled the audience with his recollection of the 1994 Lollapalooza show in Philadelphia; Rage gained city (and nation)-wide infamy for standing on stage naked, refusing to play songs, but only guitar feedback, in protest of Tipper Gore (who hates freedom of speech) and the PMRC.  Morello thought, as batteries and coins were raining down on him at Veteran’s Stadium that day, that “it’s hard to be a militant motherfucker.”  He also complimented the audience on our sexy clapping skills, although when asked to hum in A-minor to help him tune his guitar, we failed miserably.  Gotta work on that.

By the end of the show, my face had been melted off acoustically and I’m on my Tom Morello cloud flying high and needing a cigarette and a beer.  Some responses at the show were that of incredulity, but some people were pleasantly surprised.  Most were excited to hear that there was a post-show meet and greet (announced earlier that day by Morello on WMMR and also while he was on stage).  My entourage hung out in the bar section of the club and threw down some beers while waiting for the line to die down.  I was egged on to get his autograph and I also planned to give him my card from this site when I got cock-blocked by the bouncer leading back to the stage area.  I was confused – bouncers usually let me go wherever I want (it’s part of my charm).  Bouncer informed me that I needed a meet and greet pass (which seemed weird, because I was already there as a guest of Morello’s management and WMMR… how much more cred do I need?).  Turns out, you had to purchase merchandise to meet The Nightwatchman.  Huh.  Now, that doesn’t sound so much in line with the Nightwatchman ethos, now does it?  I mean, I’ve already invested in the CD, I’ve seen him at two shows, and I have an infinite audience through the blog to tell of this seeming hypocrisy.  I think I’d be someone worth talking to for a couple minutes, despite the fact that I didn’t want another concert t-shirt.  So, instead of meeting the Nightwatchman, we all sat at the table and bitched. 

I wonder if The Nightwatchman has a response for this.  I’ve crossed out Tom Morello on my list of people to meet on my MySpace page, but I would love to have a spirited debate with him over the reasoning for this meet and greet affront (and about other issues… we could debate how Hamilton College runs Harvard’s show… heh heh).  However, said heated debate would probably end with me licking his face because he is still cool as shit.

 

Setlist:

  • One Man Revolution
  • Union Song
  • Maximum Firepower
  • Flesh Shapes the Day (“woooooohooooo! MIKE CHECK”)
  • Midnight in the City of Destruction (about post-Katrina NOLA)
  • House Up In Flame
  • Branding Iron (cut from album, good song though)
  • The Road I Must Travel
  • Garden of Gethsemene
  • Guerilla Radio
  • Let Freedom Ring (“last” song)
  • Fortunate Son (Creedence Clearwater Revival cover)
  • Alone Without You (from Michael Moore’s upcoming documentary, “Sicko”)
  • This Land is Your Land (Woody Guthrie cover)

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