The ramblings of Keane Ingram

Last night I went to Rage Against The Machine's free gig in Finsbury Park, which was set up as a celebration of the successful Christmas number one campaign. I decided to drive to Walthamstow and get the tube, as the Circle line was out of action all weekend so getting the train would have been a nightmare. However, I ended up getting the tube at Blackhorse Road because I couldn't find the car park at Walthamstow, grrr.

I got to Finsbury Park at about 5pm and made my way inside. My first thought was 'why is there a funfair here?' After a while it became obvious that a large percentage of people there wouldn't be able to name more than one Rage song and that the funfair was aimed at these people. Oh well.

The first support act were Gallows. They were OK, but I thought the lead singer was a bit full of himself, which is probably a requisite in a good lead singer but I found him a little tiresome.

After Gallows had finished I decided to go and get a T-shirt, but despite the queue only being about ten deep it took 30 minutes, which isn't what you want on a hot day. Neither was having to queue for the urinals where the ground was very wet, and it hadn't rained - how hard can it be to design urinals properly?

The second support act were Roots Manuva, but I couldn't get into them at all, probably not helped by my enforced sobriety. The third act however were Gogol Bordello who were much livelier, and if I hadn't been saving my energy for Rage I would have been up the front dancing.

After what seemed like a very long wait, Rage finally appeared and put on a great show. Shame the set was so short, and I really would have liked them to do 'Wake Up', but I suppose I can't really complain as it was free! Although we were about a third of the way back, we were lucky enough to find ourselves on the edge of a pocket of like-minded fans who were happy to sing along and jump around.

I didn't think it was quite as good as Reading 2008, but then that was the first time I'd seen them and I was right down the front which always helps. But it was still great and got me looking forward to Glastonbury...