Tom Morello Jams With Chuck D, RZA, Little Steven, More At Wayne Kramer Tribute In Hollywood [Photos/Videos]

Who or what could possibly bring together Tom Morello, Ben Harper, Steven Van Zandt, Chuck D from Public Enemy, RZA from The Wu-Tang Clan and one of Bob Marley’s grandsons—all inside a jam-packed, 500-person capacity Roxy Theatre on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, no less? The answer: Wayne Kramer.

There is no overstating the influence that Wayne specifically has had on the music world over the last 60-plus years. As the lead guitarist in the Detroit rock band MC5, he helped to lay the foundation for punk rock (and, really, all forms of brash, counter-cultural music) in the 1960s.

Even after MC5 disbanded in 1972 due to drug abuse and government harassment, Wayne’s impact persisted. The Clash wrote “Jail Guitar Doors” about his incarceration for selling drugs to undercover federal agents, and that in turn became the name of Wayne’s foundation for bringing music rehabilitation to prison inmates.

And then, there were those who grew up on Wayne’s innovative and evocative guitar work. Like, say, a kid from Libertyville, Illinois named Tom Morello.

Turn on just about any Rage Against The Machine song and you can’t help but hear Wayne and MC5 echoing through every head-banging, foot-stopping, pugilism-inducing riff that Tom twists out of his instrument.

It should come as no surprise, then, that Tom was among the first and most noteworthy names to commemorate Wayne’s passing when the punk rock legend succumbed to pancreatic cancer this past February.

“Brother Wayne Kramer was the best man I’ve ever known,” Tom wrote on Instagram at the time. “He possessed a one of a kind mixture of deep wisdom & profound compassion, beautiful empathy and tenacious conviction.”

 

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In putting together his benefit shows for Wayne’s foundation, Tom proved to be one of a kind in his own right.

After co-hosting an acoustic show with Jackson Browne at The Hotel Cafe in Hollywood last month, Tom returned to his electric roots with a star-studded, soul-stirring set at the Roxy that was a fitting tribute to Wayne in every facet.

There were, of course, strong notes of MC5, from an appearance by Brad Brooks—who sang with the most recent iteration of The Motor City 5—to a cover of “Kick Out the Jams” with Steven Van Zandt of E Street Band fame on lead guitar.

But the setlist wasn’t about the catalog of one band or another (though Rage fans in the house certainly weren’t disappointed by what they heard). Instead, the tracks reflected the ideals and activism that Wayne pushed and popularized throughout his life, and that have since been picked up and carried forward by people like Tom.

Tom and his band put together a raucous rendition of Bruce Springsteen’s righteous ode to “The Ghost of Tom Joad”. Ben Harper—who was a force in his own right as Tom’s warmup act—and Abraham Marley, the son of Ziggy Marley and grandson of Bob Marley, propelled a compelling cover of “Get Up, Stand Up”.

Toward the end, Chuck D, Tom’s bandmate in Prophets of Rage and a self-described “Wayne Kramer baby,” came out to perform Public Enemy’s “Fight The Power”, which included a nod to the now-infamous Project 2025. That came just prior to RZA grabbing the mic to remind the crowd that “Wu-Tang Clan Ain’t Nuthing ta F’ Wit”, closing out a segment Van Zandt called “THE MOST INTENSE TEN MINUTES THAT HAS EVER EMANATED FROM A STAGE” in a post after the show. The night then closed with a brief version of John Lennon’s “Power to the People.”

By and large, though, Tom’s Wayne Kramer tribute consisted of songs from his own deeply commentaried repertoire.

He opened with “Soldier in the Army of Love”, playing guitar alongside his 13-year-old son, Roman Morello, just as he did on the recorded version that dropped this past June. Father and son also rocked out together on “One Last Dance”, Tom’s collaboration with grandson for the soundtrack of the latest Venom movie.

The 60-year-old tapped into his folksier, more Pete Seeger-inspired side for “One Man Revolution”, from his album as The Nightwatchman, then veered toward a bit of instrumental blues with “Cato Stedman & Neptune Frost” from his 2020 EP, Comandante.

Tom harkened back to his partnership with Bring Me The Horizon on “Let’s Get The Party Started”, and dedicated “Hold The Line”, another of his tracks with grandson, to union workers everywhere.

At one point, Tom talked about performing at the Roxy with Wayne and, separately, with Chris Cornell, the late lead singer of Soundgarden and Audioslave. He dedicated a performance of Audioslave’s “Cochise” to those two men and anyone else who’s suffered painful losses, while leaving the main mic open in their memory.

No electrified performance by Tom would be complete without at least a little Rage. To that end, he more than held up his end of the bargain.

The set featured not one, but two medleys of Tom’s riffs from the Rage Against The Machine catalog. Fist-pumping favorites like “Testify”, “Take the Power Back”, “Wake Up”, “Bombtrack”, “Know Your Enemy”, “Bulls on Parade”, and “Sleep Now in the Fire” filled every corner of the cramped room at The Roxy.

The highlight of the night came toward the end, when Tom and his band played “Killing in the Name” in its entirety.

Or, rather, as much of its entirety as they could without the searing, signature shouting of Rage frontman Zack de la Rocha. In his stead, the packed house yelled out every one of the few words in the song, releasing at least some of the pent-up energy that’s lingered since Rage last played in Los Angeles back in 2011.

Related: Run The Jewels Brings Out RATM’s Zack de la Rocha In L.A. [Photos/Videos]

Whether that particular bunch of Wayne Kramer babies ever returns to the stage—after disbanding in the wake of Zack’s ruptured Achilles tendon that put an early end to Rage’s 2022 tour—remains to be seen.

Until then, it will be up to Tom, his son and his numerous other collaborators and acolytes to carry on Wayne’s legacy of powerful music and revolutionary activism.

Below, view the setlist and a selection of photos and videos from the loaded Tom Morello & Friends Jail Guitar Doors USA fundraiser at the Roxy Theatre.

 

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