More like sleep then in the fire. Rage Against the Machine has reportedly broken up for the third time. Drummer Brad Wilk announced on Instagram that the band’s oft-postponed reunion shows will never be rescheduled. “I know a lot of people are waiting for us to announce new dates for all the cancelled RATM shows,†Wilk wrote, “I don’t want to string people or myself along any further. So while there has been some communication that this may be happening in the future…I want to let you know that RATM (Tim, Zack, Tom and I) will not be touring or playing live again. I’m sorry for those of you who have been waiting for this to happen. I really wish it was…â€
Rage broke up for the first time in 2000, arguably at their height of mainstream awareness. Zack de la Rocha left the band, and the remaining members reformed with Chris Cornell as Audioslave. The band got back together in 2007, in part in an effort to stop the country’s slip into “right-wing purgatory.†The band went on hiatus in 2011, and re-reformed to announce the Public Service Announcement Tour in 2019. Then COVID happened. The rescheduled dates kicked off in 2022, only for de la Rocha to suffer an errupted achilles tendon at a Chicago stop. The band finished the first leg of the tour, then delayed further dates to allow the frontman to heal. Those dates are now apparently permanently canceled.
This post has been corrected to state Brad Wilk is the drummer of RATM.