Rage Against the Machine 'will not be touring or playing live again,' says drummer
It appears Rage Against the Machine has played their last show.
In an Instagram post shared Jan. 3, drummer Brad Wilk told fans that the band -- which also includes bassist Tim Commerford, frontman Zack de la Rocha and guitarist Tom Morello -- "will not be touring or playing live again."
"I know a lot of people are waiting for us to announce new tour dates for all the canceled RATM shows. I don't want to string people or myself along any further," he began.
Wilk continued, "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," he concluded. "I really wish it was...."
In the caption of his post, Wilk added, "Bottom of my heart.. Thank you to every person who has ever supported us."
The news marks the end of the third iteration of the influential "Killing in the Name" outfit. Their original run lasted from 1991 to their breakup in 2000, and saw the release of the albums "Rage Against the Machine," "Evil Empire" and "The Battle of Los Angeles," as well as the covers compilation "Renegades."
Rage Against the Machine reunited in 2007 and continued to play live until going on hiatus in 2011. Their most recent return began in 2019 with a planned tour in 2020 that was rescheduled to 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
When the tour finally did happen, de la Rocha suffered an injury on just the second date of the run. Rage still finished out the North American leg with de la Rocha seated during subsequent performances, but their planned tour of the U.K. and Europe for later in 2022, as well as U.S. dates scheduled for 2023, were canceled.
The status of the band became even murkier when they were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in November 2023, and only Morello was in attendance.
