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The Nightwatchman, also known as Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave, had his second official showcase in as many years tonight. The Nightwatchman is a vehicle for Morello’s acoustic folk, which he’s been performing for about 6 years now. With the exception of open mike nights at coffeehouses, the first official performances for The Nightwatchman were during the Tell Us the Truth tour with Steve Earle, Billy Bragg and others back in 2003. The Nightwatchman’s message has become stronger and more powerful with time. Last night’s gig showcased this quite well. He chatted with the audience between songs, telling stories about both his and his friend, director Michael Moore’s arrest records. The set list was primarily from his CD, One Man Revolution. He entered the stage wearing his traditional Nighwatchman garb – jeans, suspenders, white shirt and baseball cap – with just his acoustic guitar. He opened with the title track; that was followed by Union Song. An acoustic version of the Rage Against the Machine’s Guerilla Radio, which he performed un-edited was next. Last year, The Nightwatchman’s showcase was at Central Presbyterian Church. He prefaced Guerilla Radio that night by saying that he’d promised the good ladies at Central Presbyterian that he’d not swear, so he stepped away from the mike at every point in the lyrics containing profanity. At Esther’s Follies last night, there was no reason for him to edit himself; therefore we got the original version. Guerilla Radio was followed by a new song – he didn’t mention a title – about, in his words, the victims of war not only being on the battlefield. The song was so new that he read the lyrics from his notes propped on the lectern on stage. It was about a son losing his father in Iraq and managed to hush the otherwise rowdy audience. The Nightwatchman then mentioned the film, Body of War, being screened at SXSW on Thursday, March 13, for which he contributed to the soundtrack. He also mentioned that various musicians contributing to the soundtrack, including himself, would be performing at Stubb’s on Thursday evening, and that others involved in the film would also be in attendance. Then he performed his contribution, Battle Hymns. He followed that with Flesh Shapes the Day, also from his CD. Then he invited his good friend, Ben Harper, to the stage. At this point, the audience went wild as camera phones were raised to snap pictures. Together they performed a rousing version of Harper’s song, Gather ‘Round the Stone. Harper left the stage amid whoops, cheers and applause. The Nighwatchman ended his set with The Road I Must Travel. With the house lights up, he invoked the audience to stand, sing along and jump up and down at the end of the song. Having seen The Nightwatchman many times now, I believe he’s a musician who practices what he preaches, and in this day and time, his message of standing up against those who would oppress us is more important than ever.
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