Rage Against the Machine announced Thursday that they must cancel the upcoming European dates of their reunion tour due to Zack de la Rocha’s leg injury.
The singer suffered the injury on just the second show of the band’s pandemic-postponed reunion trek, and while he persevered through the pain by remaining seated for all subsequent shows on the Guy Fieri-attended first U.S. leg — which concludes Aug. 14 at New York’s Madison Square Garden — the band said the European shows in Aug. and Sept. were off “per medical guidance.”
Following the MSG shows, “Zack must return home for rest and rehabilitation. The flights, travel time, and rigorous schedule in the UK and Europe are simply too much of a risk for a complete recovery,” Rage wrote on social media. “We are so sorry to all of our fans who have waited years to see us and hope to Rage again soon.
Headlining gigs at the famed Reading and Leeds Festivals were among the shows canceled by the band, who — de la Rocha’s recovery pending — will restart their reunion tour in Feb. 2023 in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
Rage Against the Machine were just four songs into their show at Chicago’s United Center on July 11 when de la Rocha injured his leg during a wild rendition of “Bullet In The Head.”
“I don’t know what happened to my leg right now,” he told the crowd when he returned to the stage. “But you know what? We’re gonna keep this fuckin’ shit goin’. If I have to crawl across this stage, we’re gonna play for y’all tonight. We came too fuckin’ far.”
El-P of Run the Jewels, who opened on the Rage tour, tweeted Thursday, “Everybody please send love out to my brother Zack. He trooped through what for most people would be an immediate tour ending injury like a true warrior and I know him and the Rage crew truly wanted to keep going as we certainly did.”
😞 everybody please send love out to my brother Zack. he trooped through what for most people would be an immediate tour ending injury like a true warrior and i know him and the rage crew truly wanted to keep going as we certainly did❤️ https://t.co/Zj1Zk6XnHt
— el-p (@therealelp) August 11, 2022
He added, “By the way ZDLR kills shows harder sitting down with a destroyed leg than most motherfuckers ever can in full health and that’s a fuckin fact.”