Tom Morello at Irving Plaza

Born in New York City and raised in Libertyville, Illinois, Tom Morello developed an interest in music and politics while in high school, where he sang in the school choir and was active in speech and drama club. At age 13, Morello joined his first band, a cover band called Nebula, as the lead singer. Around 1982, he purchased a guitar, taught himself to play, and formed a band called the Electric Sheep. After college, he moved to Los Angeles, California, where he supported himself, first by working as a stripper, and later by working for a senator. In 1991, his band Lock Up disbanded, Morello met rapper/singer Zack de la Rocha, and the two founded Rage Against the Machine with bassist Tim Commerford and drummer Brad Wilk, achieving international success. De la Roche quit in 2000, dissolving the band, so the remaining members paired with former Soundgarden vocalist Chris Cornell to form the likewise successful Audioslave. Cornell left Audioslave in 2007, and the other members rejoined de la Rocha for a series of Rage against the Machine reunions. Morello also moonlighted as a solo acoustic artist known as the Nightwatchman, played in a short-lived duo Street Sweeper Social Club with Boots Riley of the Coup, and performed with Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band. In 2016, Morello formed Prophets of Rage with Commerford, Wilk, Public Enemy's Chuck D and DJ Lord, and Cypress Hill's B-Real. Most recently, Morello recorded his first solo album; The Atlas Underground was released on October 12, 2018.

In October 2018, Tom Morello introduced his new music with listening parties where he jammed to tracks at the end of the night. This time around, Morello was bringing fans a real concert experience, with a small band along with the backing tracks and politically provocative videos. At Irving Plaza tonight, the concert began with Morello wailing on guitar in the center of the venue, surrounded by fans. The wailing continued as he took the stage, crafting a set with Rage against the Machine medleys, a tribute to the late Chris Connell, and covers of social commentary songs by Bruce Springsteen and John Lennon. The sound was consistently hard and heavy, even the newer bass-drop, EDM-influenced tracks, as Morello used varying guitar styles, feedback, and effects. Morello demanded a quiet moment, however, when he strapped on an acoustic guitar and performed "Save the Hammer for the Man" and "The Garden of Gethsemane." On the latter track, he shared that he wrote the song for Cornell and needed the audience to be quiet. "Pin-drop silent," he said, "and it's nothing but heavy metal bangers the rest of the way." He concluded the show by inviting the audience onstage for an instrumental version of "Killing in the Name of." Even with a bassist and drummer on stage with Morello, much of the backing music, even Connell's voice on Audioslave’s "Cochise" and "Like a Stone," was on pre-recorded tracks. Nevertheless, this was a highly imaginative and extraordinarily ambitious concert presentation.