Live Performances
The song was performed as an extended instrumental at their first public performance at Cal State in the Quad, on October 23, 1991.
Bassist Tim Commerford is known to chant the backing vocals of "now you do what they told ya" of the chorus during most live performances.
Zack de la Rocha sometimes changes the lyrics in the second verse from "Some of those that work forces are the same that burn crosses" to "Some of those that burn crosses are the same that hold office" when playing live.
As part of supergroup Audioslave, guitarist Tom Morello incorporated instrumentals from Rage Against the Machine and cover versions of Killing in the Name into their performances.
Rage Against the Machine performed the song live in 1999 at the Woodstock '99 festival, burning the American flag during the song. In this performance Zack changed the lyrics to "Some of those that burn crosses are the same that burn churches".
Read more about this topic: Killing In The Name
Famous quotes containing the words live and/or performances:
“Though I have locked my gate on them
I pity all the young,
I know what devil’s trade they learn
From those they live among,
Their drink, their pitch and toss by day,
Their robbery by night....”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“At one of the later performances you asked why they called it a “miracle,”
Since nothing ever happened. That, of course, was the miracle
But you wanted to know why so much action took on so much life
And still managed to remain itself, aloof, smiling and courteous.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)