Drew Sutton:

It had been billed as the victory party to end all victory parties, and it didn’t disappoint me.  I’ve been a huge Rage fan since I was in my early teens, yet it was one of the few bands I hadn’t seen live, and I’ve been at a lot of gigs.  It was a free gig to celebrate beating the X Factor to Christmas number 1 after the infamous Facebook campaign.

When I originally heard about the Rage for Xmas Number 1 group last November, I didn’t think it stood much chance, but as I saw more and more friends join it each day, I decided to take a look.  To my delight, I saw 300,000 people had joined and I realised that, not only did it stand a chance, it would do it.

I said all the way through that I was happy we had turned it into a race again, after five years of procession, but when we got to hear Scott Mills say those dramatic words, I, for one, count it as a great moment in my life.  There was more to the whole thing than just a chart race, though.  Not long after I joined the group, Tracy Morter started the Just Giving appeal to raise money for Shelter to accompany the efforts.  This really inspired me, and was something I am extremely proud of being a part of.  There were many people that helped to push the total raised through donations alone to over £100,000.  Wes White deserves special mention for starting a group after Christmas to have a huge surge to break the target, but there are so many, and to name them all would take forever.  My second favourite day was the first of February, or Surge Day as it became known.  We partied all day, and so much effort went into the whole week running up to that day.  Rage fans from all over the country promoted the charity surge with quotes from films and TV programmes, each day having a different theme.  Every person who donated is a hero in my eyes, from £2, to the massive donation of over £2000 pounds on January 31st.

So, back to the Gig.  I met up with some friends from United Shades before the doors opened, and we got to Finsbury Park just as Gallows started their warm up set.  For the first band on they did a really good job.  They had good energy and worked the quickly massing crowd well.  It was towards the end of their set that I briefly bumped into Jon and Tracy Morter, who started the whole campaign, and I felt quite privileged.

Roots Manuva played next, and I watched this over a few drinks after meeting up with some more friends.  It was nice to get a good balance of acts on the bill; I have a very varied taste in music.  The final support act was Gogol Bordello, who I’ve been quite impressed with at previous gigs.  Once again he met with expectations.

Finally, at about 9pm, Rage came on.  Their set started with a satirical cartoon of Simon Cowell on the video screens, which helped build the atmosphere.  The expectation hanging in the air was evident as the anarchist star was raised at the back of the stage, and as Rage came out the crowd erupted.

Testify was the first song played, and they followed it up with a string of great tracks, including the Clash’s White Riot.  The crowd was amazing, and deserve as much praise as Rage do for the gig.  The movements of a mosh pit can be dangerous, and it was great to hear Zack say, “Take care of each other tonight,” after the first song.  Everyone did exactly that, and still managed to have a great time.  Whenever anyone got knocked over there were plenty of hands helping them back up again.

One of the best parts of the gig was Jon and Tracy being invited on stage when Rage announced the total raised for Shelter from all the donations, gift aid and profits from the song.

After 11 songs, the band disappeared for a few minutes.  Before coming back to do their encore, another video came up on the screens, and Joe Mcelderry’s song started playing.  We got to see quotes from Cowell and the media following the run up to Christmas.  The final caption came up: X Factor 450,838 Rage 502,672.  ‘The Climb’ stopped playing, YOU MADE HISTORY came up on the screens, then the one and only song left to play, the song everyone had been waiting for, came on; Killing in the Name.  The pit exploded one last time, and with more fervour than at any other time in the gig.

Rage are more than a band to me, they helped form my political and social opinions.  In my latter teenage years, they gave me direction. Their music has inspired so many, and continues to, as proven by the age ranges of the people attending the gig.  As one of their songs says, ‘why stand on a silent platform,’ and they live up to this motto.  Their good work and charitable help extends to many projects.  They don’t just talk about ideas, they get out and help people.  The Christmas campaign to get Killing in the Name to number 1 started out as a simple idea, but achieved so much.  Not only did it achieve its aims, it also brought people together.  I wouldn’t be part of United Shades if it hadn’t happened.  So many good causes have either been born from it, or been inspired by it.  So many people have found like minded individuals.  There is much an idea can achieve.

http://england.shelter.org.uk

You can find out more about the work Shelter do by following the link above, and if you'd like to donate, Tracy's Just Giving page can be found here:  http://www.justgiving.com/ratm4xmas