Tom Morello’s “Defend L.A.” profit live performance on the Echoplex on June 16, 2025, was greater than a present—it was a full-force name to motion. Earlier that day, Morello filmed a music video in Boyle Heights, that includes kids and households instantly affected by current ICE raids, standing defiantly in opposition to a wall whereas performing a brand new protest anthem. “I wished to humanize the horrible ICE sweeps which are occurring now,” he mentioned. “We’re in actually, actually harmful occasions.”
The live performance raised funds for CHIRLA (Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights) and got here collectively in lower than every week, a direct response to escalating federal immigration crackdowns in Los Angeles. The night time’s lineup featured Pussy Riot, B‑Actual of Cypress Hill, Ok.Flay, Neighborhood Youngsters, Shepard Fairey, and George Lopez as host—every bringing urgency to a packed home.
Onstage, Morello declared, “Nobody’s coming to save lots of you, aside from you. Nobody’s coming to save lots of us proper now, aside from us.” He added, “The thought for [ICE] is to attempt to crush us the place we’re strongest… L.A. has simply mentioned hell no to that.” The group erupted in settlement.
“There has by no means been a profitable social motion on this nation that has not had a fantastic soundtrack,” he advised the viewers. “Folks ought to notice… freedoms to say what you need, sing what you need, take heed to what you need… They’re not carved in stone. They’re in peril, proper now, at present.”
Morello closed the night time with a strong instrumental build-up into “Killing within the Title,” led by a communal chant and preceded by an previous Indigenous preventing tune. As fists rose and chants echoed, he reminded the viewers: “Each act of pleasure is an act of resistance.”
Tom Morello – Dwell on the Echoplex (Defend L.A. Live performance)
One Man Revolution
Maintain the Line
Guerilla Radio (instrumental intro)
Nightwatchman
Rabbit’s Revenge
We Don’t Want You
No matter It Takes
Union City
Testify (RATM cowl)
Killing within the Title (RATM cowl, crowd-led chant outro)