Tom Morello hosts surprise all star jam at SXSW

Rage Against The Machine/Audioslave guitarist Tom Morello provided this year's South By Southwest Music + Media Conference with its biggest surprise. His performance in the wee hours of Friday (March 16th) morning was slated to be a gig as The Nightwatchman, his acoustic guitar playing protest singer alter ego. Instead, Morello trooped on stage with Guns N' Roses/Velvet Revolver guitarist Slash, Jane's Addiction frontman Perry Farrell, MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer, Extreme guitarist Nuno Bettencourt, and Primus' Les Claypool for a show that left unsuspecting fans open-mouthed at a club The Parish.

The set opened with the Jane's Addiction favorite "The Mountain" as well as the band's "Ain't No Right," and also played versions of the MC5's "Kick Out The Jams" and Rage's "Guerrilla Radio."

Morello did play several songs from his forthcoming Nightwatchman album, One Man Revolution, and the set closed with a fiery rendition of Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land," complete with a censored verse and guitar solos by Slash and Bettencourt.

Slash and Bettencourt were in town to help promote the Guitar God video game series. Farrell was performing with his new band, Satellite Party, and Kramer was speaking on one of the SXSW panel discussions.

One Man Revolution comes out April 24th. Morello is planning a tour to support the project and is also playing dates with a reunited Rage Against The Machine.
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