O2, Dublin

Forget the marches to the Dáil, don't mention George Lee and wipe Joe Duffy from your mind. When it comes to inspiring change and venting some pent-up frustration, Rage Against The Machine is the group that everyone wants to be part of. Governments, police, multinationals, banks – you name it, RATM are against it.

This is a band that leans so far to the left in its ideologies it could collapse, which is exactly what happened in 2000. Now, with personal grievances a thing of the past, they have been on the reunion trail since 2006.

Taking everyone – not least the band – by surprise, a Facebook-led campaign in the UK gave the Californians an unlikely Christmas No1 with Killing In The Name(they were pipped to the post by X-Factor winner Joe McElderry over here). Not a bad feat considering their songs have allegedly been used to torture prisoners in Guantanamo Bay.

In their 20-year history they couldn't have picked a better time to visit their Irish flock. Backed by a super-sized EZLN Mexican revolutionary flag and with an air raid siren ringing around the venue, RATM came with work to do and left the audience physically and mentally bruised, but happy.

The music hit all the right buttons. Brad Wilk provided the crunching beats, Tim Commerford the killer basslines and Tom Morello wielded his buzzsaw guitar with serious menace. But it was Zack de La Rocha's politically charged and probing lyrics that the eager crowd wanted.

Truly awe-inspiring moments came when the audience grabbed hold of de la Rocha's messages and made them theirs. Every song, from Testifythrough to Killing In The Name, was greeted by roars of approval from thousands of heaving bodies. For one night, Nama, economic meltdowns, dodgy expenses claims and all the woes of modern Ireland were told precisely where to go. Surely there is nothing more cathartic than that.