Tell Us the Truth Tour featuring Billy Bragg, Steve Earle, et al.
November 11, 2003, Royal Oak, Michigan
Tuesday evening’s Tell Us the Truth Tour stop at the Royal Oak Theatre simmered steadily with grassroots enthusiasm, and occasionally exploded into full-on anger and activism. It featured a few inspired musical moments, and even encouraged a few grizzled hippie holdouts to dig the largely a capella flow of an underground and erudite California MC. But while its message was made even more resonant by Veteran’s Day and Michigan’s contentious relationship with its principal industry, the night’s rabble rousing was permeated by a sense of dreadful resignation. Had the bastards already won?