Concert Review: Nic-Cage Against the Machine – The Joiners, Southampton
Saturday 31st October 2026
For those who are unfamiliar with this fun and absurd comedy-metal concept, Nic-Cage Against the Machine is the world’s first Rage Against the Machine tribute band fronted by a Nicolas Cage impersonator. Yes and they go wild on stage with high-energy, tight metal-rap covers of the iconic Rage Against the Machine tracks. As the band, some members of the crowd are also dressed up in costumes, holding props from iconic Nicolas Cage films.
The show was sold out at The Joiners in Southampton and that is not surprising. After seeing them play as support for Elvana last year, it was obvious that they can’t be stopped. Wildly eclectic, bizarrely captivating, and absurdly fun, combining raw, heavy musicianship with mental stage props, and crowd interaction from first to last track on the setlist.
Without giving away too much of the quirky surprises of a NCATM gig, the setlist was full of banger songs as expected. I mean the event happened on Halloween night and we had Nicolas Cage in his underwear, Superman at the drums and even Neo showed up from The Matrix for a bit.
A standout classic feature of the live show is when Nic Cage hops off the stage mid-set, plunges into the audience, and rides his worn-out skateboard directly through the parted crowd. Hollywood cosplay, all packed in a gig full of riffs, sweat, and absolute nonsense with the sacrificial ritual of the extra large bee attack “Not the bees!” scene.
“Killing in the Name” was the (almost) finishing point of the out of this world concert, and as expected the crowd went ballistic. A parting gift from the band was a classic nu metal song that involves a chainsaw. What? A motherfuckin’ chainsaw. We laughed, we moshed we had really good fun, can’t wait to see them again. You should check them out if you can.
