Spot where Rage Against The Machine played and shut down Wall St.

On January 26, 2000, Rage Against the Machine filmed the music video for 'Sleep Now in the Fire' on the steps of Federal Hall National Memorial at 26 Wall Street, directly across from the New York Stock Exchange. The production, directed by Michael Moore, did not have a permit for filming on the street, and the band's presence outside one of the most powerful financial institutions in the world was entirely deliberate. As the cameras rolled and the crowd of fans and onlookers swelled, the New York Stock Exchange closed its doors — an extraordinary reaction to a rock band on the pavement outside.

The confrontation escalated when Moore and members of the band attempted to access the trading floor of the exchange, citing the right to enter a public building. When they were refused and New York police moved in, Moore was among those briefly detained. The whole spectacle — a Marxist rock band playing agitprop street theatre in the heart of American capitalism — was exactly the kind of direct action that defined RATM's political identity. 'Sleep Now in the Fire' is drawn from their album The Battle of Los Angeles, which had been released three months earlier.

Federal Hall itself is a national monument on the site where George Washington was inaugurated as the first US President. The juxtaposition of revolutionary American history, global financial power, and Zack de la Rocha screaming about corporate greed on the same set of steps made for one of the most politically charged music videos ever made. The video is still widely circulated and the event remains a landmark moment in the intersection of rock music and political protest.