LOS ANGELES -- Rage Against the Machine debuted songs from their

upcoming third album during a surprise club show early Sunday morning.

Nearly 500 fans, alerted to the show by an announcement Saturday

afternoon on a local radio station, packed into the Troubadour nightclub

for the rare chance to catch the politically charged rock band -- and

Tool's

Maynard James Keenan, who joined Rage for one song --- up close.

"This was honestly the best show I've ever seen," 24-year-old Lourdes

Adame said. "Hearing the new songs was great, but the intimacy was the

best.

It's kind-of once in a lifetime, considering [the] last time we saw them

they

were a football field away."

Rage's hour-long set drew heavily from past albums, but the band also

previewed three new songs from an as-yet untitled album due this spring.

On the band's printed set list, the new songs were called "Maria," "Mic

Check" and "Hendrix."

KROQ-FM announced the show Saturday, informing fans they could buy $5

wristbands at the Troubadour box office that would get them in. Several

hours after the wristbands had sold out, hundreds of fans were still

wrapped

around the West Hollywood block where the club is located, hoping to

find a way

in.

One fan told a woman at the box office that he played third base for the

New York Yankees, while a group of 20-something men tried to get in

with homemade black wristbands, with the word "Troubadour" scrawled in

correction fluid across the plastic band. All were turned away.

Rage took the stage just after 1 a.m. to the sound of impatient screams

from the crowd. Singer Zack de la Rocha, who wore a red T-shirt and had

his bob-length hair in braids, announced, "We're Rage Against the

Machine," as the band launched into "Bulls on Parade," from Evil Empire (1996).

The crowd moshed and shouted along as Rage continued with such songs as

HREF="http://media.addict.com/atn-bin/get-music/Rage_Against_The_Machine/Down_Rodeo.ram">"Down

Rodeo" (RealAudio excerpt), "Vietnow" and "Know Your Enemy."

Keenan joined them on the latter song.

"Mic Check" was the first new number to emerge. It began with de la

Rocha gripping the mic with both hands and saying, "check, check." The

song, a

melange of styles, climaxed with the singer rapping, "Who got the

power?/ That's my question."

De la Rocha introduced "Maria" as "a new song I wrote for a friend of

mine when I was in Chiapas." The Mexican state of Chiapas was the site

of an indigenous peasant uprising that announced the formation of the

Zapatista Army of National Liberation, of which de la Rocha has been an

active supporter.

"Maria" was a turbulent groove number that featured the lyric, "When the sun disappears/ Only the real appear." "Hendrix" was another multi-dimensional sonic tirade, culminating with the words, "You with it?"

After closing the main set with

HREF="http://media.addict.com/atn-bin/get-music/Rage_Against_The_Machine/Bullet_In_The_Head.ram">"Bullet

in the Head" (RealAudio

excerpt), de la Rocha and his bandmates -- guitarist Tom Morrello,

bassist Tim Bob and drummer Brad Wilks -- returned for two sets of

encores. They included "No Shelter," which the band recorded for the

soundtrack to "Godzilla," and knock-down renditions of "People of the

Sun" and

HREF="http://media.addict.com/atn-bin/get-music/Rage_Against_The_Machine/Killing_In_The_Name.ram">"Killing

in the Name" (RealAudio excerpt).

"The whole show was cool," said 12-year-old Oscar Ruvalcaba, who, along

with his friend and fellow seventh-grader Mick Don appeared to be one of

the youngest fans there. "The new songs sounded really cool. We were

just

glad we made it in."

Rage are scheduled to perform in East Rutherford, N.J., Thursday, along with hip-hoppers the Beastie Boys and punk-rockers Bad Religion, in a benefit for Mumia Abu-Jamal, a convicted cop killer whose supporters say he did not receive a fair trial.