Thirty minutes before the Nine Inch Nails show last night my buddy calls up with a free ticket. A free FLOOR ticket. Sweet.

They def put some love into this show, and some $$ as well. Video screens and weird LCD stalagtite thingys were everywhere. A million lights, smoke machines, the works. Arena rock goes goth... or is it the other way around?

Rezor chuged out he greats off Pretty Hate Machine and Downward Spiral like he still liked playing them. Pretty cool, considering I heard those same Pretty Hate Machine songs the last time I saw NIN, which was 15 years ago. (Aside: me = old).

In case you were wondering, songs off The Fragile suck as much live as they do on the album. I like the new album, but hearing songs from their entire catalogue together kind of highlighted the shallowness of With_Teeth. Those songs were pretty much verse/chorus/verse/chorus. But they kept the kiddies jumpin, so that's something.

There was a token destruction of the set at the end of the show. the high note was a well-heaved keyboard into the drum set. The guitarist destroyed a pretty cool three-humbucker tele. Unless he did "the switch" when I wasn't looking. He probably did. (Note to Squirrgle: Can you believe it? Telecasters enslaved into playing goth pop? Sacralige? Imagined response from said guitar player [in fake British accent]: "Sacralige is wot this band is all about, mate.")

Bonus - I saw Ron Jeremy there. When I saw him, I went into full-tilt tourist mode, announcing loudly "RON JEREMY!" and pointing at him with both hands. He didn't even glance in my direction (which was def within backslapping distance, if he had taken a spry lunge). He's such a pro. In his business I guess it pays to be able to fight off distraction, and focus on the goal.

Which was Goth Arena Rock. And it was good.

How long did they play? I have been hearing reports (namely, DC) that they didn't play very long for the tix $.

I wish I could've seen this, as back in the day (broken/downward spiral) I adored Reznor. I still pick up the releases, regardless of what I know in my heart will be a letdown.

Who opened?

I have an interesting Ron Jeremy story, but I'll save that for another thread about the guy.

They played pretty long -- over an hour, maybe 1:15. They said this was the last "official" stop of the tour.

They actually came a few months ago with Queens of the Stone Age, but the NIN drummer fell out on stage 20 mins into the set. Some kind of heart problem, I think he's still recovering. They had a diff drummer this time, somebody told me. Anyway, this was the make-up show.

I don't know who opened this time. We skipped it and went to a bar because they weren't selling alcohol in the stadium [/outrage].

You should give The Fragile and With Teeth another listen. They aren't as brilliant as The Downward Spiral, but they're fantastic albums once they start sinking into your head.

Yeah, I saw NIN this year too and it was my second time watching Reznor shake that ass. It's always worth every penny. The concert made me listen to With Teeth again and appreciate it a lot more than I originally gave it credit for. In fact, With Teeth went from collecting dust to ending up in the middle of my Top-10 list for the year.

I do like With Teeth, I just think the juxtaposition of it with his other albums at the show showed that it isn't his best work. Pretty good stuff still, tho.

I agree that With Teeth is pretty shallow for the most part when it comes to actual feeling or emotion in the music. That to me is what truly separates With Teeth from The Downward Spiral and to a lesser extent The Fragile. However, like you said, it's mindless fun and like most pop music, it's ear candy and serves a purpose. You can eat meat & potatoes every day, but sometimes you gotta eat a little junk food to keep things fun and interesting.

Also, you have to remember that Reznor quit drinking after The Fragile, so he's less of a drunken, angry tool than he used to be.

I mean, you have songs such as "Only" on the new album that probably wouldn't have fit on any of his previous records. For the first time since "The Perfect Drug," it sounds like Reznor's actually mixing a little humor and fun into his music.

He's been working out too. He was lookin pretty Henry Rollins.

That sounds about right. If, that is, ex-Icarine guitarist and Buddyhead raconteur Aaron North still is the NIN tour guitarist.

Pseudo-garage, non-psychedelic, but still Stooges-loving fucks that were weened on - hell, that still listen to - emo are prone to such pronouncements. Ironic or not.

I wasn't close enough to see him clearly at the show I went to, but the recent pics I saw of Trent online shocked me. He's very short, but capable of killing people twice his size now.

I disagree. The last few quiet songs are very emotional to me.


The Fragile is hit or miss. Some good, mostly not so good IMO.

"Right Where It Belongs" worked very well live and is just a beautiful song overall. It's one of the key tracks that made me completely reevaluate With_Teeth later this year.

Trent is selling tix to the gun show this tour.. His arms are ripped!

QOTSA and DFA79 opened my show at MSG a few weeks back.

NIN played about 100 minutes

No kidding- here's a pic that's in the latest Rolling Stone.

Compared to this pic from ??

fp

Reznor: The Carrot Top of Gynthmetrial.*

He and Danzig should have a 'roid Battle Of The Dwarf Kings.


(*Edit: that would be goth synth-metal/industrial)

I'm going to speak up in defense of The Fragile -- it's a fantastic album. The problem most of you probably have with it is that it has too many soft spots, but I found myself really warming up to them after seeing the live DVD. They're not really psychedelic, but the steal elements from psychedelia. Listen to it from a "jamming" (or 'extended ensemble instrumental') perspective, and you might get it.

Then again, you may not, but it's not bad, just different. Every single one of his albums is different, the last two (The Fragile and With Teeth) being less different than the others.

When The Fragile first came out, I didn't know what to make of the instrumental pieces, but now I can pretty much listen to the entire thing from disc 1 to disc 2 in one take. NIN is one of those bands where every second of every song is a treat. You can tell Trent and his producers (Flood, Alan Moulder, Charles Clouser) put a ridiculous amount of work into the production values.

Honestly, I think The Downward Spiral and The Fragile are two of the best and most creative rock albums of the last 20 years.