Wednesday night’s Nine Inch Nails gig was one much anticipated, given that I hadn’t seen Trent and co. live since 2007 and had to fight the AXS algo like hell to wrest a ticket from its maw. As such, I was piqued for this live reacquaintance, and I made a point of getting down there early enough to grab my merch and, if possible, a spot at the front; on the latter front, being on the mobile network sponsoring the venue helped me out immensely, what with me scoring in the spot in the Blueroom for comfier waiting and early entry. Result!
Upon entry, and marching toward the barrier, I met with the sight of a veiled square at the centre of the floor, presumably the “B-stage” I’d read about prior, the literal centrepiece for this tour. After an hour’s wait, it blared out the sound of clubhouse electronica, which I took to be the preamble to the support act, German act Boys’ Noize.
Then five minutes passed, then ten, then twenty…
…during which time, I realised my error, as well as half the audience staring at the still-shrouded block as if it were the Kaaba. In other words, the long, loud Boys Noize support set resembled a Meccan pilgrimage with less in the way of tragicomically fatal godridden stampedes. Inshallah!
Shortly after that came to an end, the music resumed, an actual preamble this time, building, intensifying, toward a crescendo. And then fell the shrouds, revealing the sight of Trent at a piano in its wake. Cue ‘Right Where It Belongs’, with the Rez showcasing his clean, melodic lungwork—still got it!
From there began a show that saw Reznor and co transition from one stage to another with little in the way of hassle. Of course, the highlights for me lay on the main stage, where the band knocked out a procession of bangers, highlights including a blistering ‘Wish’, the beautifully brutal blasphemy of ‘Heresy’, the serrating-to-serene speed trip that is ‘March of the Pigs’, ‘Head Like a Hole’, the song that placed them firmly on the map, and the Johnny Cash–appropriated closer ‘Hurt’.
There was also everyone’s industrial-rock freak anthem ‘Closer’, a watered-down B-stage rendition of unofficial egoist anthem ‘Only’ peformed in collaboration with Boys Noize, which had me yearning for the less bridled original, and a rendition of Downward Spiral seether ‘Reptile’ that I’ve termed the ‘Glitch, Please’ remix on account of the static overlay employed and Trent’s mic giving out on him during performance, unexpectedly promoting guitarist Robin Finck to vocal duties (As Trent lamented afterwards, “The world’s most complicated lightshow, but a fucking mic cable takes us out.”)
Technical issues also interfered with the show later, prompting more humour-laced laments from Trent; ultimately however these issues amounted to glitches, rather than fatal errors, in the machine, which for the most part chugged along brilliantly. I could lament the many favourites that weren’t played, but with a band like Nine Inch Nails it’s pretty much inevitable that many a favourite will be left off the setlist of any given show one might see. As things stand, this was a sterling live reintroduction to a band that continues to occupy a firm place in my musical cosmology (even if I fell off after Year Zero).
~MRDA~
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