[nin]

[Mr. Murphy]

I'm going to see Nine Inch Nails (http://www.nin.com/) tonight in Worcester, Mass. at the DCU Center and I'm pretty effing stoked.

They got this new twitchy fucker on bass named Justin Meldal-Johnsen who's got a great chunky sound, they brought back in Robin Finck, the crazy cross dressing guitar godzilla from the Downward Spiral days, Josh Freese of A Perfect Circle is still playing drums like a madman and Alessandro Cortini spends the entire show rocking ass behind a bank of instruments, jumping up and down on keyboards and mangling sound. There has been word (http://www.wired.com/entertainment/music/news/2008/09/nin_show?currentPage=all)that it's one of the most technologically advanced light and stage shows ever constructed - I know it involves lights in front and behind the band to create the illusion that they are inside the lights, and there are sensors on the stage that allow band members to interact with the lights in real time. Here's a quick montage (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwV5cWLFM9U) (just click through it a bit to get an idea what they've done).

The style of the last (http://yearzero.nin.com/) three (http://ghosts.nin.com/) albums (http://theslip.nin.com/) moved away from the more organic guitarwork of the early half of the decade and back into a squealing circuitbending kindof rock, plus with the addition of the 4 CD long, instrumental album 'Ghosts (http://ghosts.nin.com/main/home)' to their discography, there is ample supply of new ambience (the first disc of which is available as a free download (http://ghosts.nin.com/main/order_options)). In the span between this tour and the last, over 40 new NIN songs have been officially released. I've seen them four times previously, and I could still conceivably witness an entire performance of material I have never seen live.

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Their most recent album was released successfully as a free download (http://dl.nin.com/theslip/signup) on their website, and still sold enough physical copies to be a success. It's worth a listen if you are curious how their sound has changed. It was published under a Creative Commons License, Reznor himself has been encouraging fans to share it, copy it, sample it, remix it, and use it for background in movies, along with the previous release, Ghosts. Ghosts, in fact, has been a part of an official online "film festival (http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=nin+film+festival&search_type=&aq=f)" at youtube (http://www.youtube.com), where a special area of the site has been set aside for short films created using the ambient works of Ghosts. With the addition of rainwave (http://rainwave.cc/) to the CoG network, I was reminded of the Reznor-started nin.remix.com (http://remix.nin.com/), where you can play a streaming radio station of official and fan remixes as well as all of the official works (including some of the more obscure pieces). It's an incredibly interesting setup for a remix page, with each song being classified with a number of specific sliding scales instead of more generic criteria.

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The opening band is called Deerhunter (http://www.myspace.com/deerhunter), and I've never heard them before, but the singer appears to be an incredibly anorexic androgyne male. Awesome. I hear good things about them. Here's a vid. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wpc1lhFfMA)


Now, perhaps because of the NIN/Quake gaming link, perhaps because gamers tend to like electronic music for some reason, every time a music discussion comes up, there seem to be a lot of NIN fans on the site. I figured it was not impossible that somebody else from CoG might be attending, so this is my shout-out to the fellow colonists: will I see any of you guys in line tonight? Last I checked, tickets were still on sale (http://tour.nin.com/).

[TrackZero]

I appreciate some NIN. But that many youtube videos just made my browser cry, care to tone it down a bit?

[Mr. Murphy]

I appreciate some NIN. But that many youtube videos just made my browser cry, care to tone it down a bit?

Done. Do you think two is alright?

[Mastergeo7]

This video must be seen by everyone :D, so don't hide it!
HwV5cWLFM9U

Also, any tech geek must read this article (http://www.wired.com/entertainment/music/news/2008/09/nin_show?currentPage=all)

[Mr. Murphy]

Also, any tech geek must read this article (http://www.wired.com/entertainment/music/news/2008/09/nin_show?currentPage=all)

I was looking for that article to include it in the main post, and i just couldn't find it! Thanks.

[opsin]

I was really looking forward to what he said was going to be a total reinvention of how he did live stuff, when he fired the band and shit. But then what he came out with post The Slip and the new tech he's using, I'm definitely angling to see them live for it.
That and The Slip was really good again.

Hmmm, haven't listened to Year Zero in ages too.

[Re3x]

This video must be seen by everyone :D, so don't hide it!
HwV5cWLFM9U

Also, any tech geek must read this article (http://www.wired.com/entertainment/music/news/2008/09/nin_show?currentPage=all)

That looks like the Seattle show. Thats the one i went too and they fucked up a couple times on stage with the show but it was funny.

Amazing show.

[Sandman]

I was at their show in Jacksonville, FL. Here's the thread I made for it : NIN w/ HEALTH 10/29/08 Jacksonville, FL (pictures) (http://www.colonyofgamers.com/cogforums/showthread.php?t=1904)

It was an awesome show aside from the opener....hope Deer Hunter is better for you. If your on the floor no place is better than the rail but be warned : unless you bought tickets through NIN.com you likely won't get on the rail since that group gets in first.

[Shadowstorm]

Sweet band. One of my favorites. 8/29/08, baby.

I just saw a ridiculously stupid commercial.

[Loki]

THey are coming here in a couple weeks. I'm kinda interested in going, but after the Tool show, I fear that I will walk away with the same feeling: Why did I ever like them?

[Sandman]

THey are coming here in a couple weeks. I'm kinda interested in going, but after the Tool show, I fear that I will walk away with the same feeling: Why did I ever like them?

You won't get that feeling after seeing NIN.

[pomeroy]

THey are coming here in a couple weeks. I'm kinda interested in going, but after the Tool show, I fear that I will walk away with the same feeling: Why did I ever like them?

I got that feeling after buying "10,000 Days".

Anyway, what's the setlist like for this? I saw him (because, honestly...NIN is Trent.) on the Fragile tour in Omaha (A Perfect Circle opened up for them) and it was awesome. The only songs he didn't play that I wanted to hear were "The Perfect Drug" and "Into the Void" (which really seemed weird since "Into the Void" was the single at the time).

Anyway, it was an amazing show, and I'm doubting he somehow got worse.

[Sandman]

I got that feeling after buying "10,000 Days".

Anyway, what's the setlist like for this? I saw him (because, honestly...NIN is Trent.) on the Fragile tour in Omaha (A Perfect Circle opened up for them) and it was awesome. The only songs he didn't play that I wanted to hear were "The Perfect Drug" and "Into the Void" (which really seemed weird since "Into the Void" was the single at the time).

Anyway, it was an amazing show, and I'm doubting he somehow got worse.

The set list for this tour has been heavy on the last 3 albums....they touch their big hits from the past also and throw in an old album cut or two on rotation.

This is the set list I got in Jacksonville.

999,999
1,000,000
letting you
discipline
march of the pigs
head down
the frail
reptile
closer
gave up
me i'm not
vessel
ghosts 21
ghosts 14
ghosts 19
ghosts piggy
the greater good
wish
terrible lie
survivalism
the big come down
only
the hand that feeds
head like a hole

echoplex
the beginning of the end
hurt
in this twilight

[pomeroy]

The set list for this tour has been heavy on the last 3 albums....they touch their big hits from the past also and throw in an old album cut or two on rotation.

This is the set list I got in Jacksonville.

999,999
1,000,000
letting you
discipline
march of the pigs
head down
the frail
reptile
closer
gave up
me i'm not
vessel
ghosts 21
ghosts 14
ghosts 19
ghosts piggy
the greater good
wish
terrible lie
survivalism
the big come down
only
the hand that feeds
head like a hole

echoplex
the beginning of the end
hurt
in this twilight

Ew. No thank you.

[Sandman]

Ew. No thank you.

I can understand if you don't like the latest stuff but The Slip and Ghosts were two of my favorite albums of the year.

[Re3x]

Ew. No thank you.

a lot of the Ghosts stuff goes with the stage show. Its cool.

I was they didnt have Capital G.

[Shadowstorm]

Capitol G is a good tune :(.

[Ten19]

Ew. No thank you.

Except that is pretty much what the set was in Philly back in August, and it was seven layers of kick ass. Your loss, really.

Oh, and I was also at the Omaha NIN show on the Fragility tour. I was the tall pale white guy screaming along with every single song, did you see me? :p

[Mr. Murphy]

That was amazing.

Fully charged set list, mostly new stuff, and they brought out Peter Murphy to sing Reptile near the end. He was the singer of Bauhaus, an old-school goth band, and he was great.

Trent is obviously putting a lot more... credit? faith? whatever in his bandmates, he made it a point to let each one of their styles show through and to make it feel like the show was not just about him. He often faded to the background, and during some of the instrumental Ghosts stuff he was off in the back corner playing giant glockenspiel things while Josh Freese drummed center stage. There was never any wait between songs, and yet with each new piece the band members would be in different places on the stage, armed with different instruments, highlighting a different performer. Behind the lights, in front, in between, under. It was spectacular.

The lights were incredible. Interactive, constantly moving and changing, they basically gave each song it's own diorama and style. Sometimes they were playing in swamp fire, sometimes in a forest, or a desert. For a while it was almost a giant cathedral. At one point Freese came out and played the giant light set as a live drum machine, tapping squares that lit up and tapping them again to turn them off. Once they were playing through an equalizer that was displaying close up live footage of Trent's face through what looked like a sonogram, and then when the song ended, he came out with a light and erased the lights from the light screen - everywhere he shined his flashlight turned clear, exposing the band behind it. For a while there was white noise hiding the band that reacted to sound and movement, so that occasionally you'd see a band member swim to the surface of the static, or Trent suddenly running past in a spotlight among the white noise, and then sending the 'hole' in the static careening across the stage. During Survivalism, they had multiple screens displaying real hidden camera footage from all around the building, and at the end of the show he played the band out while each member took a bow and left, until at least he closed with a final chord, and faded into the black at the back of the stage, leaving only a lone keyboard in a shaft of light.

My setlist was a lot like the one posted above, but they never played Capital G. However, soooo many NIN songs are soooo much better live - Only is a great example, I was sick of the album version the second time I heard it, but at every concert it's one of my favorite live songs. So I can guarantee that I would have enjoyed it even if they had played it. Almost every piece was extended and had added guitar solos and whatnot. I didn't get to hear two of the songs I was really hoping to - Me, I'm Not and My Violent Heart - but at the same time, there isn't a single song on the list that I would have swapped out. Highlights for me were Head Down and the final song, In This Twilight - during In This Twilight the screen behind the band became a vista of some city at the first light of dawn, still dark and glittering far below, as if the band were playing on 'lookout point' with their backs to the world. As they played smoke stacks pumped foul black into the air, smoke stacks centered behind Trent's head that just happened to be the same height as the hideously truncated World Trade Center, and bombs dropped on the city, rising mushroom clouds to the sky, until at last the sun rose as they ended the set.

Those of you looking for the old NIN - the old NIN is gone. Long live the new NIN. Don't go expecting to hear the songs of the nineties - there's too much new stuff to play and too many new ideas to pursue to worry about the past. When they did break out the old stuff, they fucking rocked it hard - the version of Piggy with Justin on standup base and Trent in the far back corner playing obscure instruments was my favorite version yet. It no longer feels like 'Trent vs. the audience' - it feels like your friends have invited you over, and they are playing and showing you something that they are really proud of. There was a feeling of comeraderie and fun that just carries you away - because it's about the music, not about feeling gloomy and angry for the rest of your life. I left the show feeling like the night had been a welcome epoch. I've grown up a bit since I was the angry teenager who fell in love with this ferocious, painful, cathartic band, but oddly enough, the band has too. And I've come to find there's nothing wrong with growing up.

By the way, Deerhunter sucked. They sounded like Radiohead combined with a band at a school dance in the 1950s. I tried really hard to like them, but I enjoyed the segues between songs more than the songs themselves. Luckily it was fairly short.

[Shadowstorm]

Glad you had fun.

[pomeroy]

Except that is pretty much what the set was in Philly back in August, and it was seven layers of kick ass. Your loss, really.

Oh, and I was also at the Omaha NIN show on the Fragility tour. I was the tall pale white guy screaming along with every single song, did you see me? :p

Hahaha. I was busy trying not to die as I had just gotten a cast off my broken wrist and all the people slamming into it hurt.

It is my loss, though. I just haven't really dug NiN nearly as much as I used to. I'm not as mad as I used to be, but I also haven't really dug Trent's work a ton since The Fragile.

[Sandman]

During Survivalism, they had multiple screens displaying real hidden camera footage from all around the building

I don't think that was live or even at that arena....at least I hope not because during my Survivalism performance one camera had two guys having sex in a bathroom.

By the way, Deerhunter sucked. They sounded like Radiohead combined with a band at a school dance in the 1950s. I tried really hard to like them, but I enjoyed the segues between songs more than the songs themselves. Luckily it was fairly short.

It is clear to me that Trent shouldn't be allowed to pick his opening acts. At least your band wasn't noise on stage.

[Re3x]

That was amazing.

Fully charged set list, mostly new stuff, and they brought out Peter Murphy to sing Reptile near the end. He was the singer of Bauhaus, an old-school goth band, and he was great.



Thats awesome. I saw Bauhaus with NIN in 2005 and Bauhaus almost out performed Trent... Peter Murphy is really great.

[Shadowstorm]

Hahaha. I was busy trying not to die as I had just gotten a cast off my broken wrist and all the people slamming into it hurt.

It is my loss, though. I just haven't really dug NiN nearly as much as I used to. I'm not as mad as I used to be, but I also haven't really dug Trent's work a ton since The Fragile.

With Teeth is the only album that strikes me as ... I don't know, I can't think of the term I'd like to use.

The rest are, however, pretty kick ass. The Fragile FTW.

[Mr. Murphy]

I don't think that was live or even at that arena....at least I hope not because during my Survivalism performance one camera had two guys having sex in a bathroom.

Some of the screens were pre-filmed (including the sex in the bathroom) but some of them were real, I found the group of guys in the stand who kept turning around and looking at the camera.


It is clear to me that Trent shouldn't be allowed to pick his opening acts. At least your band wasn't noise on stage.

If you're referring to Death From Above 1979, I love that band. Also, the Dresden Dolls and Saul Williams were awesome openers.

When Peaches opened for NIN a few years back, I waited outside until she was done. Sheeeesh.

[Sandman]

If you're referring to Death From Above 1979, I love that band. Also, the Dresden Dolls and Saul Williams were awesome openers.

When Peaches opened for NIN a few years back, I waited outside until she was done. Sheeeesh.

Nah, that band I'm referring to is HEALTH...those guys just sucked.

[Camel]

Nah, that band I'm referring to is HEALTH...those guys just sucked.
They were AWFUL. I was convinced the only reason they opened for NIN was so NIN would seem even more awesome in comparison.

I saw them a few weeks ago, and was really impressed. The only bad part were that during a few of the instrumental songs, the combination of music and lights almost put me to sleep.