With the current Nine Inch Nails summer tour in support of last year's With Teeth album, main man Trent Reznor stated that this would be the last round of touring "for a while". To NIN fans, a while can be an eternity, who knows how long it could be, after all, With Teeth came out 6 years after his last album, and NIN didn't tour again for 5 years after his last tour. That's half a freaking decade folks. My friends and I were dissapointed that a Vancouver date wasn't announced for this last leg of touring (as Trent & Co. were doing a summer tour in outdoor venues, I blame Vancouver's lack of a suitable outdoor venue for this oversight). Next closest place, Ridgefield, WA, at the southern end of Washington, a stone's throw away from Portland, Oregon, and a 6-8 hour drive depending on certain conditions such as traffic. But that wasn't gonna stop us, we had to see NIN again, there was no way we wanted to wait another 5 years to see them after their Vancouver show in Sept. 05. So we sucked it up and made it a long weekend in Portland, OR (yay for tax free shopping).
The weather was cold and damp all weekend, rain wasn't a bother as the venue was open, but covered. First opening band was TV On The Radio. Pretty much a straight rock group, of very little relation to NIN's sound, and greeted thusly by the crowd. A lukewarm reception at best. The singer tried his best, but the rest of the band needs to learn a little something about performing live. The Bass Player had his back turned against the crowd for the ENTIRE performance, is it so hard to turn around and face the people you're playing for? And having one of the guitarist play the Maracas for a couple songs? At least have him feigning air guitar or something. It takes a personality like Trent to be able to pull off something cheesy and turn it into something cool (see: Trent rocking the tambourine).
Next up was Bauhaus, legendary electronic pioneers who hit their peak back in the 80s. Reznor cites Bauhaus as one of his major influences, and had stated how he almost didn't want to go on after them. The crowd was very respectful and 90% of the audience stood for their performance. Bauhaus is known for their electronic sound, but gave a setlist full of energy no doubt more geared more towards the NIN audience's taste.
Next Up was NIN. Their stage setup and set design was unique from their previous show in Vancouver. Upon first inspection it was very unique and no doubt made everyone wonder what it would be like. At first you just see 4 vertical sets of horizontal grates. Very strange looking, and we had no idea what we were in for. It turns out those horizontal grates had rows of lights that lit up to make some absolutely fantastic looking visuals. In the back were 5 LED screens that made the sets backdrop and projected some even more awesome visuals. All this in addition to NIN's standard fog machines, strobe lights and lighting setup.
The intro was very cool and very sneaky. Pinion has long been NIN's opener, and once the lights went out and Pinion started playing, that's when you knew NIN was about to start. This concert was not the case. I say the opener was sneaky because they started while the house lights where still on. You could hear a strange electronic beat on the speakers but couldn't really tell if it was starting, but we all stood up in case. Then you hear Trent start singing the opening strains of Somewhat Damaged and see him silhouetted behind the grating. Once he reached a certain part of the song, the band joined in, the house lights went off, and the incredible visuals exploded on stage. Very, very awesome. Somewhat Damaged is one of NIN's more angry songs, and it was definately a great kick start. From there the grating was raised up and NIN continued their performance with setlist stalwarts, You Know What You Are?, Sin, Terrible Lie, and March of the Pigs.
One of the emotional highlights of the night followed as the stage was covered in a haze with a moody dark purple lighting, as they then played Something I Can Never Have. I had never heard this before live, and it is always a treat to hear NIN play something new.
Next up was Closer. I love how they've deconstructed the song and turned it into a whole new animal for the new With Teeth tour shows. Whereas the old live version was almost a carbon copy of the album cut, and at one point 4 members each on a keyboard (a record for a rock band I'm pretty sure). The new version strips all those keybaords away and adds a lot more guitar, and even inserts a short part of The Only Time towards the end of the song. During the song, the 2 middle grates were down and showed a very cool blood like effect and the LCDs in the back throbbed as we saw Trent's silhouette in front of them. Always a crowd pleaser.
Following this is a new standby of the 05-06 tour, Burn, which if you haven't heard live before, sounds very different but very cool. After this is the always rocking Gave Up.
And next was another of the pleasant surprises of the night, Help Me I Am In Hell. Accompanying this was, the 4 grate-screens came down and treated us to some fantastic imagery, which at first was very peculiar at first, but as the song wore on, you could making out water bubbles, perhaps boiling water. Very trippy. After this I expected Happiness In Slavery, as these 2 songs almost always go hand in hand. Instead we were treated to Non-Entity, first played by Trent by himself on a piano with a beatbox, but now with his full band. Great song, although I think I still like the piano version slightly better. Dissapointed with no Happiness in Slavery, but that quickly subsided. Following Non-Entity was Only, which was one of those tracks I thought might not translate well live, but Trent and Co. always surprise, it's even better than the album cut. Next up was Wish, one of my personal favorites, this song never gets old, and this song always gets the adrenaline pumping, and this night was no exception.
Another surprise awaited us as Trent begins playing something off key alone on a solitary keyboard. I was expecting this to lead into The Frail, but instead was pleasantly surprised as he went straight into La Mer. The pleasant surprises continues, as the song leads straight into the most rocking version of Into the Void I have ever heard in my life. Simply incredible!! Following this is one of the more underrated tracks from The Fragile, The Big Come Down. So glad I got to hear this live. Suck was next and was one of the heaviest tracks of the night and satisfied the headbangers in all of us.
Next was another treat, another song I thought I would never hear live, their live cover of Queen's Get Down Make Love. Another rocking crowdpleasing that had the crowd jumping, bobbing their heads and shaking their fists to. Hurt followed up, and did not dissapoint. This song begins with just Trent alone with a keyboard, before the rest of the band joins in for the last verse. One of his more meaningful songs, Hurt always touches a chord with the crowd and brought on many lighters as well as some tears.
The concert winds down with The Hand That Feeds, a good wakeup call after Hurt, to bring us out of that somber mood and kicking our collective asses with some straight out rock.
Finally NIN finished with the seminal Head Like A Hole. This venue was seating, so their wasn't a mosh pit, but the crowd just couldn't hold it in anymore. People jumped, people cheered, and people bowed down before the one they served.
The weather was cold and wet, despite it being the "summertime" which Trent lamented about. As he talked about how this would be his last tour for a while he stated how for the last tour he was convinced "to tour the coldest part of the country during the coldest time of the year," and because of that, "We froze our balls off. So they ask me now to do a summer time, it'll be outdoor, it'll be nice." Small pause. "So here are....Freezing our balls off". In Trent, We Trust.
Gladly, the venue was covered, so rain was not a problem, and all the movement that comes with enjoying NIN (headbanging, fist pumping, moshing, jumping, clapping, etc.) warmed us up sufficiently.
Maybe a little shorter than previous shows, but despite that, my favorite of all 3 NIN shows I've been to (The only thing that can top a NIN concert is another NIN concert). For all that crap we had to put up with the whole weekend, this made it worth it.
Small addendum: the parking at the Amphitheatre at Clark County is setup very strangely, and upon exiting, it looked like it would take at least half an hour, and maybe even longer than an hour to leave the place. Thankfully, I like to be very prepared and anal about things, and perusing the Clark County Amphitheatre's website, I found a sheet you can printout to get VIP parking access if you have at least 4 people in your car. This turned out to be a lifesafer, and instead of being stuck in a traffic jam for more than an hour, gave us a special clear exit and let us get out of the parking area faster than you can say "I LOVE YOU TRENT!"
With the show, and my new TV in the span of a few days, this might well have been one of the greatest weeks of my life. Hell, without my new TV, I would still be able to say that last sentence and not be lying.
The Setlist in Full:
1. Somewhat Damaged
2. You Know What You Are?
3. Sin
4. Terrible Lie
5. March of the Pigs
6. Something I Can Never Have
7. Closer (To The Only Time)
8. Burn
9. Gave Up
10. Help Me I Am In Hell
11. Non-Entity
12. Only
13. Wish
14. La Mer
15. Into The Void
16. The Big Come Down
17. Suck
18. Get Down Make Love
19. Hurt
20. The Hand The Feeds
21. Head Like A Hole
Told you it was gonna be long :)
Friday, June 2, 2006
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