August 29 from the Sleep Country Amphitheater in Ridgefield, WA.
The 2nd to last night of Nine Inch Nails 2014 summer tour, and the 2nd to last show for some time. Trent has said this will be it for a while, and the last time he said that NIN went away for about 4 years. Because of that I knew I had to see at least one of these final shows. Sadly, their choice of venues for the summer tour (outdoor amphitheaters) meant no Vancouver show, so I would have to make the sojourn down to Portland, Oregon once again. Co-headlining with Soundgarden and also another opening band meant a shorter set, but any NIN is better than no NIN.
You can debate the setlist, the length, the venue, and all the other intangibles, but you really can't judge a show unless you've been there. I was there and it was awesome. The new four-piece configuration halves the number of live musicians in half from the eight-piece that represented NIN last fall. The result is a leaner and meaner NIN. This was quite possibly the best sounding Nine Inch Nails show I have ever been to. Of the 17 shows I have seen, this is definitely near the top of my favorites. It's hard to rank, almost like ranking your children, but this is up there with night 1 of the Osaka show I saw in 2007 among my favorite NIN shows that I've seen live. The visuals were not as complex as Tension 2013, but they were no slouch either. With the different band and different production, it was a completely new experience than what I experienced less than a year ago and that's one of the things that makes NIN such a great band to see live.
Cold Cave was the opener followed by co-headliners Soundgarden before Nine Inch Nails took the stage to close out the night.
Setlist:
1. Copy of A - their standard opener, in a different arrangement. Trent starts out alone on stage with the house lights still on and the rest of the band joins in one by one until finally the song climaxes and the house lights go out and the band is shown as large shadows on the stage's backdrop
2. Sanctified - as I've said before, the new arrangement of this song since last year is simply outstanding. Might be my favorite song of the night
3. Came Back Haunted - the driving bass line and tempo of this song really kicks ass
4. 1,000,000
5. March of the Pigs
6. Reptile - not often played, and because of that, always a pleasant surprise
7. Terrible Lie
8. Closer
9. Gave Up
10. Disappointed - as with Tension 2013, Trent decided this song should have the coolest visuals of the night. The youtube videos do NOT do this song justice. It must be seen live and in person for maximum impact
11. Find My Way
12. The Great Destroyer
13. Eraser - my favorite song from The Downward Spiral makes it's live return. Fantastic as always
14. Wish
15. The Hand That Feeds
16. Head Like A Hole
17. Hurt
