Nine Inch Nails at American Airlines Center Dallas
(Trent during “The Greater Good” - photo from NIN official)
Getting a bonus NIN show was totally unplanned. I don’t know why I hadn’t looked to see when they’d be in Dallas, but I happened to notice it a couple of weeks ago and checked to see if there were still tix. There were so no stressing on getting them beforehand. I figured I could show up and still get awesome seats, which I did.
To prep for the show, I took a look at some recent set lists and checked out Amateur Chemist, who took a vacation to catch a round of shows (a man after my own heart.) I wasn’t surprised to see how long the sets were. Trent has always been good about playing for a couple of hours - you totally get your $55 worth of show. And I don’t ever mind paying that much to see a NIN show - they gotta pay for all the toys somehow. Trent has always been on the technological fast track - I remember him using LED screens back in the Fragile days but this setup is the most complicated I’ve seen yet, with three different screens at different depths, which at times brought a 3D effect.
The first three songs just built up the tension in the arena. Kinda like eating something spicy when you don’t feel the burn until later. But “Discipline” changed all that. Those lyrics (I need your discipline/I need your help/I need your discipline/You know once I start I cannot help myself/Once I start I cannot stop myself) are just super sexy and yes, he is still uber hot after all these years. “MOTP” is always a crowd pleaser - it’s a fist pumping, scream at the top of your lungs kinda song. “Head Down” is sure to be a new fan fave, it was totally intense. Trent slowed it down next with “The Frail” (without its regular companion “The Wretched”, kinda weird) but then we got “Closer”, so all good. We got a bonus song with “The Line Begins to Blur” before we got blown away (yet again) with “Gave Up”. Then they segued into the “Ghosts” portion of the show, which is just the instrumental stuff. But not boring at all to watch because of the visualizations. I don’t remember exactly which song it was, but there was a part where the visuals made it look like it was raining. Lots of allusions to tv fuzz and that sort of thing as well. “Piggy” ended that slower portion of the set. The screen was all blue at that point and we saw some guy start to walk across. At first I thought “WTF”, but he was part of the show. The visuals made him look like he was erasing the screen until he got all the way across the stage and the LED was no longer lit up. Genius.
I was confused again when we got “Wish” without “Pinion” (Trent was totally messing with us longtime NIN vets, “Frail/Wretched” and “Pinion/Wish” *always* go together. ) but that song more than makes up for not having “Pinion”. Again, the crowd was pumped and sang along, though I always wonder how long Trent will sing the lyric I’m the one without a soul I’m the one with this big fucking hole/No new tale to tell twenty-six years on my way to Hell since he is way on the other side of 26. Haha. The next three songs were full of raw emotion - “Terrible Lie”, “Survivalism” and “The Big Comedown” are epic live.
“Survivalism” and “Only” had some nods to their videos. If you recall, the “Survivalism” vid has a bunch of different cameras going (like in a security video center) - they did the same setup for the live version - the screen was broken up into eight different “tvs”. One had a message that alluded to the ARG game - it said that it was censored for our protection. A couple of screens had shots of the crowd. One screen was processing video from onstage. And one screen had a bathroom where some guy is fucking some chick doggy style. I kid you not. Actually, I am not sure it was a chick, I could have sworn it was a guy (similar to the video where there is a gay couple in bed) but I heard some people talking about it afterwards and the guy said it was a chick. “Only” had Trent’s face on the screen like the video does with that pin game. (You know what I am talking about if you’ve seen it.)
The last two songs of the main set were electric. I always love “Down In It” - again, another spine tingling song. I grabbed this video from a NINnie in the pit.
And yeah, “Head Like A Hole”. It’s hard to believe I first heard that song when I was 17 - a whole 18 years ago. I’m not angry like I was back then, but those lyrics I’d rather die than give you control might as well be on my headstone. Sigh.
A short break where the NIN curtain (the photo in my previous post) comes down and then the 5 song encore. Trent was totally appreciative of the crowd at this point and said something to the effect that we made it worth it tonight. Nice. And I totally appreciated seeing Trent in his emotional, vulnerable mode when he hugged himself through the end of “Hurt”. An arena full of people singing your song should make you feel better, Trent. I loved that they ended with “In This Twilight”. It’s beautiful and sufficiently epic.
I’ve got two more shows on this tour - I can’t wait. (Full set list if you rawk on.)
P.S. Nice to have Robin Finck back on guitar. Dig on this photo from the official NIN blog....
P.P.S. And Josh Freese is still the man. His son was out on stage before the show and threw some drumsticks out into the crowd.
(photo courtesy of the NIN blog)
