Nine Inch Nails at Cricket Amphitheatre
Last night was a good night to be a NIN fan. Those of us who arrived early and sat through Sweet Sweeper Social Club (Tom Morello’s new project) were treated with a guest appearance by Trent during their last song - a cover of MC5’s “Kick Out The Jams”. (Watch it here.)
(Trent kicking out the jams w SSSC)
So by the time NIN came out, I was amped and a little drunky (which is rare for me at shows, I don’t drink so I don’t have to break the seal and miss part of the show.) But no matter, our seats were awesome (4th row center behind the pit) and I got some awesome photos. Behold.
(TR - my fave photo of the night)
(TR)
(TR and RF)
(JMJ, IR, TR)
I had peeped previous set lists at NIN Tour History to see what might be in store, only to find that they have been playing different sets every night. Very happy about that since I get three shows. So without further ado, the set list.
Nine Inch Nails
Cricket Amphitheatre Chula Vista
5/16/09
Home
1,000,000
Terrible Lie
March of the Pigs
Metal
The Becoming
I’m Afraid of Americans (Bowie)
Burn
Gave Up
La Mer
The Fragile
Gone, Still
The Way Out Is Through
Wish
The Hand That Feeds
Head Like a Hole
Hurt
Oh man. As a fan of NIN’s overall catalog (unlike the douchebag Closer fans who will not be hearing that damn song on this tour, thank you very much, Trent. also those “fans” were noticeably the ones that also talked though Hurt - motherfuckers....) I was really happy to get such a diverse set and especially “La Mer” and “The Fragile”. I only saw NIN once during “The Fragile” tour and it was really awesome to hear those songs again. But I am getting ahead of myself. Starting off with “Home” was okay, but I loved “1,000,000”, one of my faves during the “Lights in the Sky” tour. I was a little concerned when the p.a. blew at the beginning of “Terrible Lie” but it got fixed and TR and the crew went back to making us feel alive. Speaking of the crew, the stripped down version of NIN was great. I was stoked to have Robin Finck back on the last tour and Justin Medal-Johnson (on bass) has grown on me. And while Ilan Rubin is no Josh Freese, he really did a great job on drums. The first surprise of the night was the cover of Bowie’s “I’m Afraid of Americans”. A great song and TR and the crew nailed it. This brought us into an intense few songs - “Burn” and “Gave Up” are always hardcore. Then the songs from The Fragile which were really moving (but not enough to make me cry). “The Way Out Is Through” was a brilliant end to that mini set before heading into the end of the show (which was essentially the encore). “Wish” is always a fist pumping good time and “THTF” was also a good pick from With Teeth. Of course we got HLAH in all of its glory. And then, I was surprised that TR ended with “Hurt”. I had made it through the set without crying, but “Hurt” always gets me. Sigh.
P.S. Jane’s gets their own post.
Bonus:
All photos including the Jane’s photos here. And if you are curious about Mariqueen, yes she was on the side of the stage and yes, I got a photo.
