Nine Inch Nails at the Inglewood Forum

 Rawk Shows   

(after HLAH...before the encore)

The last night of the first leg of the Lights in the Sky Over North America tour. You know that Trent and the guys brought it. Set list first:

Nine Inch Nails
Inglewood Forum
9/6/08

Encore:
Echoplex
Reptile
God Given
Hurt
In This Twilight

(trent early in the show, before he lost the soon-to-be-sweaty-red shirt - photo courtesy of NIN.com)

I kinda ruined this show for myself by catching the Dallas show, but at the same time, it was kinda cool to know what was coming. As you might have guessed from the first photo I was much closer and on the other side of the stage this time so I did get a different perspective. Plus I was with a bunch of hardcore NIN fans so we had a great time bonding together before the show and during the best moments. An early wow moment was when Robin Finck threw his guitar off stage during “Letting You” - apparently he was having sound issues with it? He walked off stage and got another guitar and completely killed the rest of the show. I didn’t realize how much I like his physical style of playing until tonight (he’s so much better than Aaron North from the last live configuration.)

Again, I think the show starts off a little subdued and “Discipline” didn’t really get the crowd going like it did in Dallas. But “March of the Pigs” changed the vibe for sure. I am still not really used to getting “The Frail” without “The Wretched” but “Closer” was inspired so all is forgiven. And I love that “Gave Up” is after “Closer”. Everyone is still pumped up from “Closer” and “Gave Up” just kept the energy level high. I loved seeing everyone around me react to the visualizations - I warned them beforehand as far as what to expect, but when you see it, you’re just blown away. I think my favorite moment is during “The Greater Good” when Trent comes out from behind the LED curtain and everyone realizes that what they are seeing is live shots of Trent singing.

(terrible lie...photo courtesy of NIN.com)

“Terrible Lie” was another high point. We were all pumped up after “Wish” so everyone was feeding off that vibe. I loved the red lights for this song. This was one of those songs that everyone sings the lyrics too. Don’t take it away from me/I need someone to hold on to/Hey God, there’s nothing left for me to hide/I lost my ignorance, security and pride/I’m all alone in a world you must despise/Hey God, I believed the promises, the promises and lies. But my favorite part of this song live is the improvised you fucking promised me parts at the end. It sends chills down my spine every time.

(survivalism - photo courtesy of dissonance)

I made sure to really pay attention to the screens during “Survivalism” this time and everyone around me agreed that it was two guys fucking in the bathroom scene. (That would be the third screen on the upper row. I saw a few photos of “Survivalism” from their SLC show and there was no bathroom scene. Wonder if he was worried about not getting away with that in Mormon town.) When they segued into “The Hand That Feeds” after “Only”, I was pretty stoked since we didn’t get THTF in Dallas. Well, no wonder. There was a projection of Dubya behind the band and then somewhere along the way, it morphed into McCain. Nice. Then of course everyone was on their feet for “Head Like A Hole”.

The encore had a nice surprise to it as well. After “Echoplex”, he introduced the band and told us that they do the work and he’s only up there because he looks “damn good”. Rawr. Then he said something along lines of whether they should do “something bright and uplifting or dark and depressing”. And that’s when we got the first notes of “Reptile”. This song is especially strong live - during the With Teeth tour, I remember everyone being blown away by it when it was in the middle of sets. Getting it in the encore was awesome...I’m still hearing oh my beautiful liar in my head.

(hurt...photo courtesy of NIN.com)

After “Reptile” was “Hurt”. An arena full of lighted cell phones and some old school lighters singing along to such a raw and emotional song. Always a highlight. And ending the show with “In This Twilight” - the visual behind the band is a skyline of some industrial city. During the course of the song, you see explosions and the sky changing from daylight to twilight. Then one by one, starting with Robin, the band members are spotlighted and walk off by stage, leaving Trent alone at the keyboard to finish off the song and then wave goodbye to everyone for the night.

A really good show. I noticed that one of the buddies that we made during the show was crying as we filed out of the arena. Not a knock on her at all - I’ve been known to cry at shows and I think if this had been my first show on this tour, I might have been joining her - the incredible energy that the crowd gave off just added to the intensity and her crying was the personification of that feeling.

One more thing - we cabbed it from our hotel to the show. We were super lucky and were able to flag down a cab right away. So a couple of people hopped into the cab with us because they were going the same way. Turns out they were from Hawaii and flew out to L.A. just for the show. I love that. It makes me feel like I’m not the only one crazy enough to fly across the country to see bands. I’ve got one more NIN show for the year - at Voodoo in NOLA. The light show will most likely be limited there but I hope they still get to play a long set.

Okay, that is all. I’m gonna get some coffee since I am too amped up (still) to sleep any more.