Nine Inch Nails Cancel L.A. Show Due to Trent Reznor's Illness

Nine Inch Nails' Wave Goodbye tour came to a brief halt today: Trent Reznor got sick, forcing the band to cancel tonight's concert at Los Angeles' Henry Fonda Theatre, the official Nine Inch Nails Website posted this morning. The concert was to be Nine Inch Nails' second of four shows in Los Angeles; the fourth show at the city's Echoplex will mark the final NIN concert ever. No word yet whether the Henry Fonda performance will be rescheduled or canceled.

"We're very sorry to announce that Trent is ill, and on his doctor's orders we will not be able to perform tonight's show at the Henry Fonda Theater. This is the only information we have at this time, we're posting this early announcement as a convenience for those of you who had plans to attend," reads the post on the NIN Website. "Reimbursement details will be posted as soon as we figure them out; likely within the next 24 hours. We wish this wasn't necessary and we're very sorry for the inconvenience. Thank you for your understanding."

Despite battling an illness, Reznor and Nine Inch Nails performed last night as Los Angeles' Palladium, and as they did when they came to New York's Webster Hall last month, the band played their classic The Downward Spiral in its entirety. But there were more surprises in store for the Palladium crowd, Brooklyn Vegan reports: Gary Numan, whose music served as a major inspiration for Reznor, came out to perform two The Pleasure Principle tracks with NIN.

First, they performed "Metal," a song that's been frequently covered by Nine Inch Nails, then came a rendition of Numan's most famous song, "Cars." As Rolling Stone previously reported, Bauhaus' Peter Murphy joined NIN onstage during the band's last two concerts in New York City.

Barring further cancellations, Rolling Stone will be at Trent Reznor's show at the Echoplex for what will be Nine Inch Nails' final concert, so check back for the full report.

Related Stories:
• Nine Inch Nails Wave Goodbye to New York With Bauhaus' Murphy
• Nine Inch Nails Perform Full "Downward Spiral" as Wave Goodbye Tour Gets Underway

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Song Stories

“Piano Man”

Billy Joel | 1973

Billy Joel’s first hit, “Piano Man,” was – ironically – an autobiographical lament about how his first album wasn’t a hit. When Cold Spring Harbor didn’t take off, Joel briefly became a lounge pianist in Los Angeles, and this song, about that experience, expressed his frustrations and fears at the time: “And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar/And say, ‘Man, what are you doing here?’” “It was all right,” Joel said later, about the gig. “I got free drinks and union scale, which was the first steady money I’d made in a long time.”

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