Previous Next Latest

Tour Preview: Nine Inch Nails Power Up the “Lights”

7/25/08, 2:10 pm EST


The Forum used to be the home arena of the Los Angeles Lakers, but last Saturday, it hosted a very different type of drama: 500 invited guests in a largely empty building got to see the dress rehearsal for Nine Inch Nails’ “Lights in the Sky” tour debuting tonight at the Pemberton Festival in British Columbia, and having its full opening show tomorrow in Seattle at the Key Arena. (Rock Daily will be live at both shows, so stay tuned for coverage).

Before the show, Trent Reznor came out in a gray hooded sweatshirt and addressed the crowd, explaining that they were trying out various material, so some parts of the show might not ultimately make it on tour, and that there might be some technical glitches: “Lots of things are going to happen that aren’t, let’s say, intentional.” He concluded, “I’m going to go backstage and throw up, and then I’ll see you guys.”

The two-hour show was astonishing, covering a wide range of Nine Inch Nails’ material, from “Head Like a Hole” through new songs from The Slip and instrumental pieces from Ghosts, which Reznor had never planned to play live. About a third of the way through the concert, Reznor deployed some video screens, but not to enlarge his face for the cheap seats: sometimes the band played in front of a desert backdrop, sometimes the screens responded to the music with colored bubbles (like Guitar Hero in reverse), sometimes the musicians vanished behind a wall of static.

“On stage, it’s very easy to tell when you lose people’s attention,” Reznor told RS later. “Generally at a rock show, the sound is not that great, and the guy next to me is an asshole and I have to pee and okay, that’s what these guys look like and that’s what’s going to happen for the next couple of hours. The world has gotten pretty lazy. It’s easy to go out and do a safe show that is all about guys just rocking. I say, ‘Fuck all that.’”

Check out the set list from the July 19 rehearsal below, which will probably change. As Reznor put it, “I think too much about this shit.”

Nine Inch Nails rehearsal setlist:
“1,000,000″
“Letting You”
“Discipline”
“March of the Pigs”
“Head Down”
“The Frail/The Wretched”
“Closer”
“Gave Up”
“The Warning”
“The Great Destroyer”
“Ghosts 1″
“Ghosts 25″
“Ghosts 19″
“Piggy”
“Wish”
“Terrible Lie”
“Survivalism”
“The Big Come Down”
“Ghosts 31″
“Only”
“The Hand That Feeds”
“Head Like A Hole”

Encore:
“Echoplex”
“The Beginning Of The End”
“The Good Soldier”
“Hurt”


Previous Next Latest

Comments

Kyrceck | 10/30/2008, 5:43 pm EST

fun concert, amazing set, awesome crowd, cool to meet finck and cortini in the bar after the show

chrrrrr | 8/5/2008, 10:08 pm EST

i’m pissing my pants of happyness

best live show | 8/3/2008, 7:27 pm EST

AMAZING! So I am going on a road trip to see them again! Once ain’t enough!

Bought The Slip in Chile | 8/2/2008, 12:10 am EST

I´ve been a huge Nine Inch Nails fan since Broken, and being 31, married, and a dad… in Santiago Chile, of all places (don´t get me wrong, I love my country), I thought I´d never see the day in which I´d be able to see NIN live. Well, that day has come. And to top it off, I bought copy #12,645 of The Slip. Bottom line: I´m hooked, and more of a fan than ever. But being a NIN fan doesn’t automatically exclude me from loving other music - The Black Crowes, for example, just to name one. The beauty of music is the diversity. Enjoy the diversity.

KILL THE ACADEMY | 8/1/2008, 2:14 pm EST

I’m waiting for Freese to break his arm so that I can be there net to the riser when the band needs a replacement. Not to take anything away from him, he’s amazing of course. I just see these new Youtube videos of the new tour.. and think to myself, there is no other stage, no other platform or arena I would want to be playing than where this tour lands to play a 28 song set list. I can’t imagine how incredible the band must feel behind those screens, with those lights, playing these songs. There is no drug, no alcohol, no high even close to what THAT must feel like. Good thing I have all the Tempos and BPM’s saved in my Alesis Sound Module and I know the songs from front to back. Bad news: Freese would probably STILL continue playing with a broken arm. That bastard.

dougefresh | 8/1/2008, 2:35 am EST

The pemberton show was ridiculous! If it was supposed to be a rehearsal, it was the most incredible, magic rehearsal I have ever seen! I am a veteran of at least hundreds of shows be it tour/festival/club/ you name it… Honestly, comparisons will be difficult at this point as it blew me away! My favorite, but also worst point was the song placement, slighty strange for me personally to go from March of the pigs to instrumental! otherwise a seminal production in my mind!

Resurrected NIN Fan | 7/31/2008, 6:26 pm EST

The Edmonton show was out of this world incredible, word will quickly get out that the NIN concert is the must see tour of the year

Resurrected NIN Fan | 7/31/2008, 6:26 pm EST

The Edmonton show was out of this world incredible, word will quickly get out that the NIN concert is the must see tour of the year

airq zlgu | 7/31/2008, 3:42 am EST

jaxu pqgw dbtuw mknibdeor evhx dovixhkj dlufxg

Rocks | 7/29/2008, 7:32 pm EST

Nine Inch Nails Rocks!!
The best kive band!! Period!

Live Music Fan | 7/28/2008, 1:01 pm EST

Wow a lot of people are opinionated and negative on here. I’m just so excited to go see NIN tonight in Edmonton. I love live music and always appreciate the talent that these rock stars share with us. Why can’t we just enjoy what’s out there and if people listen to Boy George and it makes them happy… leave ‘em alone! :P

T from Toronto | 7/28/2008, 10:44 am EST

I was at the rehearsal in L.A. last weekend, and the show was beyond words amazing!

I’ve been to hundreds of live shows in my time, from massive tours (think U2 and most recently Pearl Jam’s show in West Palm Beach, Florida) to tiny little gigs (think any random weeknight at the Rivoli or Phoenix in Toronto) throughout many parts of Canada and some parts of the USA, and this was by far one of the best shows I have ever seen.

The band was amazing, Trent was mesmerizing, and the show itself is a must see.

Meatwad | 7/28/2008, 9:51 am EST

This will be a great show. Reznor is a true musician and showman.

EvilMulder | 7/27/2008, 10:02 pm EST

Trent should get with Twig and Manson and rip a tour out of their collective asses that would show the world what the two most powerful acts in music can do when they bring their A-Game.

TokkaTonkka | 7/27/2008, 3:40 pm EST

We are excited in Bogotá, Colombia!
Trent and his dudes will gonna make a huge gig October 12th!!! NIN welcome to our country!!!

Arch Stanton | 7/27/2008, 1:58 pm EST

Who are these Pearl Jam defenders when the subject is Trent? I mean anything associated with Vedder is a complete Sham. The guy was voted in high school most likely to succeed. It disgusts me to see him associated as some influence on us as a spokesman of any sorts. Cobain lived in the real world and understood the plight of the youth. Vedder without meeting Gossard and crew could have likely ended up on Wall Street or some other pathetic occupation. But here he sits claiming apathy and understanding all the while releasing self important garbage nobody cares for. I am quite sure another Lennon or Cobain is coming from somewhere hopefully but for now we are stuck with Eddie. The surfer jock we all despised in high school who now claims to be the one all self important fool we worship. Sad. True. I pity the youth.

in response | 7/27/2008, 1:50 am EST

You guys need some discipline-
“Once i start i cannot stop myself” that’s how the Nine inch nails song goes but for this forum whe should change it to:
“Once you guys start (hating each other) You can not stop yourselves.” Everybody’s got their own opinion. Let’s just agree to disagree. Do you need some discipline? You can have mine!

nin PIG | 7/26/2008, 10:46 am EST

if you dig NIN as i do, i think you will enjoy this show…fantastic lighting, sparce stage and the music spoke for itself. if you’re not in to NIN…there’s always the Pussy Cat Dolls for ya’, enjoy!!

clench | 7/26/2008, 2:30 am EST

To the overrated poster. If it’s so easy why aren’t you famous? I’ve got a couple guitars and a computer and can’t come near to NIN sounds. Also I’m 54 years old and not some inexperience kid. Rezner might not be a genius, but he certainly is very creative.

Overrated? | 7/26/2008, 2:16 am EST

Spell check sir.

First off, Nine Inch Nails is currently standing the test of time since Trent’s been doing his thing at least ‘89.

Second, music is definitely subjective, but you are in a tiny minority by saying that the singles are the best of his work and that the albums are boring. Sure, its your opinion, but I’d be interested in seeing what your favorite albums are.

Third, anybody whos tried to make music on their computer sound like Trents knows that it is not fucking easy at all.

Looking forward to the show at the Key tomorrow night.

myklspader | 7/26/2008, 12:22 am EST

I just hope he beefs up the set list a little more… where is Last… better play Last when they hit Knoxville.

overated | 7/25/2008, 11:05 pm EST

We haven’t heard about stp in years aside from their stupid reunion gigs recently. Metallica has been off the radar for 5 years, and we’ve only heard some news here and there about pearl jam from 2006 to now and really no coverage before that so man this guy arch needs to update his references. Also with NIN, only the singles are good. Their albums are inconsistent and dare i say BORING. NIN is and always has been an overated band. Trent is NO genius! He just creates a bunch of noise on a computer, adds lyrics, and sells it as music. Anybody can do that. Only the select few can create art and art that stands the test of time.

What are you talking about? | 7/25/2008, 10:44 pm EST

Stp may be cookie cutter prepackaged rock and metallica’s in the headlines on rs.com trying to build hype around Death Magnetic but Pearl Jam linked to being “force fed to us the past couple years” is ridiculous. Pearl Jam hasn’t been in the limelight in 14 years. They gained some exposure again with their self titled album in 2006 but it was well deserved. The band had made 4 phenomenal records prior to “Pearl Jam” that went virtually unnoticed. While the last record got some attention, to say it was spoonfed to people is a ludicrous statement. How many people have seen the Life Wasted video-more than Save You, Love Boat Captain, and I Am Mine-but far less than the ten era when JEremy, ALive, and Evenflow saturated airwaves and MTV back when they still played videos. And what about their other single from 2006’s album- WOrld Wide Suicide-how many people have heard of that single? This is not to say that the album was not a hit and gained some exposure but it certainly was not spoonfed. You see if they were “spoonfed”, their video would be appearing on tv in heavy rotation and the single would be played to death on radio. This is not 1991 anymore when you’re argument might have some merit. They’ve proven that they are a band that creates timeless art. And for the record, next to the Van Halen reunion tour with DLR that i saw, Pearl Jam is the best live band right now. They never disapoint!!!

Arch Stanton | 7/25/2008, 6:40 pm EST

Thanks goodness for NIN. No Pearl Jam, STP, Metallica crap thats been force feed to us these past few years. This will put those tree loving, dirty hippy, posers hiding in their homes thankfully. Long Live Cobain….

JB | 7/25/2008, 5:53 pm EST

1st off, i love NIN

2nd: Living in Montana I knew I’d never get to see NIN live there, but after moving to Vegas I thought I was set.

3rd: Nope. Not this year.

nin fan | 7/25/2008, 4:00 pm EST

the slip was amazing… i bet they sound even better live!!

12 stepper | 7/25/2008, 3:29 pm EST

Im digging the Slip.

Post A Comment

Caution: Off-topic comments will be deleted

Name:

Comments:



Advertisement

Advertisement