Trent Reznor Says Goodbye to Nine Inch Nails

Toward the end of Nine Inch Nails‘ gig at New York’s Bowery Ballroom, Trent Reznor looked exhausted. “This is fucking tiring up here, man!” he said from the stage. “I’m too old for this shit.” The 44-year-old won’t have to scream through his old band’s hits many more times: Reznor says this short club tour is NIN’s last ever. At the insanely packed kickoff show, he gave the 550-person crowd a farewell gift of two hours of hits and rarities, including a frenzied take on 1989’s “Down in It” and a hypnotic cover of Joy Division‘s “Dead Souls.”

This story is from the September 17th, 2009 issue of Rolling Stone.