Date: November 3rd 2005
This is the first big arena tour for Nine Inch Nails in five years and it’s easy to tell: the Garden is filling up with people from all age groups, the colour black is favoured by most, and it’s not even time for the first band.
Death From Above 1979, the openers, are lukewarmly received. The crowd is mostly just curious to see how the duo will fare, what with being a duo and having a drummer as the lead singer. ‘Romantic Rights’ sets heads nodding, but they just can’t seem to fill the large stage even with the clutter of equipment taking up most of the space. There are some distinctive riffs, but mostly it seems like noise if you are unacquainted with the songs as most of this crowd is.
Main support, Queens of the Stone Age, go down much better. There are a few rabid fans in the pit to stir things up early; an excitable girl tries to scramble up on stage, flailing frantically as the security tries to gently get her out of there. The first few songs are well-delivered but when ‘Burn the Witch’ is played, things heat up. The song has got an irresistible rhythm and is the set highlight. ‘No One Knows’ gets a thorough reworking and it serves to freshen up a good, if overplayed, single. Apparently the band has not been so well-received elsewhere and, in response to the cheers and whistles, Josh Homme says that he likes us. He really likes us.
Nine Inch Nails appear behind a gauzy curtain and the pit becomes a dangerous place where you can lose your shoes, not to mention some blood. This is the first time Trent Reznor has played a big arena while sober and he attacks each song with that sharp clear-headedness. ‘March of the Pigs’ is wielded like a weapon while ‘Beside You In Time’ sets off those lit up mobiles and ‘Hurt’ sees the most crowd-surfers despite being one of the most tender songs (it results in a few bruises and a split chin). All the while Aaron North acts like a one-man show, stalking ’round and ’round, guitar bucking in his hands as if trying to escape. Once they play ‘Head Like A Hole’, the set closer, the bar for mayhem is raised as the keyboard is smashed and the amps and drum kit overturned, guitars flying through the air, broken pieces flung into the seething crowd.
A mess of debris litters the floor and everybody slowly stumbles out, some shell shocked, some bleeding and bruised, some cradling broken limbs, but all look pleased, war wounds notwithstanding.
Previously published on This Is Fake DIY.
Tags: Live, nine inch nails, Review