LimeWire Music Blog

As promised, my third and final Nine Inch Nails live experience was a more carefully calculated and a more rewarding experience.  Forced to watch most of the previous night’s performance via television screen, I made a point to secure solid spots this time ’round, sitting underneath the tables and dangling my feet over the edge for the duration of the evening.  This proved to be a perfect, safe, and cool vantage point to watch the entire show with ease, a nice change from duking it out in the pit for both previous shows.

I was definitely looking forward to catching Mew, a recent obsession of mine, and though perhaps their more positive, beautiful music didn’t quite suite the nihilistic Nine Inch Nails crowd as well as The Horrors did, their set still exceeded my expectations.  The band began in a strict formation, building and adding members as “New Terrain” continued, eventually revealing all five performers in one fluid line, masterfully wielding their instruments.  Their set was breathtaking, combining lush melodies and perfect harmonies with eerie visual projections that called both Georges Méliès and the Brothers Quay to mind.  Most of the set consisted of newer material plucked from No More Stories…, but “Special” and “The Zookeeper’s Boy” brought a smile to my face   If anything, I am already anxious to catch them again on their own turf, for a longer, and more developed headlining set.  All the same, I couldn’t stop beaming.

Copious amounts of fog set the stage for what would be my final live Nine Inch Nails experience.  Unlike the night before, the wait was brief, and almost immediately, the familiar drones and textures of “Pinion” rang loud and true over the PA, cuing the band’s entrance.  “Somewhat Damaged,” a building stop-start rave, kicked off the evening with intense flair and instantly the once-sterile crowd erupted into one of the most violent pits I have ever seen in my life.  Both the band and the crowd were inexorably brutal for the first half of the show, neither faction pausing to take a breath.  Early highlights in the set included an ancient, but still powerful remix of “Piggy,” the amphetamine-laced synth-pop gem “Sin,” and the abrasive, crushing “Last,” a track I had been dying to hear live all year long.

If the first half of the set was relentless and brutal, the second half was a more tranquil and melodic.  Known not just for their roaring fury, Trent and co. have always had a knack for atmospheric beauty, and even though a large portion of the crowd talked straight through these more lucid moments, they proved to be just as powerful as the first half of the show.  Highlights included hearing both “The Wretched” and “La Mer” again (after last night’s debacle, the repeat performance was welcome), as well as the soft, piano-driven instrumental “Gone, Still” and the passionate ”Lights in the Sky.”  As always, the main set and first encore concluded with the same familiar tunes, but whereas I’d normally balk to hear “The Hand that Feeds,” ”Survivalism,” and “Head Like a Hole” for the umpteenth time each, the finality of the situation washed over me in an impressive and poignant wave.  No matter how many times I took these tracks for granted, they will certainly be missed.

Though ”Head Like a Hole” generally marks the epic conclusion of a Nine Inch Nails gig, there was still more debauchery to be had.  After a lengthy encore break, fog once again filled the stage in a tremendous wave, as the familiar mechanical drones and churns signified the beginning of “Reptile.”  Expecting a solid performance of the track to follow, everyone in the audience was taken back by a slowly descending figure, barely visible through the mist.  The lights flashed, the song exploded and the shrouded figure was revealed to be Peter Murphy.  Instead of pussyfooting around on stage, the former Bauhaus frontman sang the entire track whilst suspended from the ceiling, contorting and swinging in between the song’s forceful verses.  The crowd exploded once again, as Murphy’s theatrics and moody vocal delivery culminated in a rather special rendition of the otherwise fan-favorite, certainly topping the flawed performance from the night before.

Though some may have felt let down by the show’s non Nine Inch Nails conclusion, this particular encore will remain etched in my brain as one of the finest displays of both rock ‘n’ roll prowess and grace.

The track ended and Murphy dismounted, returning to the mic to perform an intimate version of his own “Strange Kind of Love,” complete with the telltale “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” teaser.  Not content with ending on this more somber, acoustic note, the band immediately launched into a blistering cover of Pere Ubu’s “Final Solution” (also covered by Murphy on his first solo outing in 1986), with Reznor, Murphy, and guitarist Robin Finck sharing vocal duties.  Though some may have felt let down by the show’s non Nine Inch Nails conclusion, this particular encore will remain etched in my brain as one of the finest displays of both rock ‘n’ roll prowess and grace.

It’s been a long, painful, and cathartic journey for Reznor and Nine Inch Nails, from his first outings with reel-to-reel tape machines, the daylight Lollapalooza performances, rebellious record label battles and rocky musical partnerships, the industrial explosion of The Downward Spiral and the mud and sweat-soaked chaos of the Self Destruct tour, the twists and turns of the creative spirit, Reznor’s discovery of self, sobriety, and supercharged productivity, and most importantly, the engaging music both in and out of the studio.  In short, I hope it’s been as rewarding to experience firsthand as it’s been to watch unfold from a fan’s distance.

Though Reznor vows to continue making records and recording with and outside of Nine Inch Nails, it’s hard to separate the band’s functional existence from its live entity, as the two are inextricably linked.  These performances mark the end of an era, and though the reality of everything hasn’t really sunk in just yet, I am extremely grateful to have experienced these final New York shows in the flesh.

Nine Inch Nails setlist:
1. Pinion/Somewhat Damaged
2. Wish
3. Last
4. Sin
5. March of The Pigs
6. Something I Can Never Have
7. Piggy (Nothing Can Stop Me Now remix)
8. Metal [Gary Numan]
9. Terrible Lie
10. Head Down
11. Burn
12. Gave Up
13. La Mer
14. The Frail
15. The Wretched
16. Non-Entity
17. Gone, Still
18. Lights In The Sky
19. The Downward Spiral
20. 1,000,000
21. Survivalism
22. The Good Soldier
23. Dead Souls
24. Hurt

Encore 1:
25. Suck
26. Down In It
27. The Hand That Feeds
28. Head Like A Hole

Encore 2:
29. Reptile (with Peter Murphy)
30. A Strange Kind Of Love/Bela Lugosi’s Dead [Peter Murphy/Bauhaus] (with Peter Murphy)
31. Final Solution [Pere Ubu] (with Peter Murphy)

Images by Natalie Kocsis.  Video by NatrlSelection.