I now know, the depths I reach are limitless.
Yesterday Chantene, Kaelon, and I waited from about 9 AM till night because we had pit tickets for NIN in Inglewood. Even when we got there, there were already about 20 people waiting. It was hot and we had to sit in the sun for a good while. The security for the venue didn’t know about ‘the spiral presale’ so all the fans got MAJORLY pissed, I had never experienced something like this… people were trying to explain that spiral gets priority and yet they kept fucking up. We were in four different lines before we got to the venue, and the people we were with (minus this fat chick) were so pissed off about this (even though it was going to work out) and especially this one chick that would NOT stfu. Not in general about the line business, but all she talked about consisted of herself and badmouthing this woman who tried to cut us earlier who had implants and heels (lolz). There was a guy in front of us in line that looked like Josh Homme. Finally they let us in the underground of the venue and separated us into two lines again. This was scary because, the spiral people were about to RIOT since they were going to let people who got GA in at the same time as us (which would have defeated the purpose of the spiral fan club/getting there super early in the first place). Since Chantene and I had spiral and Kaelon didn’t, we were just hoping that a) we’d get barricade, otherwise we would seriously be injured and b) that Kaelon would somehow be able to find us so he’d protect us. So they let us in, I ‘walked fast’ to get part of the barricade, and when Chantene met me up this deformed woman wasn’t letting her get on (??). They had an argument lol and then magically Kaelon appeared behind us, thank GOD cuz it was as crazy as you’d expect it to be.
The opening band was called Deerhunter and they actually weren’t that bad, AND they only played like four or five songs so they were out of there quick. One of the security guards told us that this show was the best show he had ever seen, which made us really eager and curious. I had a slight headache all day and I was a little bit worried cuz the last time I ate had been at like 1 PM, so I was tired and hungry and still in disbelief that I was on barricade at a HUGE NIN show. I’ve been so busy that I didn’t get properly pumped up for this as usual but once they started setting up the rest of the equipment and revealed the stage with like a backboard of lights, I was pretty excited…
Staying in line from morning to night was SOOOOOO FUCKING WORTH IT.
Set list:
999,999
1,000,000
Letting You
Discipline
March of the Pigs
Head Down
The Frail
Closer
Gave Up
The Warning
VESSEL
5 Ghosts I
17 Ghosts II
19 Ghosts III
Piggy [ala Ghost]
The Greater Good
Pinion
Wish
Terrible Lie
Survivalism
THE BIG COME DOWN
31 Ghosts IV
Only
The Hand That Feeds
Head Like A Hole
--------
Echoplex
GOD GIVEN
Reptile
Hurt
In This Twilight
Oh my god, I was BLOWN AWAY not only by the set list, but the visuals were wtf?!?!?!?! I can’t explain them, because Trent is too awesome, but I will try. First of all OMG almost all the set list was Year Zero + The Slip and I was SO HAPPY because that plus the Ghosts album (also AMAZING LIVE) were the magical new albums Trent whipped out in like 6 months so I had never seen/heard any of that material live and fuck it was SO GOOD! No Starfuckers, yay haha! The set list was also full of fucking mosh songs though which definitely kicked my ass as I held onto the barricade for dear life (see: Gave Up, March of the Pigs, LETTING YOU, Wish, Survivalism! etc).
Also, Chantene and I thought we’d never live to see Robin Finck play guitar for NIN in the flesh after he left the Fragility tour that we watched like a million times on dvd because he is an amazing (x47829) player but we were RIGHT in front of him, and he threw his guitar directly at me and Chantene after Letting You (I think) and it was the coolest thing ever! Hahaha he was AWESOME and later threw his water bottle at Chantene =). Omg, Robin and Trent and Josh Freese and Alessandro Cortini and the random jewfro new guy were soooooooooooooooooo good. Then he started playing a really slow version of Piggy with all the instruments… wow, and Josh Freese went CRAZY with the drums near the end hahah awesome.
Okay so onto it. Everyone went nuts when we heard “how did I slip into…” from the intro of The Slip album. Trent came out in tight black pants and a red flannel shirt that easily got drenched within the first few minutes. He was so hot haha. Robin came out OMG he began his awesomeness. Head Down was so great, it is definitely one of my favs (as well as other fans) on that album and it was great live! Moshing behind us yada yada people passing out left and right and this was just the beginning (lol). The first set up through all of this was the backboard of lights making a weird wavy effect with pure rocking out.
When he played The Frail it was awesome but such a tease, we were anticipating The Wretched right after but he went to Closer which was fine. He was being really sexy and grabbing his crotch and dancing (!!!) and we were all O_O. With The Only Time breakdown, again, w00t. Oh yeah, Chantene and I got KICK ASS pictures omg. At one point he came on our side and ya that was probably the closest I had ever been to T.Rez.
So then these two walls of lights came down and they started playing some Year Zero stuff OH MY GOD. Okay, during Vessel, these red marks were around the guys of the band and kept pulsing like the song… fuck it was so cool. So many people were recording every performance cuz it was just so good. Trent got really into it and knocked over his little dj podium keyboard thing, the noises at the end got intense and crazy, everything is sooooo good live I still can’t comprehend.
For the Ghosts material (all instrumentals, for those n00bs), they set up the stage during Vessel so that all the band members were now inbetween the sheets of lights, in addition to a background projection, so it was completely atmospheric and SO COOL. Trent played like five different instruments, jewfro played cello, Josh Freese played weird stuff… it was fucking awesome, especially since they played the one that sounds like a western mixed with Tarantino (lol! First too!). There was landscape around them and it looked soooooooooooooooooooooooooo cool, and at one point a clear projection appeared in the middle where you could see the members playing but it looked like they were in this hole. Wtf?? =D
BUT THEN, The Greater Good started playing and all the members were behind the sheets still, but now the front one was blocking everything so you couldn’t see anything, and things were out of focus on the screen (haha typical Trent) but then you could make out that it was his mouth singing the song and he came out by himself with a guy with the camera who’s doing the live shooting and it was so sexy, the girls were going nuts cuz it was just a shot of his eye and mouth at separate times and he was licking his teeth/lips… Mmmmm hahahaha. The technology though was already INSANE and the night wasn’t even half done.
Then Pinion started and everyone was like !, Wish and Terrible Lie also kicked ass of course and Robin was crazy with guitar again. Survivalism started and I held on haha. They had like a projection of the tv’s like in the video but among the eight or so of them was one of someone having sex in a bathroom, and then one of him singing live which he pointed the camera out to the crowd at one point (but on the other side) and it was funny because clearly, no one could move ahahahah.
THEN the walls came down again, plus these light rods that swung everywhere for The Big Come Down and that song has gotta be in my top 10 if not my top 5 NIN songs, my second time hearing it live, but fuck it was incredible, especially with the lights and stuff, the rods were swinging and you could see Trent pushing them and everyone playing around them, it was SO COOL.
The sheets stayed down for another Ghost instrumental, which after Only started playing and this time, the sheet visual was revamped from the one we had seen like 3 years ago… it was static but wherever Trent moved, the static cleared in real time (!) and if that wasn’t cool enough, whenever he moved his hands, the static started scrolling to one side or the other. Wtf?!?! Omg.
During The Hand That Feeds there was a projection of Bush, that later morphed into McCain. Head Like A Hole was another moshy closer, I still love that song even though it’s like two decades old. Plus FINCK singing the chorus AH! And we knew we were in for an encore, but I had no idea it would be SUCH an AMAZING ENCORE…
----
The back light sheet came down with boxes, so we knew Echoplex was gonna start playing. Josh Freese came out and starting touching boxes (???) and they light up and made noises, and he kept going until a few select ones were red and proceeded for his drum set and everyone came back out and played omg.
THEN THEY PLAYED “GOD GIVEN”… Chantene and I were like OMG because we didn’t think we’d hear it and it’s def one of our favs if not our fav off Year Zero. Finck sang the really fast whispered parts, omg. I can’t say anything else except it was just too awesome live.
REPTILE WITH ROBIN FINCK… OMG. FUCK, SO GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There was green thick fog everywhere, lights were pulsing… I fucking love that song and it was just AH!!!!!!
Hurt was so good, it became the most quiet I had ever witnessed and we were at the forum so there were thousands of people there. It was very very cool, and then…
IN THIS TWILIGHT. Kaelon and I were so !!, also a fav from YZ. They had a projection of LA burning but it was SO BEAUTIFUL. I think I shed a tear, the girls next to me were balling during Hurt and this hahaha. Omg I still can’t believe I saw that live, omg, what an amazing closer!
Now, this was the BEST CONCERT I have EVER been to, and definitely the BEST NIN show ever. I don’t understand how Trent Reznor manages to outdo himself EVERY time because every NIN show I’ve been to gets a million times better (lol no pun intended) and is always completely different, but this was mind blowing. I know I say this after many concerts, but I was really so speechless I couldn’t even say anything afterwards because I was just thinking, “what have I just seen???” I can’t wait to get the pics from Chantene’s camera, we took so many good ones. It was SO COOL, everything was fucking awesome, and they better come out with a dvd!! I’m not even being biased but really, no other band could ever manage to pull out a production like that, not even Roger Waters. I don’t really have any other words for it other than it was FUCKING INCREDIBLE. =DDDDD
The opening band was called Deerhunter and they actually weren’t that bad, AND they only played like four or five songs so they were out of there quick. One of the security guards told us that this show was the best show he had ever seen, which made us really eager and curious. I had a slight headache all day and I was a little bit worried cuz the last time I ate had been at like 1 PM, so I was tired and hungry and still in disbelief that I was on barricade at a HUGE NIN show. I’ve been so busy that I didn’t get properly pumped up for this as usual but once they started setting up the rest of the equipment and revealed the stage with like a backboard of lights, I was pretty excited…
Staying in line from morning to night was SOOOOOO FUCKING WORTH IT.
Set list:
999,999
1,000,000
Letting You
Discipline
March of the Pigs
Head Down
The Frail
Closer
Gave Up
The Warning
VESSEL
5 Ghosts I
17 Ghosts II
19 Ghosts III
Piggy [ala Ghost]
The Greater Good
Pinion
Wish
Terrible Lie
Survivalism
THE BIG COME DOWN
31 Ghosts IV
Only
The Hand That Feeds
Head Like A Hole
--------
Echoplex
GOD GIVEN
Reptile
Hurt
In This Twilight
Oh my god, I was BLOWN AWAY not only by the set list, but the visuals were wtf?!?!?!?! I can’t explain them, because Trent is too awesome, but I will try. First of all OMG almost all the set list was Year Zero + The Slip and I was SO HAPPY because that plus the Ghosts album (also AMAZING LIVE) were the magical new albums Trent whipped out in like 6 months so I had never seen/heard any of that material live and fuck it was SO GOOD! No Starfuckers, yay haha! The set list was also full of fucking mosh songs though which definitely kicked my ass as I held onto the barricade for dear life (see: Gave Up, March of the Pigs, LETTING YOU, Wish, Survivalism! etc).
Also, Chantene and I thought we’d never live to see Robin Finck play guitar for NIN in the flesh after he left the Fragility tour that we watched like a million times on dvd because he is an amazing (x47829) player but we were RIGHT in front of him, and he threw his guitar directly at me and Chantene after Letting You (I think) and it was the coolest thing ever! Hahaha he was AWESOME and later threw his water bottle at Chantene =). Omg, Robin and Trent and Josh Freese and Alessandro Cortini and the random jewfro new guy were soooooooooooooooooo good. Then he started playing a really slow version of Piggy with all the instruments… wow, and Josh Freese went CRAZY with the drums near the end hahah awesome.
Okay so onto it. Everyone went nuts when we heard “how did I slip into…” from the intro of The Slip album. Trent came out in tight black pants and a red flannel shirt that easily got drenched within the first few minutes. He was so hot haha. Robin came out OMG he began his awesomeness. Head Down was so great, it is definitely one of my favs (as well as other fans) on that album and it was great live! Moshing behind us yada yada people passing out left and right and this was just the beginning (lol). The first set up through all of this was the backboard of lights making a weird wavy effect with pure rocking out.
When he played The Frail it was awesome but such a tease, we were anticipating The Wretched right after but he went to Closer which was fine. He was being really sexy and grabbing his crotch and dancing (!!!) and we were all O_O. With The Only Time breakdown, again, w00t. Oh yeah, Chantene and I got KICK ASS pictures omg. At one point he came on our side and ya that was probably the closest I had ever been to T.Rez.
So then these two walls of lights came down and they started playing some Year Zero stuff OH MY GOD. Okay, during Vessel, these red marks were around the guys of the band and kept pulsing like the song… fuck it was so cool. So many people were recording every performance cuz it was just so good. Trent got really into it and knocked over his little dj podium keyboard thing, the noises at the end got intense and crazy, everything is sooooo good live I still can’t comprehend.
For the Ghosts material (all instrumentals, for those n00bs), they set up the stage during Vessel so that all the band members were now inbetween the sheets of lights, in addition to a background projection, so it was completely atmospheric and SO COOL. Trent played like five different instruments, jewfro played cello, Josh Freese played weird stuff… it was fucking awesome, especially since they played the one that sounds like a western mixed with Tarantino (lol! First too!). There was landscape around them and it looked soooooooooooooooooooooooooo cool, and at one point a clear projection appeared in the middle where you could see the members playing but it looked like they were in this hole. Wtf?? =D
BUT THEN, The Greater Good started playing and all the members were behind the sheets still, but now the front one was blocking everything so you couldn’t see anything, and things were out of focus on the screen (haha typical Trent) but then you could make out that it was his mouth singing the song and he came out by himself with a guy with the camera who’s doing the live shooting and it was so sexy, the girls were going nuts cuz it was just a shot of his eye and mouth at separate times and he was licking his teeth/lips… Mmmmm hahahaha. The technology though was already INSANE and the night wasn’t even half done.
Then Pinion started and everyone was like !, Wish and Terrible Lie also kicked ass of course and Robin was crazy with guitar again. Survivalism started and I held on haha. They had like a projection of the tv’s like in the video but among the eight or so of them was one of someone having sex in a bathroom, and then one of him singing live which he pointed the camera out to the crowd at one point (but on the other side) and it was funny because clearly, no one could move ahahahah.
THEN the walls came down again, plus these light rods that swung everywhere for The Big Come Down and that song has gotta be in my top 10 if not my top 5 NIN songs, my second time hearing it live, but fuck it was incredible, especially with the lights and stuff, the rods were swinging and you could see Trent pushing them and everyone playing around them, it was SO COOL.
The sheets stayed down for another Ghost instrumental, which after Only started playing and this time, the sheet visual was revamped from the one we had seen like 3 years ago… it was static but wherever Trent moved, the static cleared in real time (!) and if that wasn’t cool enough, whenever he moved his hands, the static started scrolling to one side or the other. Wtf?!?! Omg.
During The Hand That Feeds there was a projection of Bush, that later morphed into McCain. Head Like A Hole was another moshy closer, I still love that song even though it’s like two decades old. Plus FINCK singing the chorus AH! And we knew we were in for an encore, but I had no idea it would be SUCH an AMAZING ENCORE…
----
The back light sheet came down with boxes, so we knew Echoplex was gonna start playing. Josh Freese came out and starting touching boxes (???) and they light up and made noises, and he kept going until a few select ones were red and proceeded for his drum set and everyone came back out and played omg.
THEN THEY PLAYED “GOD GIVEN”… Chantene and I were like OMG because we didn’t think we’d hear it and it’s def one of our favs if not our fav off Year Zero. Finck sang the really fast whispered parts, omg. I can’t say anything else except it was just too awesome live.
REPTILE WITH ROBIN FINCK… OMG. FUCK, SO GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There was green thick fog everywhere, lights were pulsing… I fucking love that song and it was just AH!!!!!!
Hurt was so good, it became the most quiet I had ever witnessed and we were at the forum so there were thousands of people there. It was very very cool, and then…
IN THIS TWILIGHT. Kaelon and I were so !!, also a fav from YZ. They had a projection of LA burning but it was SO BEAUTIFUL. I think I shed a tear, the girls next to me were balling during Hurt and this hahaha. Omg I still can’t believe I saw that live, omg, what an amazing closer!
Now, this was the BEST CONCERT I have EVER been to, and definitely the BEST NIN show ever. I don’t understand how Trent Reznor manages to outdo himself EVERY time because every NIN show I’ve been to gets a million times better (lol no pun intended) and is always completely different, but this was mind blowing. I know I say this after many concerts, but I was really so speechless I couldn’t even say anything afterwards because I was just thinking, “what have I just seen???” I can’t wait to get the pics from Chantene’s camera, we took so many good ones. It was SO COOL, everything was fucking awesome, and they better come out with a dvd!! I’m not even being biased but really, no other band could ever manage to pull out a production like that, not even Roger Waters. I don’t really have any other words for it other than it was FUCKING INCREDIBLE. =DDDDD