NIN/JA Skillz
I know I haven't posted part II of my Coachella trip but I wanted to put up a few pics and talk about my experience at the NINJA show on Saturday first.
For a lot of you young pups you might wanna sit down and listen to Uncle Brian for a sec. See, back in the roarin' mid to late 90s there was a full blown explosion of all things "alternative". See, this brand of music was dubbed "alternative" because it was supposedly the alternative to the mainstream but it wasn't really because at that time the most popular music was the mainstream music which was called alternative. Do ya get that?
So yeah, before all of that there was a nice, little, smaller explosion. This was before Nirvana's Nevermind even released Smells Like Teen Spirit as a single. This was the Summer of '91... Picture it, a barely 18 y/o Brian was sitting in his sweltering Bakersfield plot of affordable housing wondering what the Summer would bring when his buddy James calls and says "Hey, do you want to go see Jane's Addiction with me and Tim and Rick in Irvine?" I of course say yes (Jane's, Social Distortion, REM, and U2 were almost the only bands I listened to regularly at the time) and he then tells me good, because he's picked us up four lawn seats for something called Lollapalooza. I had just been reading about it in Rolling Stone so I asked him if he knew this same show also included Living Color and a bunch of other bands. He had no idea. We both decided to watch 120 minutes that week because they were doing the show from Lollapalooza in Phoenix. Well, it was that night that we caught videos for the Rollins Band, heard about Body Count, and it was that night that I first saw the video for a band called Nine Inch Nails' single, Head Like a Hole.
Fast forward to the day of the show. NIN is on early in the SoCal sun. To me the lead singer seems more concerned with his equipment (which seems to not be working the way he wants it to) and I get bored after I hear Head Like a Hole and I go and buy a t-shirt instead of listening to the rest of the set. Jane's plays that night and it's insane. We're close enough to LA for them to open with "Home" and they simply blow me away. It's my first alt. rock show - it's my first time to see a pit. It was all love at first sight. Hell, there were even bonfires in the lawn area and a naked fat hairy guy nearby.
Since that time I've seen Jane's three additional times. Twice with Flea on bass and once again last Saturday. Seeing Eric Avery back up there with the band was really mighty fine. He belongs in the band. Head down, business on his face, and thumping bass lines. He's the regular Joe paying the bills and he even lets us see him enjoy himself a few times. Perry is a constant showman. Not always lucid but always from the heart. He loves being on stage and he doesn't care what he has to sing or do to be in that spotlight. He's a ringmaster's ringmaster. Dave Navarro - ok, he's fun on Twitter but onstage he's a preening Diva. He lives for the moment to take his shirt off and loves to swagger into the spotlight. He separates himself from the band on stage (they all do to an extent) but to me he's the one who's let their Hollywood roots go deepest into his head. And finally Stephen Perkins. He's the guy who truly looks like he is having the time of his life. His joy and energy is infectious even if his employment of a utility kilt is not as inspiring.
The music is spirited and it's solid. The time goes by far too quickly. They belt out so many classics - Ocean Size, 3 Days, Mountain Song, Standing in the Shower Thinking, Stop, Been Caught Stealin and slip in gems like Nothing's Shocking and Ted, Just Admit it. They even open up their encore with Summertime Rolls and that was the moment for me. The moment that joined '91 and '09 together. They closed with Jane Says and there were smiles all around.
So I'll give my thanks to Trent Reznor for putting the shows together. That equipment puttering grouch I saw for the first time in '91. He paid homage to one of his favorite bands by going on the road with them and letting them close each night. NIN's set was solid if a little uneven. They did about 15 minutes of instrumentals from their net-only download disc and I felt like it took the audience out of the moment. The rest of the time he unleashed fangs on wheels like Wish, March of the Pigs, Hand That Feeds, Head Like a Hole, and Terrible Lie (the equipment fucked up on that one and he said "it wouldn't be a NIN show if the equipment didn't fuck up - if it happens again I'm ripping the fucking PA down to the ground") and left the audience reeling with a great go at Hurt. I could have listened to them play all night. Total born again NIN fan here. I've seen them twice since '91 and then again on Saturday and I'm mad at myself that I haven't seen them more often than that - especially since this looks like it might be the last go 'round for NIN.
Tom Morello (of Rage Against the Machine) opened up the show with his new band Streep Sweeper Social Club. I thought they were great but the incarnation didn't hold a candle to the juggernaut of fuck that is RatM. Trent came out and joined them for Kick Out the Jams and that was truly tasty.
My only real complaint about the show was that the headliners didn't play long enough. It felt like they both did about an hour and fifteen minutes. So my real wish now is that NIN will do one last tour. One last massive and amazing cocktacular mind fuck for all of us cats who have been listening since "back in the day".
Side Note - Trent made all the venues that weren't festivals loosen up their camera policies so I was able to hang in the pit with JP's Kodak and snap some pretty decent shots (a few are in this post).You can see the entire set here including some iPhone snaps as well.
For a lot of you young pups you might wanna sit down and listen to Uncle Brian for a sec. See, back in the roarin' mid to late 90s there was a full blown explosion of all things "alternative". See, this brand of music was dubbed "alternative" because it was supposedly the alternative to the mainstream but it wasn't really because at that time the most popular music was the mainstream music which was called alternative. Do ya get that?
So yeah, before all of that there was a nice, little, smaller explosion. This was before Nirvana's Nevermind even released Smells Like Teen Spirit as a single. This was the Summer of '91... Picture it, a barely 18 y/o Brian was sitting in his sweltering Bakersfield plot of affordable housing wondering what the Summer would bring when his buddy James calls and says "Hey, do you want to go see Jane's Addiction with me and Tim and Rick in Irvine?" I of course say yes (Jane's, Social Distortion, REM, and U2 were almost the only bands I listened to regularly at the time) and he then tells me good, because he's picked us up four lawn seats for something called Lollapalooza. I had just been reading about it in Rolling Stone so I asked him if he knew this same show also included Living Color and a bunch of other bands. He had no idea. We both decided to watch 120 minutes that week because they were doing the show from Lollapalooza in Phoenix. Well, it was that night that we caught videos for the Rollins Band, heard about Body Count, and it was that night that I first saw the video for a band called Nine Inch Nails' single, Head Like a Hole.
Fast forward to the day of the show. NIN is on early in the SoCal sun. To me the lead singer seems more concerned with his equipment (which seems to not be working the way he wants it to) and I get bored after I hear Head Like a Hole and I go and buy a t-shirt instead of listening to the rest of the set. Jane's plays that night and it's insane. We're close enough to LA for them to open with "Home" and they simply blow me away. It's my first alt. rock show - it's my first time to see a pit. It was all love at first sight. Hell, there were even bonfires in the lawn area and a naked fat hairy guy nearby.
Since that time I've seen Jane's three additional times. Twice with Flea on bass and once again last Saturday. Seeing Eric Avery back up there with the band was really mighty fine. He belongs in the band. Head down, business on his face, and thumping bass lines. He's the regular Joe paying the bills and he even lets us see him enjoy himself a few times. Perry is a constant showman. Not always lucid but always from the heart. He loves being on stage and he doesn't care what he has to sing or do to be in that spotlight. He's a ringmaster's ringmaster. Dave Navarro - ok, he's fun on Twitter but onstage he's a preening Diva. He lives for the moment to take his shirt off and loves to swagger into the spotlight. He separates himself from the band on stage (they all do to an extent) but to me he's the one who's let their Hollywood roots go deepest into his head. And finally Stephen Perkins. He's the guy who truly looks like he is having the time of his life. His joy and energy is infectious even if his employment of a utility kilt is not as inspiring.
The music is spirited and it's solid. The time goes by far too quickly. They belt out so many classics - Ocean Size, 3 Days, Mountain Song, Standing in the Shower Thinking, Stop, Been Caught Stealin and slip in gems like Nothing's Shocking and Ted, Just Admit it. They even open up their encore with Summertime Rolls and that was the moment for me. The moment that joined '91 and '09 together. They closed with Jane Says and there were smiles all around.
So I'll give my thanks to Trent Reznor for putting the shows together. That equipment puttering grouch I saw for the first time in '91. He paid homage to one of his favorite bands by going on the road with them and letting them close each night. NIN's set was solid if a little uneven. They did about 15 minutes of instrumentals from their net-only download disc and I felt like it took the audience out of the moment. The rest of the time he unleashed fangs on wheels like Wish, March of the Pigs, Hand That Feeds, Head Like a Hole, and Terrible Lie (the equipment fucked up on that one and he said "it wouldn't be a NIN show if the equipment didn't fuck up - if it happens again I'm ripping the fucking PA down to the ground") and left the audience reeling with a great go at Hurt. I could have listened to them play all night. Total born again NIN fan here. I've seen them twice since '91 and then again on Saturday and I'm mad at myself that I haven't seen them more often than that - especially since this looks like it might be the last go 'round for NIN.
Tom Morello (of Rage Against the Machine) opened up the show with his new band Streep Sweeper Social Club. I thought they were great but the incarnation didn't hold a candle to the juggernaut of fuck that is RatM. Trent came out and joined them for Kick Out the Jams and that was truly tasty.
My only real complaint about the show was that the headliners didn't play long enough. It felt like they both did about an hour and fifteen minutes. So my real wish now is that NIN will do one last tour. One last massive and amazing cocktacular mind fuck for all of us cats who have been listening since "back in the day".
Side Note - Trent made all the venues that weren't festivals loosen up their camera policies so I was able to hang in the pit with JP's Kodak and snap some pretty decent shots (a few are in this post).You can see the entire set here including some iPhone snaps as well.