Nine Inch Nails concert
Saturday, July 8th, mrsmalkav and I saw Nine Inch Nails play in the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View. The night before was my Rogue adventure (the wandering-Oakland-all-night-long one), so I slept in pretty late. I didn't look at the tickets carefully enough, and we thought the doors opened at 7pm, when in fact the show started at 7pm. We left Berkeley too late to get there by 7pm, and stopping to grab an In-n-Out burger or three (those are good burgers, dude!) made us later.
Peaches was the opening band. We missed them entirely. We did get there in time to see most of Bauhaus's performance, though. I had never heard of them, but apparently they're one of the original industrial bands. I really wasn't too impressed with them, though. I guess they're just not my style.
Lisa had scoured the Web for tickets in, like, May. By then they were sold out, and I was swamped in deadlines, so I told her to buy a pair of whatever and I'd pay her back. She found some good seats! They were in the lower level, and although they weren't in the center, they did have a great, unobstructed view of the stage. Many thanks, Lisa!
At dusk, NIN took the stage. They started with "Somewhat Damaged", which I thought was perfect because every time I hear that track, it's at the beginning of a musical journey through what is, in my opinion, one of the most amazing albums of our day: The Fragile. "Somewhat Damaged" was a fitting choice, then, because the show was awesome.
During "Closer", the stage was lit blood-red, a red that penetrated every dark recess on stage. Later, the luminescent red screen behind the stage would flash for a fraction of a second at a fierce strum of guitar, and Trent would appear as a defiant silhouette against the red background. All in all, the visuals were spectacular (and not always red). The music sounded great, too, and they played a wide selection of more and less popular tracks.
The whole time, Lisa and I rocked out. We rocked so hard we wore ourselves out, earning ourselves some headbangers' neck. I can't recall rocking so hard that sweat flew from my hair with every headbang, but that's what I did then.
This was actually the last stop of the tour, which was an honor I've never experienced. In what was, I believe, the only words spoken to the audience, he explained that he was going back to the studio to record the next album. (cheers) He would be isolated from human contact for the next couple of months. (silence) So, he just wanted to soak this (the crowd's enthusiasm and adoration) in, to last him for a while. (rabid cheers) That's the other thing that made this concert special: the crowd was so into it! All in all, it was one of the best shows I've been to.
Peaches was the opening band. We missed them entirely. We did get there in time to see most of Bauhaus's performance, though. I had never heard of them, but apparently they're one of the original industrial bands. I really wasn't too impressed with them, though. I guess they're just not my style.
Lisa had scoured the Web for tickets in, like, May. By then they were sold out, and I was swamped in deadlines, so I told her to buy a pair of whatever and I'd pay her back. She found some good seats! They were in the lower level, and although they weren't in the center, they did have a great, unobstructed view of the stage. Many thanks, Lisa!
At dusk, NIN took the stage. They started with "Somewhat Damaged", which I thought was perfect because every time I hear that track, it's at the beginning of a musical journey through what is, in my opinion, one of the most amazing albums of our day: The Fragile. "Somewhat Damaged" was a fitting choice, then, because the show was awesome.
During "Closer", the stage was lit blood-red, a red that penetrated every dark recess on stage. Later, the luminescent red screen behind the stage would flash for a fraction of a second at a fierce strum of guitar, and Trent would appear as a defiant silhouette against the red background. All in all, the visuals were spectacular (and not always red). The music sounded great, too, and they played a wide selection of more and less popular tracks.
The whole time, Lisa and I rocked out. We rocked so hard we wore ourselves out, earning ourselves some headbangers' neck. I can't recall rocking so hard that sweat flew from my hair with every headbang, but that's what I did then.
This was actually the last stop of the tour, which was an honor I've never experienced. In what was, I believe, the only words spoken to the audience, he explained that he was going back to the studio to record the next album. (cheers) He would be isolated from human contact for the next couple of months. (silence) So, he just wanted to soak this (the crowd's enthusiasm and adoration) in, to last him for a while. (rabid cheers) That's the other thing that made this concert special: the crowd was so into it! All in all, it was one of the best shows I've been to.