Right Where It Belongs
Trent Reznor will not evade the element of surprise.
Last Friday night at Rupp Arena, Reznor brought more than a few tricks up his sleeve to please a crowd of first timers and veterans alike.
Nine Inch Nails entertained the masses without a glossed over show full of hit singles and cliché spotlights from the very beginning when they opened up with Pinion as an intro to Mr. Self Destruct. Reznor brought an extraordinary ambiance to the stage that not only bonded an arena of ecstatic college students, but also personalized the show for each follower.
Reznor had not acknowledged the crowd until nearly 3/4 of the way through the show, which even then was significant to Lexington, as Reznor often does entire shows with little or no dialogue. His words were more “open” than knowledgeable fans may have expected.
Trent Reznor blew minds when he indirectly referred to his four year battle with heroin.
After performing Every Day Is Exactly the Same from Nails’ latest album, With Teeth, the band silenced, the crowd somewhat calmed, and he spoke.
I stopped trying to kill myself a year and a half ago, and realized that music is what it’s all about, Reznor said, you people(the fans) are what makes it worth it.
Lead guitarist, Aaron North, also surprised the front row of the pit when he tossed his guitar into the mob, and again later when he leaped over the five and a half feet gap between the stage and into the pit.
But even after an amazingly elaborate and musically simultaneous light show, a three song pro-peace video that was so in unison with the music it was easy to overlook the fact that the super group was still playing behind the scrim, and an implausible display of destruction of the set after the final songs, The Hand That Feeds and Head Like a Hole, something was still absent.
The big comedown to all fans, new and old, was leaving feeling hurt without hearing it.
Nails didn’t play their hit single Hurt, which was covered by Johnny Cash in 2000, but it may have been due to more than just a new setlist arrangement. According to many fans on an unofficial Nine Inch Nails forum on echoingthesound.org, during a show in Grand Rapids, Mi, Reznor was hit in the face with a lighter while playing Hurt and ended the show there by flipping over his keyboard and walking off stage.
Despite the lack of Hurt, in Lexington, Nails still put on what is already being said on the unofficial forums to have been one of the best performances this leg of the tour.
Hopefully shallow ticket sale doesn’t keep Nails away from Lexington for good, but maybe Reznor’s comfort with the crowd can be taken as a symbol of hope, not hurt.
___________
That's what I've written for the Kernel. I think it's okay, I could have owned if I had more space. Haha. Here are some pics I've found online from the Lexington show. It really was one of the best shows I've ever seen.
Last Friday night at Rupp Arena, Reznor brought more than a few tricks up his sleeve to please a crowd of first timers and veterans alike.
Nine Inch Nails entertained the masses without a glossed over show full of hit singles and cliché spotlights from the very beginning when they opened up with Pinion as an intro to Mr. Self Destruct. Reznor brought an extraordinary ambiance to the stage that not only bonded an arena of ecstatic college students, but also personalized the show for each follower.
Reznor had not acknowledged the crowd until nearly 3/4 of the way through the show, which even then was significant to Lexington, as Reznor often does entire shows with little or no dialogue. His words were more “open” than knowledgeable fans may have expected.
Trent Reznor blew minds when he indirectly referred to his four year battle with heroin.
After performing Every Day Is Exactly the Same from Nails’ latest album, With Teeth, the band silenced, the crowd somewhat calmed, and he spoke.
I stopped trying to kill myself a year and a half ago, and realized that music is what it’s all about, Reznor said, you people(the fans) are what makes it worth it.
Lead guitarist, Aaron North, also surprised the front row of the pit when he tossed his guitar into the mob, and again later when he leaped over the five and a half feet gap between the stage and into the pit.
But even after an amazingly elaborate and musically simultaneous light show, a three song pro-peace video that was so in unison with the music it was easy to overlook the fact that the super group was still playing behind the scrim, and an implausible display of destruction of the set after the final songs, The Hand That Feeds and Head Like a Hole, something was still absent.
The big comedown to all fans, new and old, was leaving feeling hurt without hearing it.
Nails didn’t play their hit single Hurt, which was covered by Johnny Cash in 2000, but it may have been due to more than just a new setlist arrangement. According to many fans on an unofficial Nine Inch Nails forum on echoingthesound.org, during a show in Grand Rapids, Mi, Reznor was hit in the face with a lighter while playing Hurt and ended the show there by flipping over his keyboard and walking off stage.
Despite the lack of Hurt, in Lexington, Nails still put on what is already being said on the unofficial forums to have been one of the best performances this leg of the tour.
Hopefully shallow ticket sale doesn’t keep Nails away from Lexington for good, but maybe Reznor’s comfort with the crowd can be taken as a symbol of hope, not hurt.
___________
That's what I've written for the Kernel. I think it's okay, I could have owned if I had more space. Haha. Here are some pics I've found online from the Lexington show. It really was one of the best shows I've ever seen.
posted by Brad at 1:34 PM
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