Words and Photos by Andrew Parks
We could all learn a lot from Trent Reznor. Not the Trent Reznor who looked like Vlad the Impaler and did way too many drugs, or the Trent Reznor who used to torture ready, willing and able fans alongside Marilyn Manson on the aptly-titled Self Destruct Tour; the Trent Reznor who decided 44 just might be the magical age to stop touring behind songs that have lost most of their meaning. Not to the ones who’ve happily bowed down before the one they serve since the late ’80s–to the man himself. As pissed as Reznor often appears publicly, he’s also someone who’s happily married and healthier now than he was two decades ago. In other words, “Hurt” he’s not.
Longtime fans of Nine Inch Nails should welcome this change since it means the guy can focus on new media ventures and projects like this. We certainly do, because while Reznor’s lyrics still read like the hastily-scribbled diary entries of an angry 14-year-old–his target demographic since 1988– his brave mix of industrial, IDM, neo-classical and noise rock is oft-brilliant. We’ll get to why in a separate rundown of “Five Songs That Prove Nine Inch Nails Isn’t Just For Disaffected Teens and Ugly People,” but for now, here is our first set of photo pit shots from last night’s Terminal 5 show, easily the longest, most fan-friendly set we’ve seen in years. A separate collection of black and white ones will also go up in a bit.
Nine Inch Nails @ Terminal 5, 8.25.09:
1. Home
2. Terrible Lie
3. The Beginning Of The End
4. Discipline
5. March Of The Pigs
6. The Line Begins To Blur
7. I’m Afraid of Americans
8. Ruiner
9. The Big Come Down
10. Burn
11. Gave Up
12. La Mer
13. The Fragile
14. Non-Entity
15. Eraser
16. The Way Out Is Through
17. 1,000,000
18. Letting You
19. Survivalism
20. Reptile *
21. Kick in the Eye (Bauhaus cover) *
22. The Hand That Feeds
23. Head Like A Hole
Encore:
24. The Frail
25. The Wretched
26. The Day The World Went Away
27. Dead Souls (Joy Division cover) *
28. Wish
29. Hurt
* = w/Peter Murphy of Bauhaus
