Archive for November 23rd, 2008

11.9.08 – Nine Inch Nails @ Worcester MA

Shawn | November 23, 2008 in Journal, Music | Comments (0)

Tags: Lights In The Sky Tour, Nine Inch Nails

Waiting for the encore

Well, he did it. Trent topped my lofty expectations once again. And that’s saying a lot since I’ve been waiting for this tour since Year Zero came out 2 years ago. With Teeth was not my favorite album he’s done and the 2 shows I caught during that tour (one at the beginning, one at the end) were good but didn’t compare to the Fragility tour in my eyes.

Maybe because it was the first time I was able to make it out to a Nails show, it just seemed so… perfect. The Fragile was/is my favorite album and the live performance floored me. The light show was intense and well executed and reflected the mood of the new material while pacing the rest of the night through the obligatory back catalog. The focal point was the three tall rectangular jumbo LCD panels that showed video segments, strobed, moved up and down and panned vertical to horizontal during various parts of the show. The Great Below always gives me the chills now. I don’t know how many times I watched the DVD when it came out to try and relive a little of that night.

Ghosts desert scene

Lights in the Sky was incredible. I had to stop and do a double-take every so often when the scenes changed on the LCD screen/curtains, especially during the Ghosts segments that essentially brought the accompanying images from each tune to life in several layers, placing the band within them. It was remarkable. I found myself distracted at times trying to figure out how in the hell they were actually doing it! Echoplex featured a drum machine tracker as the back drop, Freese walking out to lock in the beat like Vanna flipping letters. I giggled like a schoolgirl.

Abe, Ryan and I talked ad nauseum on the ride there about doing something combining some sort of art installation with live music Ryan had envisioned. We bickered and brainstormed about what that would look like, how we could accomplish it, whatever it was. On the ride back we were utterly silent about the topic. Having seen what I can only explain as the best possible outcome of that basic idea, we just shrugged and scratched our heads. “Yup, we’re all set I guess.” “There’s no approaching that.”

Only complaint: I wanted more Year Zero.

Fantastic.