"Wish there was something real, Wish there was something true"
Well now dear friends and readers, I bet you though ol' Jeffrey wasn't going to write of his experiences at the Nine Inch Nails concert. Well, luckily for all of us, wrong you both were and are. For in the following paragraphs, you will be given a minute by...well not really minute by minute, but I'll tell you some stories.
So I kind of made a weekend of it. And by weekend I mean Friday night and most of Saturday. Which technically would only compromise about half a weekend, but whatever.
I began that Friday by checking into the downtown Crowne Plaza and being informed my reservations were, in fact, for the Crowne Plaza by the airport. Zoiks! Compounding my embarrassment over this mishap was the fact I directed by good friend to the wrong hotel as well. Luckily the two Crowne Plazas were not more than ten minutes from one another and soon everything was set into place.
At this time, I feel it necessary to introduce two more of our characters. First there is the lovely Brook. Brook and I are friends from way back, or at least as way back as two twenty-somethings can go, which is to say about five years. This was a special treat as Brook and I had lost touch for sometime and it was only through some sort of Providence our paths crossed each other again. (Can there be more than one kind of Providence? Or does the word Providence suggest all forms of fate and good fortune? Please readers, get back to me on this.) Brook and I have a history that is long and much better suited for another blog, and actually is probably a little more personal than I am willing to be with you, my faithful readers, at this time. Maybe soon, probably more like later, but you never know. So yes, that would be Brook...that makes me happy.
With Brook was her friend Melanie. See part of the reason Brook and I lost touch was that she apparently is living in this other town far away. Like three hours away, which is at least three mix tapes. Or burned CD's for you non-romantics. Brook is also without her own means of transportation at this time, which makes our path-crossing even more fortuitous and her getting anywhere outside her new hometown problematic. So enter Melanie, who is also residing in this town hours away and not enjoying it on any particular level either. She has friends in St. Louis (Did I mention the concert was in St. Louis? Well, it was.) So Melanie was kind enough to bring Brook to the Lou and at the same time re-acquaint herself with her friends.
So now we have all found the proper Crowne Plaza (which was very nice by the by). We now found ourselves in the lobby bar waiting for the last two members of our cast to make their appearances. Enter stage left (which would be my right) they did soon after. Joseph is my little brother, and by that I mean he is younger. We are of nearly equal height, but I would have to guess he has some pounds on me. Both of my brothers are younger than I and both were tormented by me growing up. I think one of the few things keeping them from exacting revenge is the knowledge that I fight quite dirty.
Joseph is for the most an okay guy. He is a liberal, like his big brother and likes bands such as Nine Inch Nails. He also likes bands like Disturbed, Korn and all those other loud, shitty metal bands that lower your sperms.
With his was his platonic friend Shannon. She was wearing a shirt for a band whose name I cannot recall, but I was informed they are similar to the Insane Clown Posse. You might remember them from the Jeopardy! category "No Talent Ass Clowns." I was told this other band is part of the genre horror-metal. OK, you all might call that wit, but I just call it What? Let's move on.
So as the elder statesman I elected Joseph to drive us all around. Incidentally, I don't have a driver's license. (Long story...blog to come.) We took my car as he owns a pickup truck. Let me tell you something. If you're ever in St. Louis and a guy named Joseph offers you a ride in his truck, say NO! Because it might be my brother. Holy Fucking Shit!! I generally like to observe at least a two or three car-length distance between myself and other drivers. With him driving, I could have sat on the hood of my car and propped my feet up on the back bumper of the car ahead of us. He darted in and out of traffic like he was playing Pole Position. He'd jam on the accelerator and then slam the brakes. It's the only time I was ever in the back seat of my own car and didn't let it bother me, as I felt like there was at least a little more padding me from the impending crash.
Well, we finally got there and hey, look, it's the actual concert review from my concert review.
Opening up was Queens of the Stone Age. I have to confess I don't know a lot about this band beyond their song that name drops a half dozen mood altering substances, but I am now a fan. These guys rocked the fucking hizz-ouse, as the kids might say. (Or might not, I may have that word wrong. It's hard keeping your fingers to the pulse of young America. I blame that Red Bull.)
Finally the lights dropped and Trent and company came to the stage. For anyone who has never been to a NIN show, you are missing out. Just the staging and what Trent does with his video screens is impressive enough. Couple that with just balls out playing and you have one fine rock and roll show.
My one bit of apprehension going into the show was that Trent might pay too much attention to his latest album "With Teeth." The CD on its own is not bad, but I feel like it's the first time Trent has failed to progress or evolve with his sound. This sounds too much like an attempt to re-do "Pretty Hate Machine."
Thankfully we were treated to an assortment of NIN tunes, touching on every album at least twice. Even more of a treat was that Trent picked some of the best songs from every album except for "The Fragile." I would have liked to have heard the title track or perhaps We're In This Together. One treat was hearing Burn, a extra track that never made "The Downward Spiral" but did show up on the soundtrack to Natural Born Killers. Other greats were heard included Hurt, Head Like a Hole, Wish (great fuckin' song!), Sin, Suck and March of the Pigs.
Rather than give a blow by blow, I'll just run down the set list for you real quick like.
01.Pinion
02.Love Is Not Enough
03.You Know What You Are?
04.Terrible Lie
05.The Line Begins To Blur
06.March Of The Pigs
07.The Frail
08.The Wretched
09.Closer
10.Burn
11.Gave Up
12.Eraser
13.Right Where It Belongs
14.Beside You In Time
15.Wish
16.Sin
17.Only
18.Reptile
19.Suck
20.Hurt
21.The Hand That Feeds
22.Starfuckers, Inc.
23.Head Like A Hole
setlist courtesy of echoingthesound.org
Trent was pretty playful during the show. During The Hand That Feeds something started going weird with the lights, so Trent just sort of asked off into space if someone could please turn the lights back on. Finally, during Starfuckers, Inc. Trent stopped mid-song and commented they didn't do this anymore. Then he began talking about the first band of the night, Autolux, whom I missed and how much he liked them. Finally he just said "oh yeah, we're in the middle of a song." They finished and went into the finale.
Interestingly, the band did not perform an encore. Several remarked on their way out that Trent never does encores. Now this is the third time I've seen NIN. One of those shows was as the opener to David Bowie, so you can excuse no encore. The other time was in the same building as this show, only ten years prior and he did perform an encore then. Hmmm....
Anyway, it was a great show that I was fortunate enough to watch with a good friend, so life is good all around. Please check back and read about the shenanigans that took place following the show.
So I kind of made a weekend of it. And by weekend I mean Friday night and most of Saturday. Which technically would only compromise about half a weekend, but whatever.
I began that Friday by checking into the downtown Crowne Plaza and being informed my reservations were, in fact, for the Crowne Plaza by the airport. Zoiks! Compounding my embarrassment over this mishap was the fact I directed by good friend to the wrong hotel as well. Luckily the two Crowne Plazas were not more than ten minutes from one another and soon everything was set into place.
At this time, I feel it necessary to introduce two more of our characters. First there is the lovely Brook. Brook and I are friends from way back, or at least as way back as two twenty-somethings can go, which is to say about five years. This was a special treat as Brook and I had lost touch for sometime and it was only through some sort of Providence our paths crossed each other again. (Can there be more than one kind of Providence? Or does the word Providence suggest all forms of fate and good fortune? Please readers, get back to me on this.) Brook and I have a history that is long and much better suited for another blog, and actually is probably a little more personal than I am willing to be with you, my faithful readers, at this time. Maybe soon, probably more like later, but you never know. So yes, that would be Brook...that makes me happy.
With Brook was her friend Melanie. See part of the reason Brook and I lost touch was that she apparently is living in this other town far away. Like three hours away, which is at least three mix tapes. Or burned CD's for you non-romantics. Brook is also without her own means of transportation at this time, which makes our path-crossing even more fortuitous and her getting anywhere outside her new hometown problematic. So enter Melanie, who is also residing in this town hours away and not enjoying it on any particular level either. She has friends in St. Louis (Did I mention the concert was in St. Louis? Well, it was.) So Melanie was kind enough to bring Brook to the Lou and at the same time re-acquaint herself with her friends.
So now we have all found the proper Crowne Plaza (which was very nice by the by). We now found ourselves in the lobby bar waiting for the last two members of our cast to make their appearances. Enter stage left (which would be my right) they did soon after. Joseph is my little brother, and by that I mean he is younger. We are of nearly equal height, but I would have to guess he has some pounds on me. Both of my brothers are younger than I and both were tormented by me growing up. I think one of the few things keeping them from exacting revenge is the knowledge that I fight quite dirty.
Joseph is for the most an okay guy. He is a liberal, like his big brother and likes bands such as Nine Inch Nails. He also likes bands like Disturbed, Korn and all those other loud, shitty metal bands that lower your sperms.
With his was his platonic friend Shannon. She was wearing a shirt for a band whose name I cannot recall, but I was informed they are similar to the Insane Clown Posse. You might remember them from the Jeopardy! category "No Talent Ass Clowns." I was told this other band is part of the genre horror-metal. OK, you all might call that wit, but I just call it What? Let's move on.
So as the elder statesman I elected Joseph to drive us all around. Incidentally, I don't have a driver's license. (Long story...blog to come.) We took my car as he owns a pickup truck. Let me tell you something. If you're ever in St. Louis and a guy named Joseph offers you a ride in his truck, say NO! Because it might be my brother. Holy Fucking Shit!! I generally like to observe at least a two or three car-length distance between myself and other drivers. With him driving, I could have sat on the hood of my car and propped my feet up on the back bumper of the car ahead of us. He darted in and out of traffic like he was playing Pole Position. He'd jam on the accelerator and then slam the brakes. It's the only time I was ever in the back seat of my own car and didn't let it bother me, as I felt like there was at least a little more padding me from the impending crash.
Well, we finally got there and hey, look, it's the actual concert review from my concert review.
Opening up was Queens of the Stone Age. I have to confess I don't know a lot about this band beyond their song that name drops a half dozen mood altering substances, but I am now a fan. These guys rocked the fucking hizz-ouse, as the kids might say. (Or might not, I may have that word wrong. It's hard keeping your fingers to the pulse of young America. I blame that Red Bull.)
Finally the lights dropped and Trent and company came to the stage. For anyone who has never been to a NIN show, you are missing out. Just the staging and what Trent does with his video screens is impressive enough. Couple that with just balls out playing and you have one fine rock and roll show.
My one bit of apprehension going into the show was that Trent might pay too much attention to his latest album "With Teeth." The CD on its own is not bad, but I feel like it's the first time Trent has failed to progress or evolve with his sound. This sounds too much like an attempt to re-do "Pretty Hate Machine."
Thankfully we were treated to an assortment of NIN tunes, touching on every album at least twice. Even more of a treat was that Trent picked some of the best songs from every album except for "The Fragile." I would have liked to have heard the title track or perhaps We're In This Together. One treat was hearing Burn, a extra track that never made "The Downward Spiral" but did show up on the soundtrack to Natural Born Killers. Other greats were heard included Hurt, Head Like a Hole, Wish (great fuckin' song!), Sin, Suck and March of the Pigs.
Rather than give a blow by blow, I'll just run down the set list for you real quick like.
01.Pinion
02.Love Is Not Enough
03.You Know What You Are?
04.Terrible Lie
05.The Line Begins To Blur
06.March Of The Pigs
07.The Frail
08.The Wretched
09.Closer
10.Burn
11.Gave Up
12.Eraser
13.Right Where It Belongs
14.Beside You In Time
15.Wish
16.Sin
17.Only
18.Reptile
19.Suck
20.Hurt
21.The Hand That Feeds
22.Starfuckers, Inc.
23.Head Like A Hole
setlist courtesy of echoingthesound.org
Trent was pretty playful during the show. During The Hand That Feeds something started going weird with the lights, so Trent just sort of asked off into space if someone could please turn the lights back on. Finally, during Starfuckers, Inc. Trent stopped mid-song and commented they didn't do this anymore. Then he began talking about the first band of the night, Autolux, whom I missed and how much he liked them. Finally he just said "oh yeah, we're in the middle of a song." They finished and went into the finale.
Interestingly, the band did not perform an encore. Several remarked on their way out that Trent never does encores. Now this is the third time I've seen NIN. One of those shows was as the opener to David Bowie, so you can excuse no encore. The other time was in the same building as this show, only ten years prior and he did perform an encore then. Hmmm....
Anyway, it was a great show that I was fortunate enough to watch with a good friend, so life is good all around. Please check back and read about the shenanigans that took place following the show.
posted by The Crazy Leftist at 6:46 PM
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