CurseOfTheChozo
member
Joined: 11/27/07
Location: Silver Lake%2C Los Angele
Posts: 29
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Ok, I'll try to expand a little bit...
The PHM teaser opening was awesome. Cool to see them open with HLAH. As awesome a song as it is, the band always seems a little tired when they get to it (with good reason), so to have them open with it at full power was rad. The setlist was just astonishing. Some really cool surprises (I know everybody keeps talking about "Just Like You Imagined", but hey, it WAS fucking awesome). Hearing Garson and Trent do dueling pianos leading in to the closing segue on "I Do Not Want This" was mind-blowing. The covers were all awesome, and the guest spots were all welcome and lent themselves well to the sound and vibe. "Anthrax" was a treat - seeing HEALTH, Numan, and Avery all up there with the band was a blast. Just a goddamn ORGY of sound. Bringing out Danny Lohner was a great surprise. He seemed a little shaky starting off during Heresy, but as soon as "Get Down Make Love" started, he was thrashing about like his old self. Outside the confines of doing a show for a larger, more "casual" audience, Trent seemed like he really relished the chance to loosen things up a bit. He openly admitted to the crowd that he should have "rehearsed things a little better". After "Anthrax", he came back out for the encore, but then told everybody that the idea was he was gonna bring up the house lights and have everyone think the show was over and then come back out, but it didn't work out. So he asked the crowd to "act surprised" when he left the stage, turned the house lights on, and came back out. Quite amusing.
The crowd was mostly really cool. There was an adorable little girl with a nose ring who seemed to be flirting with me during (of all songs) "Burn". That was nice. She got up to crowd surf during "Gave Up" and I saw her no more than 5 minutes later back up front. Resourceful little chick, eh? A couple minor complaints: Given that it was the last show for a lot of people, I can understand why so many people were taking photos, but it seemed to take away from people just ENJOYING the show. And while people were full of energy during the "rockin'" songs, most everybody where I was seemed a little out of it during slower ones, and especially during the Numan tunes.
A quick note to pot-smokers: I don't care that you smoke weed. I enjoy it myself on occasion (and I do mean "occasion", as in, once every couple of months) and I am a regular cigarette smoker. THAT SAID, to those who deem it a necessity to smoke weed DURING the show: just knock it the fuck off. If I were to light up a cig during the show, I'd probably have my teeth knocked in - but somehow, someway, it's acceptable for you stoner retards to blow your cheap weed smoke in MY face while I'm trying to appreciate this, the last show I and many of you will ever see of an amazing band, with a sober mind? Goddammit.
Last thing - I went to the show with my dad who, for intents and purposes, is the reason I love NIN to begin with. He was playing PHM and Broken for me when I was only 10, so to go to the show with him was an honor. ANYWAY, during dinner before the show, we were talking about what made great music and great live bands. He had this quote that I just LOVED: "GOOD bands play WITH each other. GREAT bands play AGAINST each other." With the loosened vibe of this show, it felt like I wasn't just watching Trent with hired musicians (which I don't usually feel, but I know there's a pretty rigid structure to a lot of these songs) but rather I was watching a bunch of amazing musicians, at the height of the capabilities, enjoying the experience of discovery - though there were more noticeable "fuck-ups" in this show than any NIN show I've seen in the past, it's how the band just played off each other with such reckless abandon that made it so awe-inspiring. I'm glad they didn't "rehearse" more. It made the closing moments of the band seem all the more genuine, and made this particular show so unique for us fans. 16 years of fandom and 12 live shows later, I feel fulfilled in every sense.
Thank you Nine Inch Nails.
-Chris
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cheers.
