I never should have doubted him.
After more than a decade on the Nine Inch Nails tip, during which I have witnessed the thrillingly willful destruction of all bad shit, a horrific and terrifying destruction of self, and years of ominous silence from The Empire of Dirt, it's with the greatest possible pleasure that I say that this week's Nine Inch Nails rock show in San Diego was nothing short of joyous and celebratory.
Gone entirely is the old sense of watching a man eat himself alive, but Reznor ripped through a crowd-pleasing retrospective delivering all the old numbers with no loss whatsoever in ferocity or emotion, but with the feeling that the whole project had been re-imagined and reclaimed by a new man — one who likes himself, loves his work, and who is trusting the raw fact of his own immense talent perhaps for the first time.
Where real desperation and filth once ruled Monday evening's opening salvos "Wish" and "Sin", here there was a sense of masterful theater in Reznor's howling rage and transgressive desire. Where tearful pathos once bathed "Something I Can Never Have," and Reznor squeezed and stroked himself in exactly the way he always has while singing it, there was a new effectiveness in his controlled performance that in no way undermined the authenticity of his genuine emotion, but instead strengthened it through undiminshed, and consciously intended performative commitment.
As for his new songs, I'll spare you the string of superlatives: they rule, and I can't wait for him to work more of them into the show.
For me, the most memorable moment came late in the second night's performance, as Reznor rocked his latest single, "The Hand That Feeds." At one point, standing back on the stage for a moment, Reznor looked out at the roiling tumult before him, all sweaty crowd surfers, raised fists and devil horns aloft, every voice raised in unison with his, and seemed to pause for a moment in his mind to really see it. Then, he smiled - just the tiniest upturn at the corners of his mouth - as if he were just in that moment taking in what he had wrought, and seeing that it was good, before baring sharp teeth and choking his somewhat battered guitar to pound his head-banging rock with renewed abandon, and what looked unmistakably like pure pleasure.
Article comments
1 - Bryan
Another great piece -- and as a NIN comrade-in-arms who was fortunate enough to be at both of the San Diego shows, I must agree that it was a revelation.
Whatever awkward steps Reznor has put forth on his new search-for-live-performance-self (Coachella), they all seem to have been summarily left behind him. He is an artist reclaimed, and though the experience of seeing NIN on this tour could not be further from the depravity of the "self-destruct" tour, with_teeth era NIN live has a power and assurance that is unequalled.
Plus they played "The Day The World Went Away" and "Dead Souls". How cool is THAT?
2 - Dierdre
Nice review, but you forgot to mention that he was also TOTALLY HOT.
3 - Anonymous
Oh, I'm sure she mentioned that in there somewhere, no?
4 - Bennett
Wow Jaime, what a great review. Tis is the best "back and rippin" piece I've read since your Bauhaus Totally Undead concert review! You have a way of capturing the excitement, better than damn near anyone.
Fanfreakingtastic!
Thanks for the uplift to my spirit.
5 - Howler
Nice Review! I'm so jealous I can hardly stand it.
6 - Mr. Testy
Just a test.
7 - Jaime Nichols
Thanks everybody...
And, Dierdre, I didn't forget...
8 - Diana
It's so cool to read a review that calls a NIN concert "joyous". It's true. I had such a great time at this show, and Trent does look like a million dollars. I'm sure you couldn't have forgotten.
9 - Temple Stark
I promoted this review to Advance.net. That means I put it here (and these places) where it could potentially be read by another few hundred thousand readers.
- Thank you for the post. Temple Stark