Ranting and Raving

Last night I went to see NIN at the American Airlines Arena in Dallas with RP, Il Diavoletto Rosso, and IDR’s significant other. I liked it being that it was my first time seeing NIN live. Like many, I really got into them around the time of The Downward Spiral and if anyone wants to say I ‘jumped on the band wagon’ well, yes…I’m the guy with the cowbell at the front of the wagon!

Anyway, I would say that they rocked pretty damn hard. Playing songs from the new album, With Teeth, as well as many from past albums like Pretty Hate Machine, The Fragile, and The Downward Spiral.

Being as I have slept a few hours since the concert (re: 4) I do not remember the opening song (although I think it was from the new album) but they opened with a sheer white curtain covering the stage. They had the stage lighting flashing out into the crowd in such a way that it looked really cool. After that they raised the curtain and and did a bunch of songs. At about the halfway point, the curtain went back down and they did 2 songs (from The Fragile I believe) with a projector showing all types of footage (mostly of war, pestilence, famine and death…you know them) with some footage of single cell organisms doing their thing and some cool footage of animals and humans as if looking through an X-Ray machine. I mentioned to Diavoletto during the single cell scenes that I would be slightly disappointed if the obligatory ‘sperm through a microscope’ wasn’t shown…and unfortunately it wasn’t.

All in all I would say it was a good show. And staying with the impression that I have always had of Trent there wasn’t much audience interaction besides saying ‘Thank You’, ‘It’s great to be back in Texas’ and letting the crowd do the chorus from Head Like a Hole.

I had a good time and I’m glad I had the opportunity to go….now I just hope I don’t pass out into my keyboard from not getting much sleep. But I think the coffee will keep me zombified enough.