[kj] (OT) NIN

[Brendan]

Trentnor reckons he invented alternative music, Lollapaloser, and paved
the way for Nirvana:

http://www.nin.com/


>

> I read in one review that Trent Reznor is an heir to a large fortune.  I

> am not saying money is happiness, but it does make a nice down payment.

> Do any of the musos floating around here know what he is heir to?  It is

> something electrical (I am *so* technical in my descriptions, I

> know)........

>

>> Date: Wed, 18 Feb 2009 12:37:48 +1300

>> From: bq at soundgardener.co.nz

>> To: gathering at misera.net

>> Subject: Re: [kj] (OT) Jane's Addiction at Echoplex in LA Last Night

>>

>> Gonna be 'interesting' to see how the NIN / Jane's Addiction shows pan

>> out.

>>

>> My impressions of last night's NIN gig:

>>

>> Meh. With the emphasis on the 'eh'.

>>

>> I TRIED to like NIN. I went to all the effort of stealing Trentnor's

>> life's work, listening to it on train and plane journeys, walking in to

>> work and feeling incongruously anti-social (and anachronistic) while

>> docile passersby passed by, oblivious to the fact that I was listening

>> to

>> something that sounded like a hardcore remake of the Metropolis

>> soundtrack

>> (1994 Crack Remix).

>>

>> ...familiarised myself with Pretty Hate Machine (I passed on the 2/3 of

>> his album collection where he remixes his own stuff

yawn), which I had

>> never picked up before because of the awful name.

>>

>> So I was relatively familiar with NIN, at least moreso than previously,

>> when my appreciation was limited to the Quake soundtrack (sounds like

>> Tool

>> lite) and "that song that Johnny Cash does better." And Perfect

>> Drug...which always had me scratching my head as to why it was on such

>> high rotate. (Surely these guys do better stuff than this?)

>>

>> The opening band's promo photo looked so shit I didn't even bother

>> listening to anything online to see what they were like. (This

>> admittedly

>> renders the rest of my review useless due to extreme prejudice but

>> hey...just being honest. Don't pretend you're not the same).

>>

>> NIN - sound quality was mildly mucky, not awful, and probably not their

>> fault. Smallish crowd for the venue (half to two thirds of the ~10 000

>> seat venue filled). Good light show, basic but good impact.

>> Overall...some

>> pretty solid material. A fair bit of it sounds samey to me, and I really

>> wouldn’t rate them up there with their 90s contemporaries (Soundgarden,

>> Tool, Rage Against the Machine, Ministry) for impact, depth, breadth, or

>> range. Anyway, a *relatively* solid gig, but a few things gave away that

>> it was a phone-in, in a disappointing way. Practically no

>> acknowledgement

>> of the crowd, no encore, and “this is probably going to be our last show

>> in New Zealand" quoth Trentnor half-way through, in one of the perhaps

>> two

>> times he deigned to address the audience. Seemed to fuck half the

>> audience

>> off, and rightly so. That was it, not "hey this might be the last time I

>> play here so let's rip shit up." More like..."this is probably the last

>> time I'm gonna fuck you up the ass, not sure if I can come, anyway, just

>> thought I'd share...FYI. Now breathe out and clench."

>>

>> Yeah no worries, thanks for the newsflash, it's certainly gonna be the

>> last time you get any money from me (I bought 2 tix), and a lot of

>> others

>> in the crowd like me who have seen better, more considerate bands try to

>> disguise a phone-in, or dredge up enough energy from the crowd to find

>> some reason to enjoy being there.

>>

>> No encore despite most of the crowd giving it heaps for 10 mins, futiley

>> as the stage was dismantled immediately the black-clad phoners in left.

>>

>> That was the more objective impression. This is what part of me really

>> thinks:

>>

>> Go home and polish your Grammys and play Hurt to yourself on your synth

>> you never-really-has-been. There's a reason I wasn't into NIN and I'm

>> glad

>> I had my suspicions confirmed. 80% of their songs sound the same. Sub

>> par

>> lyrics, predictable anthems for 14-year old sexually ambivalent teens to

>> half-heartedly self-harm to in the privacy of their bedrooms in between

>> Evanescence CDs.

>>

>> Note to self: Don't ever bend over backwards trying to like something

>> you

>> don't.

>>

>> > Jane's Addiction, reunited with original bass player Eric Avery has

>> been

>> > doing a few low key warm-up bar and club shows in LA the past few

>> months

>> > before they go out on tour with Nine Inch Nails in late Spring. I

>> caught

>> > last night's show at the Echoplex club which was their third

>> appearance

>> > together since all four members began working together again.

>> >

>> > It turned out to be an excellent if short show, mostly better than the

>> > tiny

>> > El Cid bar show #2 which I caught last December. Only things I think

>> El

>> > Cid

>> > was marginally better was being a tiny club, much more intense energy

>> from

>> > the crowd that show. I think Perry sounded better there as well.

>> >

>> > It had been raining really hard much of the day in Southern California

>> and

>> > I

>> > was really on the fence about going or not right up to about 6pm. I

>> went

>> > for it and got to the Echoplex (in Echo Park) around 8:15 and a huge

>> line

>> > of 200 - 300 people was winding along the building and it quickly

>> because

>> > obvious some people didn't have or even know about the RSVP thing.

>> Light

>> > rain had just stopped and it was cool but at least dry. The line

>> started

>> > moving as they left small groups of about 10 - 15 people in at a time

>> to

>> > get

>> > their ID checked for a wristband, then get their ID checked against a

>> list

>> > at the door from the website registration rsvps. Saw a couple people

>> > turned

>> > away in front of me but later saw them inside so its possible they had

>> > enough room for people who basically walked up to see the show after

>> the

>> > majority of RSVP'ers got in. Considering my own feelings this method

>> of

>> > getting people in the show could have turned into a real mess, it

>> seems

>> > like

>> > it turned out to be well run with few problems.

>> >

>> > My first time at Echoplex. Kind of a weird room, the mixing desk kinda

>> > bisects the club in half so if your in the back, you gotta stand on

>> some

>> > boxes to get a decent view. Pretty laid back, almost too mellow of a

>> > crowd

>> > especially for the opening band "Dot," which was kind of a more

>> ambient,

>> > dissonant noise version of Secret Machines. Band shows some promise,

>> but

>> > the singer was hardly audible, partly because he rarely projected

>> himself

>> > but moreso because the vocals were mixed way too far down (same for

>> Perry

>> > during Jane's set). They got a decent response from the crowd, more

>> > respect

>> > than actual adoration. Frankly, I thought they were boring.

>> >

>> > There was a long wait, made somewhat manageable by the selections

>> whoever

>> > was DJ'ing played a good amount of Killing Joke ("Change"), Bauhaus,

>> > Cramps

>> > ("New Kind Of Kick" got a huge response), Bowie and a few other favs

>> on

>> > the

>> > PA.

>> >

>> > About 11:15, Jane's strolled on the stage and ground into Up The

>> Beach. I

>> > think it was played half a step down and a bit slower. Eric had more

>> room

>> > to

>> > prowl and stomp tonight so he'd either be doing his tribal stomp to

>> songs

>> > like Mountain Song or Ocean Size or locked into his zone often staring

>> up

>> > at

>> > the ceiling playing Pigs in Zen. Tonight, Dave was more on the mark

>> most

>> > of

>> > the show that the 2nd show, Perkins was simply 100% a precision human

>> > piledriver. The man is simply an incredible drummer. Perry

>> unfortunately

>> > I

>> > have to say was the weak link. Not a lot of power in his voice, didn't

>> > really make a lot of use of his little echo toolbox and took a lot

>> longer

>> > than the rest of the band to loosen up as the set progressed. I will

>> say

>> > when they got to Been Caught Stealing, he was up with the rest of the

>> band

>> > and loosened up enough to bullshit and introduce most of the remaining

>> > songs.

>> >

>> > I do think in a lot of ways this reunion, especially how Perry carries

>> > himself these days reminds me of the recent David Lee Roth/Van Halen

>> > reunion

>> > in the way both frontmen have dropped the more manic, physical aspect

>> of

>> > their stage persona due to age and are more like Vegas car dealers

>> doing

>> > their shtick for the rubes. At times, Perry was genuinely funny but

>> when

>> > he

>> > used forced, awkward analogies to introduce each of the last few

>> songs, it

>> > got hackneyed.

>> >

>> > Most of the songs from a performance standpoint sounded excellent.

>> > Mountain

>> > Song is played by Dave a bit differently now, a bit more RAWK! like

>> > someone

>> > like Billy Duffy would play the tune. The band was very tight with one

>> > major

>> > exception. The only song I thought kinda missed the mark was the one I

>> was

>> > most excited to hear, Ted, which lacked an "edge" it's had in the past

>> and

>> > never really got out of third gear and came close to falling apart the

>> > last

>> > couple minutes as the band kind of careened a bit out of time with

>> each

>> > other.

>> >

>> > But I'll tell you what, "Stop" was fucking perfect. Clearly the best

>> > performed song of the set and got great audience participation. "Had a

>> > Dad"

>> > and "Ocean Size" ended the 2 song encore and the short barely hour

>> long

>> > set

>> > was done.

>> >

>> >>From a crowd standpoint, the asshole factor was low but there were a

>> few

>> > lobcocks who'd careen around like big, sweaty, smelly dreidels. One

>> > grinning drunk slob who looked like Seth Rogan got hoisted up for some

>> > crowd

>> > surfing and got maybe 5 feet before being dumped on the ground like a

>> sack

>> > of shit. He later wound up getting on the stage on Erics side and then

>> > flopped off the stage like a beached whale.

>> >

>> > All n' all though, a great night even if it was too short and I

>> *really*

>> > wanted to hear "Three Days."

>> >

>> > Setlist:

>> >

>> > Up The Beach

>> > Trip Away (on the setlist but not played)

>> > Whores

>> > 1%

>> > Ain't No Right

>> > Mountain Song

>> > Been Caught Stealing

>> > Ted Just Admit It.

>> > Stop!

>> > (encore)

>> > Had a Dad

>> > Ocean Size

>> >

>> > T.B.

>> >

>> > _______________________________________________

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>> >

>>

>>

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