[kj] Nine Inch Nails at The Hollywood Palladium Last Night

[Karen Weil]

Very good report, TB.

k.w.
SoCal
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "The Mighty TB" <planetary at socal.rr.com>
To: "A list about all things Killing Joke (the band!)" 
<gathering at misera.net>
Sent: Thursday, September 03, 2009 6:50 PM
Subject: [kj] Nine Inch Nails at The Hollywood Palladium Last Night



> Great, great show, easily the best NIN show I've seen in my 19 years of 

> seeing this band and this was with Trent Reznor being sick.

>

> Nine Inch Nails is supposedly "retiring" (at least from touring) after 

> these final group of shows which are being played in small theater sized 

> venues and clubs.  The tour is winding down here in Los Angeles this week 

> with four shows at the Hollywood Palladium, The Fonda, The Wiltern and the 

> last show at the tiny Echoplex bar on Sunday. Tickets which were sold only 

> on the NIN website sold out instantly a month ago and have proven to be a 

> very tough ticket to get.  I missed out on the sale and having seen the 

> band early this Summer with Jane's Addiction, I was planning on passing up 

> these last shows due to the hassle.  But after reading about the wildly 

> changing from night to night setlists for the NY and Chicago shows, I 

> decided to give it a shot even though tickets were going for astronomical 

> prices on eBay.  Yesterday literally hours before the show, I got an 

> e-mail from someone on the NIN forum that they had an extra ticket for 

> face value ($65) and after meeting the seller, was in for the Palladium 

> show.

>

> Long story short, NIN opened with Mr Self Destruct and played the entire 

> Downward Spiral album from start to finish in order which included one or 

> two songs which had only been performed once before at the NY show where 

> they also performed the entire album who's performance at the time looked 

> to be a one-off deal.  This was the setlist:

>

> Mr. Self Destruct

> Piggy

> Heresy

> March Of The Pigs

> Closer

> Ruiner

> The Becoming

> I Do Not Want This

> Big Man With A Gun

> A Warm Place

> Eraser

> Reptile

> The Downward Spiral

> Hurt

> ++++++

> 1,000,000

> Terrible Lie

> Lights in the Sky

> Burn

> Gave Up

> Suck

> Metal (with Gary Numan)

> Cars (with Gary Numan)

> The Hand That Feeds

> Head Like a Hole

>

> Before performing "Burn," Trent mentioned he was fighting a bad cold and 

> couldn't hear for shit and apologized for his voice (which really sounded 

> fairly good until he mentioned being sick).  Going through "Burn," it 

> became apparent he was starting to have a rough time.  After "Suck," 

> Reznor briefly touched upon his early influences which led to Gary Numan 

> joining the band for his songs, "Metal" and "Cars" which I thought was 

> fucking excellent but many in the crowd seemed clueless and uninterested 

> for the two songs.

>

> It's been about 8 or so years since I last saw a show at the Palladium 

> (1st show was The Clash way back in '82) so seeing a show once again at 

> the "renovated" Palladium was very nostalgic. Everything seemed to run 

> very smoothly like clockwork as far as sticking to the advertised 

> schedule. The massive line that snaked all the way around the block the 

> Palladium is on prior to the doors opening at 6:30 moved quickly and most 

> people got in right around 7:45 leaving virtually no wait time for people 

> coming in later. The sound was excellent pretty much anywhere you stood 

> although the sweet spot was dead center about 2/3rds back from the stage. 

> I could have done without either opening band. Mew was like a third rate 

> Secret Machines (who I really like).

>

> Which leads to the only real downside which was the audience seemed a bit 

> subdued to the point of being perhaps a bit too polite which has it's pros 

> and cons for a NIN show.  And during "Lights in the Sky," the acoustics of 

> the Palladium made the annoying chatting from those in the VIP balcony 

> during this quiet and intense song very distracting.

>

> I know a lot of people here rag on Reznor and NIN in general for a variety 

> of things, but there's no denying Reznor knows exactly how to not only 

> satisfy the band's fans, but maintain a honest legacy for his band and 

> music.  Plus, the guy really has an amazing work ethic, especially in the 

> last half decade.  In this context, it's almost shocking that barely an 

> hour after last night's show ended, tonight's show at The Fonda was 

> cancelled/postponed due to Reznor's illness.

>

> T.B.

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