Nine Inch Nails
- live @ Belsonic, Custom House Square, Belfast, 21/08/13
When I read that the US Industrial giants ‘Nine Inch Nails’ had at last confirmed their first ever show in Belfast, the feeling of euphoria I felt was like a religious experience. I first discovered the band when I was only 13 years old, so the end of six years of anxious waiting for my first live exposure was wonderful news.
I thought it was never going to happen, due to Trent Reznor sumoning a hiatus after Nine Inch Nails’ ‘Wave Goodbye’ tour back in 2009 [which included no Irish dates, and only a few UK dates]. This also coupled with the rise of his side-project ‘How to Destroy Angels’ together with his wife Mariqueen Maandig Reznor (as well as long-term NIN associates Atticus Ross and Rob Sheridan) and his highly successful movie score career didn’t look like it was going to be a short break to the fans worldwide.
2013 will definitely be remembered as the year Trent Reznor came back ‘alive and kickin’ the world in bollocks with the stunning live show at Fuji Rock Festival in Japan and the single “Came Back Haunted” which has received a lot of acclaim from fans for its more dominant electronic based sound reminiscent of earlier releases, and its contrast to the more recent albums including The Slip and With Teeth.
On dates prior to Belfast the band had been teasing their fans with 3 new songs from their highly anticipated upcoming “Hesitation Marks” album including the aforementioned single. Opinions on the grape vine were varied , the NIN hardcore fans have been wondering how the album will turn out due to the temperamental nature of the songs we’ve heard – from the down and dirty electro in ‘Copy of A’, to having a prominent pop feel reminiscent of The Cure on ‘Everything’. [Edit: The album has recently been leaked and in response, put up for official streaming on iTunes]
When the support slots for this event were announced, I was a little bit disappointed that highly regarded local band Mojo Fury were not chosen as the main support band. If one band deserved the chance to share the stage with one of their biggest influences, it was definitely these guys – the Northern Irish answer to Nine Inch Nails! However that isn’t to say that I didn’t enjoy what was on offer tonight as you’ll find out immediately.
First up were newcomers ‘Little Matador’ comprised of Snow Patrol’s very own Nathan Connelly and Dave from the riff-tastic Lafaro. Days before the gig, I watched a video of their debut gig at The Goat’s Toe, Bangor which didn’t impress me in the slightest, but after seeing them live, that video does not do this band any justice whatsoever and should be removed. Coming onto the stage at around 7pm, they surprised me with their prominent deep south style riffs, catchy driving grooves [which I’m not surprised by considering the Lafaro connection] and set of well constructed originals, where at times strongly resembled the likes of Queens of the Stone Age and The Raconteurs, that caught many of the punters of guard then quickly got their attention and had them infectiously nodding along. If anything, I’m surprised that such a cool thing came from a member of “Snore Patrol” [sic]. Nathan, if you’re reading this, I know you make a shed load of money with Snow Patrol, but Little Matador know the score mate! They’re definitely a band to watch out for in my opinion.
I’ve seen ‘And So I Watch You From Afar’ before quite recently at Benefit [fundraiser for cancer sufferers] which was held in the QUB Mandela Hall back in December 2012, so even after they butchered the Rudi punk classic ‘Big Time’ at that awful BBC televised Ulster Hall covers gig I can’t remember the name off, I knew they were capable of much better and knew what to expect here tonight. ASIWYFA have recently finished a new album and came off a string of touring dates, soon to be followed by another US, UK and European tour, so instinctively you think this band will be on fire. The local experimental math-rockers know how to keep the energy levels high at the right times with speedy technical guitar and bouncing bass lines, every member jumping about like a meeting of the Zebadee fan club and a drum mix so sharp it could split a person in two. Then again at other times during their instrumental set they maintained a mellow atmospheric feel which taken as a complete performance complimented tonight’s headliners set very well.
Little disappointed they didn’t play fan favourite ‘A Little Solidarity Goes A Long Way’ but this was made up with ‘Set Guitars To Kill’ and some songs off the new album ‘All Hail Bright Futures’ including opener ‘Eunoia’ which got the crowd and fans alike revved up for what was to follow.
Just before 9pm, Trent Reznor’s stage crew were very busy carrying out a vast array of synthesizers, drum kits, massive screens and testing lighting racks. At last it was time for the main event, the stage was flooded in white light, with thousands of fans temporarily blinded and eagerly awaiting the arrival of the headliners. As I’ve previously explained in this review, I’m a HUGE Nine Inch Nails fan, and to reiterate for purpose of understanding, I’ve waited a long time for tonight to happen with the chance that I’d never get the opportunity. So while standing in the middle of the crowd patiently waiting on the man himself to arrive, I was described by friends as being like “a kid on Christmas day” so it’s going to be a bit hard to fit everything I loved about this show into this review. Here it goes…
From the very onset of the show, the crowd’s energy level exponentially grew more and more as the members of NIN followed Trent onstage one by one as their instruments were carried out in turn by the roadies as the intro of the excellent ‘Copy of A’ swirled around Custom House Square, then suddenly the bland staging erupted into a dazzling light show involving a myriad of lights and screens projecting the band members’ shadows onto a number of huge white screens, it looked incredible . The light show was a crucial and very impressive aspect of the show; constantly changing for every song to suit the attitude/ mood, which I found striking at times such as during the mellow ‘Find My Way/What If We Could?’ with silhouettes of the members against a fading blue background while Trent was illuminated in white light - So simple, yet so effective. The set also involved active animation on Trent’s part particularly during the excellent ‘Only’ where he started singing into a camera that morphed the image into the TV-esque static background projections, similar to the character of the official video.
Nine Inch Nails powered through the set relentlessly bursting into ‘1,000,000’ straight after ‘Came Back Haunted’ which was followed by the powerful crowd agitator ‘March of the Pigs’ compelling every punter in the place to start moshing, head-banging and dancing. The set also included a surprise reappearance of Broken era tunes including ‘Gave Up’ and the eerily titled ‘Help Me, I’m In Hell’ and songs from all over his expansive discography including the likes of ‘The Frail/The Wretched’; ‘Terrible Lie’; ‘Piggy’; ‘Survivalism’ and the song with the infamous lyric [“I want to fuck you like an animal”] and a very inappropriate headline grabbing video containing a crucified monkey - ‘Closer’ which I must say was one of the highlights of tonight’s set hearing over 7000 people sing that line.
Tonight’s set featured the essential Nine Inch Nails fan choices in one continuous run, from the eerie atmospherics of ‘The Way Out Is Through You’, to the distorted intro synth and dirty guitar lines of the intensely aggressive ‘Wish’ sending me and my fellow pit residents into a frenzy of pushing, pulling, shoving, and diving over one another, which made the night very special especially for me to be able to let loose and go mental during one of my all-time favourite songs!
The final three songs brought forward their biggest hit ‘The Hand That Feeds’ that went down an absolute storm with everyone singing along to every word that passed Trent’s lips; paired back to back with the Pretty Hate Machine classic ‘Head Like A Hole’ which in all honesty, didn’t have the feel I was expecting – It lacked that punch in the temple captured so well on the record, but nonetheless still did the job. Finally, the hauntingly beautiful anthem ‘Hurt’ spelled the perfect conclusion to tonight’s performance (and featured myself having a bit of a emotional moment, but that’s for another day…), with Trent, guitarist Robin Finck and bassist Josh Eustis in front of screens projecting weird and despairing images to the audience, which then broke apart revealing keyboardist Alessandro Cortini and Drummer Ilan Rubin filling the sound drawing the song to its climax. Absolutely phenomenal…
We all expected and received a very varied set tonight, with its more angry frustrated elements juxtaposed with the atypical quiet, tension building and despairingly ambient moments forming a well balanced, fan friendly set ensuring that covered all bases [and certainly fulfilled most my wish list]. Can’t wait to to see them live again very soon, hopefully it’ll not be another six years.
In a nutshell: hands down, one of the best, if not THE BEST, show I’ve ever been to.
Steven Donnelly [August 2013]
Rating: 11/10
Check out the bands:
Little Matador - https://www.facebook.com/LittleMatador
And So I Watch You From Afar - https://www.facebook.com/andsoiwatchyoufromafar
Nine Inch Nails - https://www.facebook.com/ninofficial
- “Hesitation Marks: Out 3rd September 2013”
All photos © Steven Donnelly
I thought it was never going to happen, due to Trent Reznor sumoning a hiatus after Nine Inch Nails’ ‘Wave Goodbye’ tour back in 2009 [which included no Irish dates, and only a few UK dates]. This also coupled with the rise of his side-project ‘How to Destroy Angels’ together with his wife Mariqueen Maandig Reznor (as well as long-term NIN associates Atticus Ross and Rob Sheridan) and his highly successful movie score career didn’t look like it was going to be a short break to the fans worldwide.
2013 will definitely be remembered as the year Trent Reznor came back ‘alive and kickin’ the world in bollocks with the stunning live show at Fuji Rock Festival in Japan and the single “Came Back Haunted” which has received a lot of acclaim from fans for its more dominant electronic based sound reminiscent of earlier releases, and its contrast to the more recent albums including The Slip and With Teeth.
On dates prior to Belfast the band had been teasing their fans with 3 new songs from their highly anticipated upcoming “Hesitation Marks” album including the aforementioned single. Opinions on the grape vine were varied , the NIN hardcore fans have been wondering how the album will turn out due to the temperamental nature of the songs we’ve heard – from the down and dirty electro in ‘Copy of A’, to having a prominent pop feel reminiscent of The Cure on ‘Everything’. [Edit: The album has recently been leaked and in response, put up for official streaming on iTunes]
When the support slots for this event were announced, I was a little bit disappointed that highly regarded local band Mojo Fury were not chosen as the main support band. If one band deserved the chance to share the stage with one of their biggest influences, it was definitely these guys – the Northern Irish answer to Nine Inch Nails! However that isn’t to say that I didn’t enjoy what was on offer tonight as you’ll find out immediately.
First up were newcomers ‘Little Matador’ comprised of Snow Patrol’s very own Nathan Connelly and Dave from the riff-tastic Lafaro. Days before the gig, I watched a video of their debut gig at The Goat’s Toe, Bangor which didn’t impress me in the slightest, but after seeing them live, that video does not do this band any justice whatsoever and should be removed. Coming onto the stage at around 7pm, they surprised me with their prominent deep south style riffs, catchy driving grooves [which I’m not surprised by considering the Lafaro connection] and set of well constructed originals, where at times strongly resembled the likes of Queens of the Stone Age and The Raconteurs, that caught many of the punters of guard then quickly got their attention and had them infectiously nodding along. If anything, I’m surprised that such a cool thing came from a member of “Snore Patrol” [sic]. Nathan, if you’re reading this, I know you make a shed load of money with Snow Patrol, but Little Matador know the score mate! They’re definitely a band to watch out for in my opinion.
I’ve seen ‘And So I Watch You From Afar’ before quite recently at Benefit [fundraiser for cancer sufferers] which was held in the QUB Mandela Hall back in December 2012, so even after they butchered the Rudi punk classic ‘Big Time’ at that awful BBC televised Ulster Hall covers gig I can’t remember the name off, I knew they were capable of much better and knew what to expect here tonight. ASIWYFA have recently finished a new album and came off a string of touring dates, soon to be followed by another US, UK and European tour, so instinctively you think this band will be on fire. The local experimental math-rockers know how to keep the energy levels high at the right times with speedy technical guitar and bouncing bass lines, every member jumping about like a meeting of the Zebadee fan club and a drum mix so sharp it could split a person in two. Then again at other times during their instrumental set they maintained a mellow atmospheric feel which taken as a complete performance complimented tonight’s headliners set very well.
Little disappointed they didn’t play fan favourite ‘A Little Solidarity Goes A Long Way’ but this was made up with ‘Set Guitars To Kill’ and some songs off the new album ‘All Hail Bright Futures’ including opener ‘Eunoia’ which got the crowd and fans alike revved up for what was to follow.
Just before 9pm, Trent Reznor’s stage crew were very busy carrying out a vast array of synthesizers, drum kits, massive screens and testing lighting racks. At last it was time for the main event, the stage was flooded in white light, with thousands of fans temporarily blinded and eagerly awaiting the arrival of the headliners. As I’ve previously explained in this review, I’m a HUGE Nine Inch Nails fan, and to reiterate for purpose of understanding, I’ve waited a long time for tonight to happen with the chance that I’d never get the opportunity. So while standing in the middle of the crowd patiently waiting on the man himself to arrive, I was described by friends as being like “a kid on Christmas day” so it’s going to be a bit hard to fit everything I loved about this show into this review. Here it goes…
From the very onset of the show, the crowd’s energy level exponentially grew more and more as the members of NIN followed Trent onstage one by one as their instruments were carried out in turn by the roadies as the intro of the excellent ‘Copy of A’ swirled around Custom House Square, then suddenly the bland staging erupted into a dazzling light show involving a myriad of lights and screens projecting the band members’ shadows onto a number of huge white screens, it looked incredible . The light show was a crucial and very impressive aspect of the show; constantly changing for every song to suit the attitude/ mood, which I found striking at times such as during the mellow ‘Find My Way/What If We Could?’ with silhouettes of the members against a fading blue background while Trent was illuminated in white light - So simple, yet so effective. The set also involved active animation on Trent’s part particularly during the excellent ‘Only’ where he started singing into a camera that morphed the image into the TV-esque static background projections, similar to the character of the official video.
Nine Inch Nails powered through the set relentlessly bursting into ‘1,000,000’ straight after ‘Came Back Haunted’ which was followed by the powerful crowd agitator ‘March of the Pigs’ compelling every punter in the place to start moshing, head-banging and dancing. The set also included a surprise reappearance of Broken era tunes including ‘Gave Up’ and the eerily titled ‘Help Me, I’m In Hell’ and songs from all over his expansive discography including the likes of ‘The Frail/The Wretched’; ‘Terrible Lie’; ‘Piggy’; ‘Survivalism’ and the song with the infamous lyric [“I want to fuck you like an animal”] and a very inappropriate headline grabbing video containing a crucified monkey - ‘Closer’ which I must say was one of the highlights of tonight’s set hearing over 7000 people sing that line.
Tonight’s set featured the essential Nine Inch Nails fan choices in one continuous run, from the eerie atmospherics of ‘The Way Out Is Through You’, to the distorted intro synth and dirty guitar lines of the intensely aggressive ‘Wish’ sending me and my fellow pit residents into a frenzy of pushing, pulling, shoving, and diving over one another, which made the night very special especially for me to be able to let loose and go mental during one of my all-time favourite songs!
The final three songs brought forward their biggest hit ‘The Hand That Feeds’ that went down an absolute storm with everyone singing along to every word that passed Trent’s lips; paired back to back with the Pretty Hate Machine classic ‘Head Like A Hole’ which in all honesty, didn’t have the feel I was expecting – It lacked that punch in the temple captured so well on the record, but nonetheless still did the job. Finally, the hauntingly beautiful anthem ‘Hurt’ spelled the perfect conclusion to tonight’s performance (and featured myself having a bit of a emotional moment, but that’s for another day…), with Trent, guitarist Robin Finck and bassist Josh Eustis in front of screens projecting weird and despairing images to the audience, which then broke apart revealing keyboardist Alessandro Cortini and Drummer Ilan Rubin filling the sound drawing the song to its climax. Absolutely phenomenal…
We all expected and received a very varied set tonight, with its more angry frustrated elements juxtaposed with the atypical quiet, tension building and despairingly ambient moments forming a well balanced, fan friendly set ensuring that covered all bases [and certainly fulfilled most my wish list]. Can’t wait to to see them live again very soon, hopefully it’ll not be another six years.
In a nutshell: hands down, one of the best, if not THE BEST, show I’ve ever been to.
Steven Donnelly [August 2013]
Rating: 11/10
Check out the bands:
Little Matador - https://www.facebook.com/LittleMatador
And So I Watch You From Afar - https://www.facebook.com/andsoiwatchyoufromafar
Nine Inch Nails - https://www.facebook.com/ninofficial
- “Hesitation Marks: Out 3rd September 2013”
All photos © Steven Donnelly