The show was good - although I've never seen a "bad" NIN show. Having been in Ohio since the start we have had the luxury of watching Trent come up through the ranks over the years, literally. From shows at Peabodys with about 20 people, to success of MTV and The Downward Spiral, The Self Destruct Tour, and beyond. This was prolly my 10th or 11th NIN show (not including Lollapaloozas), and I must say last night falls somewhere in the middle to bottom half. I've seen them much better, hell I've seen them much better in Columbus, Ohio. I did really like the stage setup and the way the show includes Ghosts stuff is very Bowie-esque... and like Bowie, some recent tours have dedicated a sizable portion to newer (experimental soundscapes) and less on album driven rockers or "hits". Think Bowie's last tour where he did a 15 minute version of Bring Me the Disco King. Trent kinda does the same thing with a Ghosts 3-4 song interlude, a point in the show where he rests up back stage apparently.
However, while admirable, I just don't think the setlist works as well as it should, esp for the Columbus crowd. The Ghosts stuff goes on too long and because of that, the set ends up omitting stuff like Down In It, Starfuckers, Sin, The Day the World Went Away, Reptile, etc... it puts the casual (to more than casual) fan off a bit. This makes the set slow to start, and it takes a while to get going and by the time it finally does, the inclusion of Ghosts stuff brings it right back down. Cool for the hardcore fans yes, but a mood breaker for others for sure. I understand what Trent is doing and I appreciate the dynamic of that material next to older stuff, but as a set it's frustrating. This is all ringing true when they launch into something like March of the Pigs (a highlight), viewing the reaction from crowd and band alike, you can see what they are capable of, and you remember why you like this band in the first place.
Also and I've said this before that venue sucks donkey balls. The sound is horrid, Even acts as diverse as Simon and Garfunkel or Metallica sound flat and fuzzy. The schott needs to be banned from holding concerts. Also, I think Trent needs to leave these Hockey arenas behind for a while.
It also should be noted that yes, the show sold like anthrax. Ohio loves Reznor (obviously), but for various reasons (Ghosts, venue, the economy) the venue was embarrassingly bare. They even closed off the (curtained) the entire top section of seats and the place still looked empty. Most concert goers noticed it too, saying NIN woulda been better at a sold out LC. They were right. I think it had an effect on the overall "meh" vibe of the crowd, esp in the seats. I heard a ton of grumbling. I should also point out that they had infant tees at the merch booth, an all telling sign that those suburban kids everyone refers to, were probably at home with their own kids last night.
Their last Columbus show, (With Teeth tour), was loads better, so was the setlist. Don't even get me started on how great NIN was opening for Bowie at Polaris years ago.
Also Reznor broke the second (the middle) screen after flinging his mic stand into it. He said "we don't bust things up like we used to, but sometimes shit still happens, I guess the screen's broke now", but by the encore it looked like the crew got it in a passable working order, still looked jacked though.
thank God I dodged the traffic and road problems.
I miss the old NIN shows.
Last edited by cdubya on Tue Nov 18, 2008 12:46 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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