Experiencing NINE INCH NAILS twice on their prescient southwestern portion of the PEEL IT BACK tour was expectedly satisfying. First in Fort Worth, Texas at the shaking Dickies Arena & second in Phoenix, Arizona’s PHX Arena where I’ve witnessed major international pop acts like Madonna, Kylie Minogue, and Charli XCX all sing for their respective supers.
NINE INCH NAILS took a FIGURATIVE guillotine to these formidable ladies of dance pop and viciously decapitated each one as the band traversed their classic back-catalog with Blitzkrieg fast versions of LAST, MARCH OF THE PIGS, & REPTILE reminding the vast swath of adults and teenagers alike who the true international innovator and STAR of the millennium is….Trent Reznor!
Each night was met with overwhelming audience adoration for the band and mastermind Reznor who bookended the black and red bedazzled show with classical piano chops and minimalist austerity, utilizing Boys Noize for a mid-set—Orbital inspired—electronic remix of deep cuts VESSEL and new single AS ALIVE AS YOU NEED ME TO BE, the slapping lead track for Tron: Ares original soundtrack culminating with a grooving and infectious ULTRA COMPUTERIZED VOCODER version of seminal industrial hit CLOSER. Reznor’s synthetic vocals reverberating “My whole existence is flawed. You get me closer to God!”
The face to face performance was thrilling as the band switched stages from main to middle of pit floor—exacting a bullseye point of view spotlight, dead center of the auditorium turning bandmates into the prisoners in the center of the Panopticon. The bass was pulverizing and the effusive energy was happily received!
Contextualizing each song’s lyrical tropes is easy and almost too on the nose for a seasoned goth and I’m glad I was accompanied by my mother who was listening and watching with charitable senses. I asked her: “What was your favorite song?” She gushed: “AFRAID OF AMERICANS”…
Also my favorite song of the night—an outstanding highlight of the high-octane set was a fresh rendition of a somewhat overlooked David Bowie collaboration from the 90’s—”I’m Afraid of Americans”—lovingly associated with a cult classic extravaganza SHOWGIRLS by the devilishly Dutch, Paul Verhoeven. The story of ambition’s deadly CLAWS is still as fitting as ever as the song digs its talons into my back and forces me to stand up straight and listen!
Experiencing life in America isn’t a romantic, Lynchian, horror-tableau starring Robert Longo’s GenX double like NIN’s mystifying shows in Fort Worth and Phoenix displayed; Rather, life in America feels flat and dismal as an Eric Rohmer film until it’s maximally violent like Gaspar Noé and Michael Haneke bet Lars von Trier to cook up a new Dogma ’95: Raw-blistering, no-makeup, natural lighting, oozing acne, unbleached roots, murdered live on Television—looped and projected against a cement wall. Nihilistic but throbbing HERESY feels excellent after another week of fluoridated numbness passes over and the faceless janitor scrubs the bucket of blood off the gymnasium floor—NINE INCH NAILS is a reminder that IT IS a scary world out there—and escapism through music is essential, vital, and cathartic. I wish more Americans could dance out their hate instead of shooting it up.
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