Nine
Inch Nails
O2 Arena, London - 18 June 2025
"A
triumph of vision and realisation"
There have
been plenty of periods during which NIN haven’t necessarily been my
*favourite* band, but I would definitively consider Trent Reznor to
be the artist I’ve consistently revered above all others. You don’t
always have to like everything to respect it, do you? (Though never
let Everything darken my ears again, OK?) I’ve particularly
admired the way he’s evolved musically over the years (though not
necessarily lyrically). These days I’m drawn more and more to the
piano/ambient drone/acoustic instruments/minimal
electronica/saxophone/real singing/soundtrack material -
increasingly more than the supposedly-definitive (OK, at the time it
was) Downward Spiral era.
I know that’s probably an uncommon/unpopular position amongst NIN fans but fuck it, I’d first heard people moaning that 'it wasn’t like 94' as I filed out of Brixton Academy in November 1999 (my first NIN show). I also like that Trent makes you work for it. Albums which perplexed at the time of release have rewarded perseverance; I remember being quite scathing about Bad Witch when it came out, but once I understood the process and aim, it unlocked and kept calling me back.
I know that’s probably an uncommon/unpopular position amongst NIN fans but fuck it, I’d first heard people moaning that 'it wasn’t like 94' as I filed out of Brixton Academy in November 1999 (my first NIN show). I also like that Trent makes you work for it. Albums which perplexed at the time of release have rewarded perseverance; I remember being quite scathing about Bad Witch when it came out, but once I understood the process and aim, it unlocked and kept calling me back.
On this tour,
the setlist could have been anything, really - such is the impact of
the show structure and presentation.
The minimal reworks in the first section of the set offered a real interest point - Trent challenging the spacial and sonic dynamic of an arena show in a brave, unconventional but hugely effective way. 'Open with a banger? Done that. This time around I’m going to sit at a piano in the middle of the venue, on my own under a snooker table light'. It was as far removed from 'opening banger' as he could get. And it’s so fucking good.
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Somehow
achieving intimacy in the enormodrome, forcing a hushed
attentiveness upon the 10,000 in the venue. The main stage sections
of the show offered few surprises - the setlist practically writes
itself; but the ever-present songs like Wish, March of
The Pigs, etc are delivered with a sense of freshness and
gusto it’s impossible to not be impressed by, betraying Trent’s 60+
age. And fuck, doesn’t he look and sound good?!? The visuals are
stunning of course: hand-held action cameras are busily run around
the stage to offer a sense of constant movement, no locked-off
static cameras here, ever-changing angles of different band members
add to the energy in a way IMAG screens rarely if ever do, filtered
into gorgeous monotones and blacks, as arty as they were functional.
I was
sceptical about the Boys Noize collaboration until it arrived; it
then proceeded to positively *fuck* its way through the three tracks
- including a stunning rework of the previously disposable Only.
It was what the 2013 comeback show at Fuji Rocks excitingly hinted
at during its first few songs (before reverting to usual format); so
perhaps it’s an approach which will be explored at greater length in
future. Yes, there were tech issues. ‘Taken out by a mic cable’ as
Trent said. Fuck knows how angry he will have been afterwards -
perfectionist as he is, and I’m very happy I’m not his stage manager
- but to be honest it didn’t derail the gig like other have
suggested.
I’m imagining it was actually something like a Dante interface issue, affecting the stage box routed for Trent’s vocal channels; for it to occur with several wired mics in succession suggests it was more than just a dodgy XLR. At least the contingency back-up of a radio hand-held was in place. Trent may have looked awkward as hell with it, but at least it worked. From where I was, Trent’s increased frustration added an extra edge to the home stretch of the set. The sense of 'I just want to get this fucking gig done and rip several layers of skin off the crew backstage' was palpable. It wasn’t in the script. And I like things that aren’t in the script, of the moment.
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Frustration
may not have been the energy he wanted to convey when conceiving the
artistic direction of this tour, but the half-dozen thrown mics and
a sacrificed guitar (Reznor smashed his guitar at the end of Head Like
a Hole) will have no doubt pleased those
people who still hanker for stage covered with bile and broken
instruments. The people who probably went for a piss during The
Lovers, screwed-up face et al.
The saxophone
was clearly, and disappointingly left at home for this tour (God
Break Down The Door was INCREDIBLE in 2022). Sadly, the
sodding tambourine made it onto the road - but at least the song it
was utilised for was worthy, as Less Than kicked several
levels harder than the album version. I found myself smiling through
much of the show. Genuinely happy to see NIN again, pushing the
envelope in their own way. I even enjoyed Closer again,
which had become a skip song for me. I still find the chorus
unnecessarily icky, but the outro instrumental section was a
transcendental moment in the set as the layers and rhythms
intertwined to an anthemic degree.
Even better,
they didn’t play the godawful CD:UK-friendly The Hand That Feeds;
its usual place in the order was taken by The Perfect Drug,
which always takes me back to my college days in Andover, playing
the CD repeatedly for far too long, trying to work out how the hell
it was ever conceived and assembled.
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This group
of Reznor/Finck/Rubin/Ross/Cortini is by far my favourite NIN
line-up since the Fragile era band and it’s great seeing
it move into its 12th year. If only that crap mid-2000s period of
the weird cosplayer guitarist and Twiggy fucking Ramirez had been
bypassed. I consider this tour concept to be a triumph of vision
and realisation. Redefining NIN’s dynamic in a big venue, hinting
perhaps at a future with a wholly stripped-down, atmospheric
presentation. I’m there for that if it happens. I certainly felt
that the old staples were being given something of a last hurrah;
though to be honest, I thought that on the previous tour too.
Overall, it
was truly brilliant gig which proved that NIN are on a level which
belongs entirely to them. Maybe they *are* my favourite band after
all. 9/10
Setlist:
Act 1 (B-Stage) Right Where It Belongs (piano acoustic; with Somewhat Damaged outro snippet), Ruiner (partially acoustic version), Piggy (Nothing Can Stop Me Now)
Act 2 (Unpeeled Main Stage) Wish, March of the Pigs, Reptile (sung mainly by Robin Finck due to problems with Trent Reznor's microphone) ,The Lovers (tour debut), Copy of A Gave Up
Act 3 (B-Stage with Boys Noize) The Warning (with Boys Noize), Only (with Boys Noize). Came Back Haunted (with Boys Noize)
Act 4 (Peeled
Main Stage) Mr. Self Destruct, Heresy, Less Than, Closer
(with The Only Time interpolation), I'm Afraid of
Americans (David Bowie cover), The Perfect Drug, Head
Like a Hole, Hurt