2008 Woodie Awards
Nine Inch Nails notches a NIN-star performance
Matthew Moss
Issue date: 2/23/06 Section: A&E
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(MOLINE, Ill.)-To say that one sees Nine Inch Nails live is incorrect. A person enters Trent Reznor's universe.
Fueled as always by Reznor's musical direction, NIN performed Feb. 12 at the Mark of the Quad Cities before a dense crowd of about 5,000. The arena space was halved to create a smaller venue, subsequently creating a more intimate atmosphere.
NIN, which first began bringing industrial rock to the masses in the late 1980s is on tour in support of its 2005 album "With Teeth," although Reznor said another studio release is in the works.
"With Teeth" served a very appropriate impetus for the show, which itself seemed organic - one continuous song that evolved over the course of nearly two hours and covered such well-known tracks as "Closer" and "Reptile" along with new material like "Love is Not Enough" and "Every Day is Exactly The Same."
NIN took the audience on a roller coaster ride through peaks of ear-piercing guitar to smooth valleys of Reznor's melodic keyboard and vocals. A multitude of scenes of life were shown on a sheer screen that occasionally separated musicians and audience, forcing them to contemplate the images against the sonic backdrop. Whether it was microscopic life pulsating, wildebeasts running African savannahs, U.S. tanks storming a desert, color-coded products lining a supermarket shelf or, in a dramatic moment, a picture of President Bush in a ballroom dance, Reznor did not direct the audience to feel one way or the other about the images; he merely provided the thrust to consider them all together.
It is unclear whether Reznor himself spits in the face of the modern world or is resigned to it - in an interlude he went on a rant about the poor state of the music industry but, later, sang "Do you bite the hand that feeds you?"
In keeping with the ultimate end that awaits life in the natural world, NIN's performance concluded with such brutal force that it seemed to mimic the fragility of life itself - guitarist Aaron North leapt into the crowd, instrument in hand, leaving only a wave of cheers amidst piercing feedback.
Fueled as always by Reznor's musical direction, NIN performed Feb. 12 at the Mark of the Quad Cities before a dense crowd of about 5,000. The arena space was halved to create a smaller venue, subsequently creating a more intimate atmosphere.
NIN, which first began bringing industrial rock to the masses in the late 1980s is on tour in support of its 2005 album "With Teeth," although Reznor said another studio release is in the works.
"With Teeth" served a very appropriate impetus for the show, which itself seemed organic - one continuous song that evolved over the course of nearly two hours and covered such well-known tracks as "Closer" and "Reptile" along with new material like "Love is Not Enough" and "Every Day is Exactly The Same."
NIN took the audience on a roller coaster ride through peaks of ear-piercing guitar to smooth valleys of Reznor's melodic keyboard and vocals. A multitude of scenes of life were shown on a sheer screen that occasionally separated musicians and audience, forcing them to contemplate the images against the sonic backdrop. Whether it was microscopic life pulsating, wildebeasts running African savannahs, U.S. tanks storming a desert, color-coded products lining a supermarket shelf or, in a dramatic moment, a picture of President Bush in a ballroom dance, Reznor did not direct the audience to feel one way or the other about the images; he merely provided the thrust to consider them all together.
It is unclear whether Reznor himself spits in the face of the modern world or is resigned to it - in an interlude he went on a rant about the poor state of the music industry but, later, sang "Do you bite the hand that feeds you?"
In keeping with the ultimate end that awaits life in the natural world, NIN's performance concluded with such brutal force that it seemed to mimic the fragility of life itself - guitarist Aaron North leapt into the crowd, instrument in hand, leaving only a wave of cheers amidst piercing feedback.