The lights in the sky have finally arrived

At the heart of the explosion, originally uploaded by ConfessionalPoet.

This weekend, we finally lived the dream: two Nine Inch Nails shows in a row.

Every time I've seen Trent Reznor and his Rock Show (tm Jane), I've had the same reaction after it ends: "Again! Again!" A feeling like the first five minutes after stepping off a roller coaster, just before you rush back to get in line again for another go-round. This weekend, after a false start back over the summer, I finally got to line up for a second ride the very next night after the first.

I originally bought tickets to back-to-back shows at the Mohegan Sun Arena and then at Worcester's DCU Center in August. I saw the Mohegan Sun date, and Trent canceled the next night when his vocal chords, which have endured several lifetimes of shrieking abuse for our entertainment, shorted out on him. The DCU Center date was quickly rescheduled for this past Sunday, and then another date was added at the Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester, NH, as long as the band was in the area (I guess.)

Seeing lots of Nine Inch Nails shows has trained me to quickly lose my inhibitions in public, provided I'm hit with enough powerful hooks of the kind Trent Reznor is in the business of writing. But I also try to keep my elbows and stomping feet to myself as much as possible. Manchester's pit was an ideal one for this; there were a few of the usual young males working out their aggressions hip-checking random strangers, as well as the obligatory couple making out here and there, but I was as close as I've ever been to the stage while remaining as un-interfered with as I've ever been on the floor at a show.

The Manchester show was kind of funny, it was so perfect. We scored excellent parking, showed up, took our spots on the floor, decided we should hit the bathroom before the show started, went and did so, and returned to even better spots on the floor just as Nine Inch Nails took the stage.

From our vantage point about 20 yards away (if that), we were close enough to see every muscle stand out through Trent's sweat-soaked black t-shirt as he put us through the customary workout, close enough to see his eyes as he hollered out lyrics, his fingers on the keyboard, the beads of sweat running down his face.

At the center of every axis of the space, we were surrounded and enveloped in the show. The standout image I will take away from Manchester is the huge, red NIN logo descending directly overhead as the main set ended, the letters looming larger and larger, casting a red glow over an audience already apoplectic for an encore.

As with the Mohegan Sun show, in both Manchester and Worcester there was a sense of intimacy with the crowd, including another humbled "Thank You" after screams of recognition and a full-hall chorus for "Hurt." The lights shone out into the audience as they had in Connecticut, and in Manchester Trent pointed out a sign some fans were holding up in one of the front rows, thanking the fans for making him laugh during an earlier song and "blowing my image."

As with the Mohegan Sun show, the lingering, bittersweet "In this Twilight" finale left me with my heart in my throat. Both times.

The Worcester show took place at a bigger, meaner venue, which used to be called the Worcester Centrum and in an earlier life was the setting for some of the more violent stops on the Self Destruction Tour. Our seats this time were a section back from the floor, on the right side of the house. One look at the packed pit told us we'd wound up in the GA section for the right show (bodily injury not being among our favorite pastimes), and that removed vantage point gave us a new perspective on the visuals. I've now seen essentially the same show, with minor variations in the set list, from three different angles: nosebleed, front rows and mid-level, and not only did it not get old, it got more fascinating the more details I noticed.

For example, I hadn't really watched Trent playing marimba during a couple of the Ghosts numbers. A couple times he was playing it with four mallets, which is ridiculously hard. He also played guitar, in a way that made me think thoughts I'll spare you. He has to be the only person to successfully retain his mojo while enthusiastically--even violently--playing a tambourine, and I'm also pretty sure he's the only person ever to get Goth kids to mosh to disco.

Last night in Worcester, as an apology for the "inconvenience" of the canceled date, Trent invited a surprise guest, Peter Murphy of Bauhaus, onstage to sing "Reptile" for the encore. After the song, Peter Murphy called Trent a 'true poet', a phrase that's stuck with me since.

Because the more times you watch this show, the harder it gets to pigeonhole it strictly within the "rock" or even "music" category. Lights in the Sky is a multisensory experience as completely and meticulously designed, if not more so, as any of Trent's layered musical creations. Having seen it firsthand from three different angles, it seems to me to have been constructed with an eye for detail I've seen put into museum installations, with the view of it from every last vantage point taken into account. NIN Live has grown from a messy vehicle of studio-created song delivery into a participatory, interdisciplinary, fully-integrated work of art.

Take also the ever-growing web of communication being established by Trent with his longtime fans through more and newer channels outside the arena, and the overall Nine Inch Nails experience is also beginning to move beyond the music.

At the heart of it all, meanwhile, remains this singular person, with untold Things to Say. 'Poet' seems as apt a description as any for him.

Photos.

Comments

[ChrisClark]

I'm so sad that I didn't get to see either of these shows, not even the one that was f'ing ten minutes from my house. UGH!

Anyway, glad you got to live the dream. Maybe the band will tour again in the future and I'll get to experience the awesomeness one more time.

[Nathanael Matthias Weiss]

You made me want to go to one of TR's concerts right now..