Live And In The Flesh
NIN, QOTSA, DFA1979 - November 10 & 11, 2005
A decade ago marked my very first doubleheader, and what a tour to catch out on the road not only once, but twice! Earlier that same year I had caught my first Nine Inch Nails show at the Kool Haus in Toronto and I was hooked! It's worth mentioning that I had also hit up my first Queens of the Stone Age show earlier that year as well, also at the Kool Haus. For both shows I was able to secure a spot front and center on the rail, and I knew that I couldn't miss the opportunity to catch both of these bands out on the road again. Little did I know that I get the chance to see them both together! If seeing both of these bands together wasn't enough to draw me in, they were also bringing along Death From Above 1979! I had yet to see DFA1979 live and what a way to finally catch them in concert, opening for two of my favourite bands!
Nine Inch Nails were fresh off of a five year hiatus and had just released their fourth studio release – With Teeth earlier that May. While Queens of the Stone Age were also out promoting their fourth studio release – Lullabies to Paralyze. I couldn’t believe Reznor had enlisted not just one amazing supporting act for the Live: With Teeth fall tour, but two. Death From Above 1979 had also been keeping busy with the release of their latest remixes and b-sides album – Romance Bloody Romance. All of the bands were in full swing and this tour couldn't be missed!
Nine Inch Nails had recently started up a fan club called The Spiral, providing members with an opportunity to access pre-sale tickets ahead of the general public. Trent had realized how big of a black market there was for tickets to his shows after returning to the scene earlier that year, and this was his way of battling the scalpers. Tickets purchased through the fan club only pre-sale had the individual's name printed directly on the custom Nine Inch Nails ticket stub itself. The tickets were will call only, and attendees had to show ID for proof of purchase upon picking up their tickets to ensure they were staying within the hands of the fans, and not simply supporting the live music black market. Needless to say I was a member of The Spiral as soon as it started up, which helped me secure my tickets to both the Toronto and Montréal stops on the Live: With Teeth fall tour. I decided to go with general admission tickets for the pit in Toronto, and seats for the Montréal show, in order to get the best of both worlds. Front and center for one show, and some of the best seats in the house for the other. The tickets were purchased and the anticipation had begun!
That Thursday in November finally came and the first show was here at last. We made our way to Toronto bright and early to make sure we were some of the first few in line to gain access to the venue as the doors opened. Luckily for us, our pre-sale tickets provided us with a separate entrance and early entry. We didn’t have to get there nearly as early as we did for my first NIN excursion (where we spent well over twelve hours waiting in line). Not only did we have early entry to the venue, but members of The Spiral were also treated to their very own private sound check with Nine Inch Nails! The doors finally opened and we were led into a hallway in the Air Canada Centre while we waited for the remaining fan club members to make their way in. All of a sudden we could hear some opening notes being played out in the stage area while we could feel our excitement growing exponentially. They finally led us into the center of the arena and we all stormed the stage while Nine Inch Nails were warming up. We secured our place on the rail up front and settled in for what was going to be just the first of two incredible nights of music.
Our sound check had finished up and we were left to patiently wait for DFA1979 to take the stage as the rest of the crowd was filing into the venue. It wasn't long until the duo made their way out to the screaming fans. Death From Above were actually from Toronto, so there was plenty of support for the local legends as they worked through their fiery set of tunes. Turn It Out, the opening track off of their debut album started up their set quite appropriately. You're Lovely (But You've Got Lots of Problems), a b-side from their latest release, Romance Bloody Romance, was thrown into the set next before they dove into a track from their first EP, Dead Womb. It was pretty clear that Jesse and Sebastien meant business, and they weren't holding anything back from their hometown crowd. Going Steady, Romantic Rights, Blood on Our Hands, Black History Month and Little Girl rounded off their set before they finished their nine track setlist off with another track from their 2002 Heads Up EP, Do It! For my first DFA1979 outing, this certainly was a memorable one. Finally getting to see them play Do It! live, was amazing. Watching Jesse use the vocoder while jamming through the track was surreal. I don't think that track live will ever get old! For a duo, these guys are a true force to be reckoned with.
Death From Above 1979 had us fired up and the night had just begun! We couldn't believe that Queens of the Stone Age were on deck, and Nine Inch Nails were to follow. Josh Homme and the rest of his crew made their way out to the stage sporting their swagger. I don't think you could have asked for a better lineup for a concert. Without any hesitation at all, Feel Good Hit of the Summer started right up followed by The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret. I loved every minute of it! Mexicola, one of my favourites off of their debut self-titled release came next and blew me away. I couldn't help but wonder what other Queens tracks that I had yet to hear live would bust through the airwaves. Infinity, a b-side from their latest Lullabies to Paralyze release surprised me even more. Everybody Knows That You Are Insane and Regular John were two other tracks that I had yet to hear live, the latter dipping back into their self-titled debut release again. Broken Box, Little Sister and Long Slow Goodbye started to wind their setlist down before they finished everything off with Burn the Witch, A Song for the Dead and No One Knows. I would have been completely satisfied their twelve song set, leaving the venue right then and there, but there was still another amazing live act to see before night’s end… Nine Inch Nails!
A silkscreen curtain had been lowered between QOTSA and NIN sets as the roadies worked diligently away at taking down/setting up equipment for the next performance. The lights went out as we could see the smoke beginning to fill in behind the curtain. Pinion, an instrumental track from Broken started to play and we knew that things were getting going. The silkscreen curtain stayed in place like a veil as the band blasted through Love Is Not Enough, one of their newer tracks from With Teeth. The lighting and smoke played so well with their shadows which made for an interesting beginning to their set. The first song had finished up and You Know What You Are? rocked the ACC as the band was unveiled. We couldn't believe that we were front row for such an amazing concert, and so close to Reznor doing what he does best, rocking our faces off.
The Line Begins to Blur, March of the Pigs, Something I Can Never Have, The Frail, The Wretched, Closer, Burn and Gave Up all seemed like a blur at the time. I hadn't seen the duo of The Frail and The Wretched live yet, so I was pretty stoked to finally hear some more material from The Fragile. One track after the next continued to energize the crowd more and more. The veil would return, as it was lowered down around the edge of the stage again as the band used it for a surface for projecting images onto. Eraser, a favourite of mine from The Downward Spiral was given the video treatment first. Insects and animals made their way across the screen as we could faintly see the members of the band wailing along with their instruments behind the imagery. Two tracks from With Teeth also received the projector treatment as well, Right Where It Belongs, and Beside You in Time, the latter of which had white static noise continuously building up on the screen before Trent smashed it all to pieces with his guitar, making it look like he shattered a pain of glass between him and the crowd of NIN-hungry fans.
The Collector, Wish, and Only came next before Trent dove into another first for me, Dead Souls, a Joy Division cover from The Crow Soundtrack, which was a pleasure to see. Even Deeper, another track from The Fragile worked its way into the set before Reznor treated us to another cover, Suck, originally performed by Pigface, and included as a hidden track on his 1992 Broken EP. Hurt came next and we knew Trent was winding the show down as he typically included this track as a bit of a finale to his shows. The Hand That Feeds and Head Like a Hole topped the twenty-three song setlist off and sent us on our way. We couldn't believe what we had just enjoyed, and this was only the first night of two! Before heading out we decided to hit up the merch booth to grab a hoodie and show-specific poster. We climbed into the car and hit the road for our four hour drive back home that same night to try to get rested up before embarking on the second half of our journey to Montréal the following day.
We managed to get home around 3am after our Toronto excursion and surprisingly managed to get a full night's rest in before waking up the next day. Seeing as how we had seats for our second night out with NIN/QOTSA/DFA1979, we weren't in any major rush to get to Montréal. The weather was great and we couldn't have asked for two better days to be out on the road traveling. It was a bit brisk, but at least the snow hadn't started to fly just yet. We finally made it to Montréal and jumped in line with the rest of The Spiral members. Security let us in early as scheduled, and we anxiously made our way into the second sound check in two days. The VIP treatment was certainly appreciated, especially after experiencing it all the night before. Even though we had seats for the Montréal gig, they let us down into the general admission area for the private NIN sound check. I recall hearing Home, a With Teeth b-side that they had decided to warm up with. They didn’t end up playing that song at all during both of their sets for Toronto or Montréal, so I was pumped to have been able to hear it when we did. The sound check had wrapped up and we decided to hit up the merch booth early to avoid the crowds later on during the night. Seeing as how we had seats for the night, we weren't worried about carrying our stuff around all night down in the pit.
Death From Above 1979 didn't stray too far from the setlist that they had played the night before in Toronto. They seemed like they had their kinks worked out and didn't feel the need to change anything up at all. Montréal's crowd loved them, but not quite as much as their hometown Toronto crowd. I was surprised to hear that Reznor had regretted bringing them along for the tour as he apparently wasn't a fan by the end of their run. Not really sure what went down between them all, but I think it's safe to say Death From Above 1979 and Nine Inch Nails won't be returning to the road together anytime soon, unfortunately.
Queens of the Stone Age on the other hand, have remained in Reznor's good books. Queens changed up their setlist a bit from Toronto to Montréal, starting things off with Regular John, Feel Good Hit of the Summer and The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret. Montréal heard three different tracks compared to Toronto's set – Go With the Flow, I Think I Lost My Headache and Monsters in the Parasol instead of Infinity, Everybody Knows That You Are Insane and A Song for the Dead. I was surprised that they didn't bust out A Song for the Dead as it seemed to have become a live Queens staple. I was glad that Josh had decided to change up his twelve song setlist a bit, and threw in a few of the classics to spice things up.
The second round for Nine Inch Nails finally arrived. I was pretty happy to be seated for the second show by this point in time. We were able to sit back, relax and simply soak it all in. Not having to worry about the insanity down in the pit was a bit of a bonus as well after all of that traveling. Having some of the best seats in the house made for a stellar view of NIN's stage setup. Watching the smoke machines fill the silkscreen box that was wrapped around the stage as Pinion started the show up was an entirely different experience from afar. The suspense didn't seem to fade either, that we had just experienced this the night before.
Due to the elaborate stage production for the Live: With Teeth fall tour, there wasn't much of a difference between the Toronto and Montréal setlists. The only track that they had switched up was The Collector with the title track from With Teeth. Even still, given the fact that we were watching the show from our seats, it seemed like a totally new experience. The twenty-three song setlist blew us away with every single track. NIN shows #2 and #3 were under my belt and I still wanted more! It wouldn't be long either as I would go on to see them again the following March. Trent eventually released this tour on Blu-ray – Nine Inch Nails Live: Beside You In Time, a first for a Nine Inch Nails tour to be captured in high-definition. You couldn't ask for a better way to travel back through time to relive the experience of a Nine Inch Nails doubleheader!