Live And In The Flesh
Nine Inch Nails - October 3, 2013
Four years after Nine Inch Nails had supposedly called it quits, they returned yet again to deliver a brand new album, Hesitation Marks, along with a tour to follow. Trent Reznor had been busy throughout his time away from the band scoring the works of David Fincher's The Social Network, and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, the earlier of which had won him a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for Best Original Score. It was a wonder that he even had the time to devote to creating another Nine Inch Nails album. September of 2013 came along and their eighth studio album dropped out of nowhere. Just one month after the release date, we were given the opportunity to catch their latest Live: Tension 2013 Tour in Montréal, Québec at the Bell Centre.
Nine Inch Nails teamed up with the same company from their Lights In The Sky Over North America Tour, Moment Factory from Montréal! What better place to get to experience their latest visual masterpiece than right in the co-creator's backyard! We knew just how intense the visuals were going to be, so we made sure to secure some of the best seats in the house through the Nine Inch Nails fan club presale. This show bumped my NIN experiences up to nine, and it would only seem appropriate to celebrate with a few drinks before we headed into the venue to find our seats. It was a Thursday night early in the fall and the weather was perfect for cruising into the city of Montréal. Seeing as how the drive is nearly half of that to Toronto, I always take the opportunity to catch an artist there over TO if possible. Not to mention the atmosphere feels so much more electrifying for some reason.
Hesitation Marks marked Nine Inch Nails' first-ever album to debut at number one atop the Canadian Albums Chart. There was no doubt Canada was showing them love given the mass amount of fans present that night. An American post-rock band from Texas were brought along to open up for them for this leg of the tour, Explosions in the Sky. Mainly an instrumental band (three electric guitars and a drum kit), they provided the venue with some amazing vibes to get everyone warmed up and ready for the Nine Inch Nails experience. They treated us to an instrumental journey lasting five tracks long before signing off for the night. They were a great opener for the tour and certainly fit the bill quite well.
Not long after Explosions in the Sky had left the stage, the lights went out and Nine Inch Nails stormed the stage. Copy of A, one of the latest singles from Hesitation Marks, had each of the band members fired up in no time. The opening track from 2008's The Slip came up next, 1,000,000, which felt like a one-two punch directly after the energy that Copy of A had brought to the ring right out of the gate. Just when we thought we were in for a slower track, the beginning notes of Terrible Lie rang out followed by one of Nine Inch Nails' staples, March of the Pigs. Another classic from The Downward Spiral followed, Piggy, which is always great to see live. A few more newer tracks from Hesitation Marks made their way into the set which even had some amazing back-up vocalists chiming in along with the band. They added a whole new layer which really helped some of these newer tracks stand out quite well up against the older cuts. A couple of gems from The Fragile, The Frail and The Wretched are always a delight to catch at a Nine Inch Nails show, and this night was no exception. The only Year Zero track that was played ended up being its single, Survivalism.
The highlight of the night had to have been hearing one of my favourite instrumental tracks from The Downward Spiral, A Warm Place. Experiencing this live had sent shivers up my spine. After all of these Nine Inch Nails shows, I was still experiencing some of his material live for the first time, and I was loving every minute of it. Somewhat Damaged, Wish, Burn, The Hand That Feeds and Head Like a Hole wrapped up their regular twenty song set before they headed off the stage briefly to the cheers of fans. How many more tracks could they possibly play after already sending us off with twenty! Trent and the rest of the crew made their way back to the stage to play Echoplex, another track from The Slip to get the encore going. The tour debut of I'm Afraid of Americans, a David Bowie cover, came next! I loved this song growing up, and this was only my second chance getting to see it live so I was soaking every second of it in. Two more tracks from Hesitation Marks started to wind the encore down before the grand finale of Hurt, of course. We were lucky enough to survive a twenty-five song setlist; nothing better than a five song encore! The visuals throughout the entire show were mesmerizing as one would expect, taking them to that next level above the Lights In The Sky Over North America Tour from five years prior. Nine Inch Nails showcased more than half of their latest album this tour, and they sounded like they were back and better than ever. The new material had them reaching back to their roots a bit, more of an edgier style, harder and overall fully energized! You can tell that Trent won't ever let the music die.