Live And In The Flesh
Nine Inch Nails / TV on the Radio - June 2 & 3, 2009
If I haven't expressed how much I have loved living in between several major Canadian cities yet, this would be the perfect opportunity. Having Ottawa, Montréal, and Toronto all within four hours of driving or less has allowed me to make it out to some pretty spectacular shows over the years. On occasion I have been faced with the dilemma of having to decide between shows within one city or the other. This particular time however I couldn't pass up on these back-to-back shows, and am I ever thankful I managed to pull it off.
Nine Inch Nails had announced that they would be going on hiatus yet again (which would technically only last a few short years), and were planning their Wave Goodbye Tour. This tour would consist of one of their biggest supporting lineups. In fact, Nine Inch Nails were playing the middle slot between Tom Morello and Boots Riley's new project Street Sweeper Social Club, and followed up by the recently reunited Jane's Addiction. This would be the first time their entire original 1985 lineup would reunite since dissolving back in 1991, which subsequently was the launch of the now infamous Lollapalooza festival. As you can see this was not a night to be missed. I had been able to secure some pretty fantastic seats through the Nine Inch Nails fan presale. Two sections back under the mezzanine, directly center stage, our view was perfect throughout the entire night. Trent also promoted an open camera policy for this tour allowing fans to bring along their highest-of-quality recording devices, whether it be audio/video or photography. What better way to document his wave goodbye than with the help from his dedicated fans.
Trent would also go on to do something pretty special throughout this Wave Goodbye tour. Reznor had raised money for Eric De La Cruz, a Nevada Medicaid patient in need of a heart transplant who had been refused due to poor health insurance. A $300 donation granted you access to the pre-show sound check and a meet-and-greet with the band, and the $1000 option would get you backstage for dinner and relaxing with the band, on top of side-stage viewing for the show, autographs and pictures. If only I was a baller! By the time we had decided to cough up the cash for the meet-and-greet they had already sold out! Thankfully I was able to get in touch with someone from the online NIN forum to hook me up with an autograph despite me not being able to meet the man myself. Have I mentioned how much of a community this Nine Inch Nails fan base truly is? The meet-and-greet lineup would be hundreds of people long. Toronto was one of the few cities where they had to cut off donations due to such a high demand and limited time to meet everyone. Collecting over $260,000 on the initial on sale date, eventually totaling over $645k throughout the course of the tour, the collective effort was truly astounding. The awareness brought forth was remarkable but sadly Mr. De La Cruz passed away July 2009, just a month after this show. His sister went on to form the Eric De La Cruz Hope for Hearts foundation in Eric's memory.
Street Sweeper Social Club came out to open up the night with their short but fierce set of seven tracks. These guys had blown us away with the how they were blending both of their unique styles. Boots Riley from The Coup contributing his Hip Hop style and flow, while former Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello provided his stellar guitar work complete with some insane teeth shredding during Promenade which was a definite highlight! What an amazing combination of talent. I was pretty happy to have been given the opportunity to see them live, and the fact that they were simply opening up for one of my favourite bands made it even more incredible. They had us fired up in no time, we were ready!
This would be my eighth time seeing Nine Inch Nails live, second at this very venue, and by now I had become quite familiar with their live sets. The typical staples throughout the night, Closer, Head Like a Hole, etc. but this night proved to be different right out of the gates, in fact Closer wouldn't even be played at all. Smoke had started to fill the stage and we knew that this would be it, all of a sudden out of the plume Reznor's silhouette appeared. I wasn't quite sure about the decision to have Nine Inch Nails playing their set during the daylight, as they typically had some rather extensive light shows, but their entire set worked so well while the sun was setting. It fit the tour, it truly did feel that Trent was dimming the lights on the band throughout their set.
Starting things off with a rare b-side Now I'm Nothing, I knew we were in for something special. They followed the intro up with one of their classics off of 1989's Pretty Hate Machine - Terrible Lie, they were getting down to business and were they ever coming out swinging! Heresy was played shortly after, one track that I had yet to see live. I was so happy to finally get to hear it! They followed it up with March of the Pigs of course, played out exactly as Trent had originally presented the pairing on The Downward Spiral. As if this night couldn't get any better, he followed this up with not one but two of my favourite cover tracks, Metal (Gary Numan cover), and I'm Afraid of Americans (David Bowie cover). Trent even busted out another classic track off of The Downward Spiral that I had surprisingly yet to hear, Mr. Self Destruct! Nine Inch Nails' nineteen track setlist that night was full of gems, which certainly made this one of their more memorable shows for me personally. I wasn't quite sure if I would ever get the opportunity to see them live again after that night due to the announced hiatus. I felt as though this was a perfect ending to the past four years of seeing them live so many times. After all of that I couldn't believe we still had another amazing act coming up.
Jane's Addiction weren't long taking the stage. It was just one incredible band after the next out there. I was pretty excited to hear that Eric Avery had returned to bass for this tour as he had proven to be one of greats out there! This however would end up being the last tour involving all original members as Avery would later depart from the band before they would begin working on their next album. I'm so glad I was able to catch them during that brief stint back together again!
Perry Farrell, Dave Navarro and Stephen Perkins were also all on point that night down in Toronto. Seeing them all back together playing those tracks that they had all worked on decades earlier was great. Navarro tore up the classics all night long. Opening up with Three Days was an amazing ten minute start to their set. Then diving into a classic off of their debut self-titled album Whores, they had proven that they were back without missing a beat. It wasn't long before they were working through the rest of their well-known hits off of Nothing's Shocking and Ritual de lo Habitual. Ain't No Right, Pigs in Zen, Up the Beach, Mountain Song, Been Caught Stealing, I was reminded of how many amazing tunes these guys really had up their sleeves. I was a pretty big fan and I hadn't even really noticed it until witnessing them live. They would close their fourteen song setlist of jams off with a three song encore featuring Summertime Rolls, Stop!, and the appropriate finale to the night Jane Says.
Overall this night had proven to be one of the most action packed shows that I had ever been to from start to finish. Tom Morello getting things fired up with his teeth shredding, to Reznor somberly waving goodbye as his alternative rock comrades from the early 90's Jane's Addiction emerged from the shadows and took the stage to try their luck out on the road yet again. By the end of the night we end up taking to the road again ourselves. That familiar four hour drive back home before I'm able to get rested up for round two the following night in Montréal with TV on the Radio!
TV on the Radio had just played the previous night in Toronto at the Sound Academy. I couldn't miss the NINJA Tour, so I had decided to take on their Montréal show the following night down at Métropolis. I had seen The Mars Volta at this same venue four years earlier so I knew the venue was stellar, one of my favourite live venues in the city hands down. The balcony is what really sold me with this place. Having ramped up elevated seating ensured that no matter where you were sitting up there, you had an incredible view of everything going on up on stage. I had started to ease off on the need for seeing bands front and center up on the rail, the hours spent waiting in line followed by the insanity down in the pit just wasn't doing it for me any longer. Had I become a veteran of the live music scene, or was I simply showing my age? I'm sure the hours spent driving from city to city was a factor at the time.
We made our way into the venue and rushed up the stairs to the balcony to get our seats. As this was a general admission show, the sooner you got yourself up there the closer you were able to make it to the edge of the balcony. We managed to settle in just a few rows back facing center stage as the anticipation began to set in. The openers for the night were an indie rock band they had brought along with them from Brooklyn, New York - Dirty Projectors. They released their fifth studio album the following week through their recent sign on with Domino Records so we heard plenty of their new material throughout their set. Having four members of their six piece chiming in on vocals certainly allowed them to provide some spectacular harmonies. It was great to see something with so many layers live, you definitely appreciate their talents while observing their coordination.
The break between sets seemed to drag on forever as I had started to feel the night before catching up to me. The lights finally went down and TV on the Radio hit the stage. I could instantly feel my energy levels spike through the roof! This would be my fourth time catching TV on the Radio live, I knew these guys would be bringing out their best tonight. They were touring in support of their Fall release of Dear Science, their third studio album. They opened up with one of my favourite tracks off of the album, Love Dog. Without skipping a beat they broke into one of their classics, The Wrong Way from Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes. I could feel the energy resonating throughout my entire body, that familiar buzz was setting in.
They tied nine of their eleven newest tracks off of their latest album into the sixteen song set that night, which really gave us the opportunity to let it all sink in. Dirtywhirl followed up by Staring at the Sun was incredible to see live. The pace that they were playing some of their older tracks at was simply amazing, taking those songs to whole other levels with their intensity. Their stage presence was fantastic all throughout the set. Kyp's backup vocals were spot on, Tunde was loving every moment while the chimes were swinging away at the end of Sitek's guitar. Just as we had thought it couldn't get any more impressive, they come out for a three song encore. Family Tree started it off, followed by one of my personal favourites Young Liars, wrapping it all up with A Method. Dirty Projectors came out to join them on stage for the final song and it had turned into one gigantic jam session with a dozen or so musicians on stage. You definitely felt like you were apart of something special, the Montréal atmosphere was perfect. We left the venue, climbed into our car and hit the road for the two and a half hour trek home at midnight wrapping up yet another doubleheader.