The Nine Inch Nails show on Saturday (11 March 2006) at The House of Blues in Atlantic City was the best concert I’ve seen in two years. Period.
And I’m not some huge NIN fan, either. I’ve never seen them live and pretty much haven’t listened to much from them since my friend Tommy Fitz turned me on to Pretty Hate Machine in 1989.
The show was supposed to start at 9:00pm and I was pissed because we arrived late (about 9:30). I expected them to be well into their fourth song when we entered the music hall but to my delight they hadn’t taken the stage yet.
The place was packed. More so than the dozen or so shows that I’ve seen at the HOB and my concierge confirmed that the venue was “at fire capacity.” It showed. The throng of mostly black-clothed attendees ranged from the (expected) goth types to the thirty-somethings sporting expensive duds and matching drinks.
At about 9:40 the stage announcer took the mike to inform us that they can’t start the show until the Fire Marshall gives them the go ahead. “Don’t boo me, boo the fuckin’ Fire Marshall” he instructed. After the crowd complied, he told us to “buy some t-shirts and beeeyah” (in a thick english accent).
The energy was palpable. You could feel it in the room and cut it with a knife. The stage setup was ominous and dark. People on the floor weren’t allowed to get within 10 feet of the stage because of a no-man’s land of equipment and lights that was set up in the area directly in front of the stage. Clearly this was NIN’s full arena tour setup packed into a small-ish 2400 capacity hall.
Finally at about 9:50 an enraged Trent Reznor burst onto the stage to start the show. Solar white strobes flashed and provided a sharp contrast that accentuated the fast-paced music.
The second half of the show featured more colored lighting and a rant by Trent that it takes an hour to park and that the Fire Marshall told them that the smoke machines would set off the venue’s fire alarms. (That didn’t seem to stop the band from using them though.) In a final act of defiance Reznor called the venue “the House of Shit” but admitted that he was holding back on his true feelings.
The crowd didn’t seem to mind though. Reznor ripped through all of his hits including “Only,” “Closer,” “The Hand That Feeds,” “Head Like a Hole,” “Terrible Lie” amongst others. Wrapping up in just under two hours I can’t help but to think that the show was cut short due to Trent’s frustration with the venue.
It didn’t matter though, NIN packed as much rock into an hour and 45 minutes as I’ve seen in a year combined.
I’m definetely going to dig up my NIN CDs and RIP them into iTunes ASAP. I suggest that you do the same. And if they’re coming to your town, especially at a small venue like the HOB, this show is NOT to be missed.
