NINE INCH NAILS CANCELS MUSIC BOX AT HENRY FONDA THEATER TODAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2009
First of all, did I ever get lucky. I have the worst news for all you NIN fans chomping at the bit to see their last L.A. shows before Trent Reznor says hello to marriage and a long hiatus...Nine Inch Nails has cancelled tonight's show at the Music Box @Henry Fonda Theatre in Hollywood, CA due to Trent being ill with influenza. Here's what's posted on the front page of nin.com:
"We're very sorry to announce that Trent is ill, and on his doctor's orders we will not be able to perform tonight's show at the Henry Fonda Theater. This is the only information we have at this time, we're posting this early announcement as a convenience for those of you who had plans to attend. Reimbursement details will be posted as soon as we figure them out; likely within the next 24 hours. We wish this wasn't necessary and we're very sorry for the inconvenience. Thank you for your understanding."
Bummer. Trent did mention at yesterday's incendiary Palladium show that he was feeling poorly and apologized to us for the condition of his voice (which I thought sounded great in spite of), remarking that it sounded like "the inside of an AM radio" to him. Poor, poor Trent.
For more on this depressing matter, check out the LA Times music blog.
NINE INCH NAILS, HOLLYWOOD PALLADIUM, SEPTEMBER 2, 2009
As far as yesterday's show at the Hollywood Palladium -the first in the L.A. series of NIN "Wave Goodbye" tour shows- well, it was bloody hot, for starters, as evidenced by the above photo of Trent courtesy of the LA Times. In the smaller atmosphere of the Palladium (compared to the ginormous ampitheatre and arena venues like the Verizon Wireless Ampitheater and The Forum, at which I had previously seen Nine Inch Nails in the past couple of years), NIN glowed and burned like a fire that caused us all to sweat bullets. It was a pretty magnificent night for black-clad industrial and rock music fans.
Nine Inch Nails' 1995 tour supporting The Downward Spiral was my first concert ever. Nassau Coliseum out on Long Island. I was fifteen, and though I was stuck in the nosebleed section, it was and remains one of the best shows I have ever seen. Dripping wet and ecstatic yesterday, seeing Trent the right way, up close and personal, brought me back to that initial fervor I felt for the band as a teenager.
Oddly enough, yesterday's show was all about that seminal album. It really should have been called "The Downward Spiral Tour," because with the album played impeccably and in its entirety (even including ambient moments like "A Warm Place"), it was the highlight that every true NIN fan has been hanging in there for. Trent and his band played LOUD and with metallic gusto, but also with incredible nuance and delicacy on songs like "Hurt" and especially "Lights In The Sky," from 2008 album The Slip, a song that I can't say I had ever really appreciated until now.
All this plus some old-school jams ("Head Like A Hole," "Terrible Lie," "Burn," "Suck") and the surprise guest, '80's electronic music stalwart Gary Numan (who rocked out his songs "Metal" and '80's Karaoke Night jam "Cars" in his black eye makeup, blacker hair and pale skin, looking like some kind of cool goth man-insect), NIN's funeral was instead a kind of celebration of a bygone era of angry, darkwave electronic music.
Don't take my word for it, though...LA Times can hook you up with another perspective.
Here are some live videos from the "Wave Goodbye" and "NIN/JA" tours, starting off with a couple from yesterday's Hollywood Palladium show...we can only hope that Trent isn't serious about the "goodbye" part; maybe just "until later":
