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| Nine Inch Nails,
Brixton Academy |
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| Live,
Dan Wolff,
20 January 1999 |
Rating: F4
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If it's subtleness and light-hearted humour yor are after, stay at home and play your Belle and Sebastian records. The return of Trent Reznor to the UK after nearly five and a half years is marked by two sell out shows at the academy and lots of black clothing. Times have changed in the world of music since he released the downward spiral in 1994. Namely the 'industrial scene' has gone back underground (ie. it isn't popular anymore) and rap/metal acts such as Limp Bizkit and Korn rule the roost. The man who spawned Marilyn Manson is back to try and revive his "king of anger" crown.
As the lights dim to the sound of guitars, the black curtain drops at the front of the stage and the five members decend into "Somewhat Damaged" from this years double album "The Fragile". The first thing noticable is the sci-fi set up of the lights. Each member has a low slung circular rig above their heads and each has flurecent lights hanging from it. After they dispence of the the first song, the clocks are turned back ten years to when their classic "Pretty Hate Machine" came out as we are treated to "Terrible Lie," followed by "Sin". Obviously easing us into the new album slowly, they are followed by a break-neck version of "March of the Pigs" followed by "Piggy" (can you detect a theme?) from the "Downward Spiral" album.
For the next hour we get tracks from the fragile album such as "No You Don't", "The Frail", and "The Great Below". The show does seem to dip slightly in the middle as the new tracks seem harder and harder to tell apart. A giant screen lowers itself for two songs as we are shown firstly black and white shots of the ocean, followed by what looks like a GCSE biology video. The main set finishes on a high as the band plough through a version of head like a hole that leaves the crowd desperate for more.
The band more than makes up for a patchy middle with an amazing four song encore. Firstly the new single "The Day the World Went Away" is aired, followed by the song allegedly about Courtney Love, "Starfuckers inc.," a seven minute version of the 1994 single "Closer" is a possible highlight, as is show closer, the not-very-festive "Hurt" (sample line: "I hurt myself today/to see if i still feel").
All in all it's nice to have them back as an alternative to the crap America is currently pumping our way. Only next time don't leave it so bloodly long.
29/11/99
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