Nine Inch Nails become deep, stay stiff in fourth of six Palladium shows

Nine Inch Nails at the Palladium (Photo by Samuel C. Ware)
Ix Inch Nails at the Palladium (Photo by Samuel C. Ware)

"I admit," Trent Reznor told the the teeming crowd at the Hollywood Palladium on Wed night, "we're tired!"

Would that everybody could ability through their fatigue similar the 53-year-old Nine Inch Nails frontman. Playing their fourth show in a vi-solar day span — with two more to go — NIN blasted through a 22-song set spanning 14 albums, along with one very special cover. They wrap their Cold and Blackness and Infinite Bout with sold-out Palladium shows tonight and Saturday.

Opening the festivities were the kings of Due south Lanarkshire, Scotland, the Jesus and Mary Chain, who roared through their 12-vocal, hour-long set shrouded beneath a heavy cloud of stage fog. Though leaning heavy on hits such as "Just Like Honey," "Head On" and "Reverence" (but no "April Skies"), the gents included 3 tracks from their underrated 2017 release, "Damage and Joy." They were a perfect opening human action for NIN, having once influenced a much younger Trent Reznor and lending some old schoolhouse mail service-punk credibility to the evening.

NIN's staging required an entirely different lighting rig (Reznor was inspired by the staging of LCD Soundsystem's 2017 Palladium shows) after JAMC, giving concert-goers ample time to cavort, beverage and fume between sets. Speaking of smoke, a thick pungent haze of fog, weed and torso odor descended over the oversupply, giving the venue a certain "Foghat circa 1973" vibe. And speaking of fourth dimension, obviously this was an issue for one woman in the middle of the crowd. Just before NIN took the stage, unwilling to give up her spot, she proceeded to drib her trousers, crouch down and urinate on the floor while her drunk friend howled with laughter.

Opening with the obscure "Branches/Bones" from 2016'due south "Non the Actual Events," NIN immediately followed with a scorching rendition of "Wish." Hearing 5,000 people shout "Fistfuck" in unison is something to behold. This was a evidence, mind y'all, a tour designed around taking risks, of pushing boundaries. Every night, NIN presented a dissimilar ready, each an individual foray deep into a thirty-year career, where most centre-aged acts have long resigned themselves to flogging their hits for an aging crowd peckish sentimentality. Reznor went so far as to omit the ring's biggest hit, "Closer," off of 1994's "The Downward Spiral" from the set. The night wasn't without the familiar notwithstanding, every bit "Caput Like a Pigsty," "March of the Pigs," "The Perfect Drug," and "Merely" all reared their pretty little heads.

Only perhaps the highlight of the evening was when Reznor defended "I'one thousand Afraid of Americans" to David Bowie, the jagged pulse of the song capturing perfectly the nation's current Zeitgeist. Information technology must be noted that while NIN is considered the most successful ring of the industrial genre, they've moved farther and further away from the 1-dimensional sturm und drang that divers their beginnings. They've morphed into a band merely flavored with "industrial" seasonings.

Lauded as vanguards, the more successful NIN became, the more elaborate their stage productions became. Just this bout was incomparably dissimilar from a technical standpoint. In fact, it was downright spartan by NIN standards. Gone were the massive screens, the light sculptures, and other than some lasers, pretty much everything visually associated with a typical NIN show. Truth be told, the technicolor frenzy wasn't missed, as Reznor delivered a curated set up heavy on muscle and grace. It was a night that saw the eclectic, fan favorites and some surprising omissions.

Until recently, NIN was substantially Rezner'due south solo act in band trappings. Simply an Oscar win in 2010 for "The Social Network" cemented a relationship with U.K. composer Atticus Ross, who has been his sidekick e'er since. The ring — Reznor, Ross, guitarist Robin Finck, drummer Ilan Rubin and Swiss Army knife Alessandro Cortini — were fierce and dynamic, and given the massive shifts in setlist from night to night, what was asked of them pushed the envelope of what a alive band is capable of.

With the side by side two shows, Nine Inch Nails finish off a 55-engagement globe bout that saw them criss-crossing the globe since June. Near the cease of Wednesday'southward concert, that realization prompted Reznor to state that these were the "last shows." Equally a hush barbarous over the crowd, he quickly took a reassuring tone: "Not the terminal shows forever, only this tour."

The ring closed with the always poignant "Hurt," the only mainstay to acquit from dark to night, and as the crowd sang along softly a sense of calm descended over the room. Catharsis had been achieved.

Photos past Samuel C. Ware