Nothing in there but sunshades for the blind

I keep meaning to write in here, but time just gets lost with my change in the couch. Kim and I recently went to LA to see Nine Inch Nails' second to last performance. We drove down in the morning and got there around 2:30pm. We met up with my best friend Andy, who I rarely see due to proximity which was awesome. After a tasty Johnny Rockets meal, Kim and I headed over to the Henry Fonda Theater to get in line for the show. Doors were at 6:30 (but got bumped to 7) and Health came on shortly after. The only thing I really have to say about them is that their drummer was fucking a maniac. Kind of reminded me of Animal from The Muppets.



Once Health was finished, smoke machines filled the stage and built up the atmosphere and not too long after that, the lights went down. Before any of NIN came out, the beginning of Head Like a Hole started playing with lights that were most complementary. Here is the set list that spanned 3 hours...



1. Head like a Hole
2. Terrible Lie
3. Sin
4. March of the Pigs
5. Piggy
6. Echoplex
7. Reptile



8. I'm Afraid of Americans
9. Survivalism
10. Head Down
11. 1,000,000
12. Letting you
13. Burn
14. Gave Up
15. Eraser
16. Just like you Imagined (w/ Mike Garson)



17. The Becoming (w/ Mike Garson)
18. I Do Not Want This (w/ Mike Garson)
19. Down in the Park (w/ Gary Numan, Mike Garson, and Eric Avery) [Gary Numan cover]
20. Metal (w/ Gary Numan, Mike Garson, and Eric Avery) [Gary Numan cover]



21. Cars (w/ Gary Numan, Mike Garson, and Eric Avery) [Gary Numan cover]
22. Anthrax (w/ Gary Numan, Health, Mike Garson, and Eric Avery) [Gang of Four cover]

Encore One
23. Heresy (with Danny Lohner)
24. Get Down, Make Love (with Danny Lohner)
25. Mr. Self Destruct (with Danny Lohner and Greg Puciato)



26. Wish (with Danny Lohner and Greg Puciato)
27. The Hand that Feeds

Encore Two
28. Atmosphere [Joy Division cover]
29. Dead Souls [Joy Division cover]
30. The Day the World Went Away
31. Hurt



Here is a video of Wish taken by Synthentikz from the NIN forums...



I was literally one person behind this guy who filmed the majority of the show. I suggest checking out the other videos he took from that night because it was the best NIN show out of all ten times I've seen them.

They had all sorts of special guests. Mike Garson, who is most famous for being David Bowie's pianist and playing with NIN and Smashing Pumpkins, Gary Numan, Eric Avery (the bassist from Jane's Addiction), Danny Lohner (former guitarist/bassist for NIN), and Greg Puciato (lead singer of Dillenger Escape Plan), as well as having Health come out to play the Gang of Four cover. Seeing as previously on this small club date they played The Downward Spiral in its entirety, when they opened with Head Like a Hole and went into Terrible Lie, I thought they were going to play through Pretty Hate Machine all the way through which would have been awesome.

A few highlights of the night would have to be Just Like You Imagined which is easily one of my favorite NIN tracks and Mike Garson sounded flawless. Also getting to see Mr. Self Destruct which I've never seen them play live before was amazing. Greg's voice just added to the urgency and anger of the song. After the show Kim and I ended up driving home due to me having to work the next day. Ended up getting home around 5:30am. Needless to say we were exhausted, but it was so worth it.

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Watched The Informers last night. The acting was horrible, they picked some of the weakest stories out of the book to transform into the film, and it seemed terribly disjointed. I basically watched it for the performances of Billy Bob Thornton, Mickey Rourke, and Chris Isaac. The rest of the movie was spent waiting for them to come back on the screen.



I do highly recommend It Might Get Loud. It's a documentary on the guitars, history and styles of Jimmy Page, Edge, and Jack White. It's incredibly entertaining and funny.



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On a last little side note, I thought this was pretty awesome...

http://jonahmatranga.com/shows/souvenirs.html

scroll down past the set lists...this made me day!