2013.09.28 - St. Paul, MN @ Xcel Energy Center

[heavenly_bearded]

Satisfuckingfied!

[dbrekke]

Wow.

AMAZING show. Yes, I think the visuals were better than LITS. It's hard to believe they only had three weeks to pull that together. Well done, everyone!

I took my almost 12 year old son to the show and he was blown away... but, he has a headache now

My highlights were the insane visuals during Disappointed and Running. WOW!
I took a lot of videos, will post the best stuff tomorrow.
Goodnight.

Dennis

[skullboy0]

Maybe I'm just bitchy from having shoulder surgery 2 days ago, but my one word review would be Disappointed.

Pino Palladino might be great from a technical perspective, but he has all the stage presence of a potted plant. Trent's mic stand moves more than this guy.

Somebody needs to teach Ilan that there are other ways of hitting drums than As Hard As You Fucking Can. He really needs to go back to pads on the more electronic songs.

& after the killing the festival shows, Josh reminds me of Milton from Office Space, after they hired Pino somebody forgot to tell him his services were no longer needed & he just kept showing up so they let him stay. I can't imagine this was supposed to be his role in the Eric Avery/Adrian Belew version of the band.

[skullboy0]

why, what does Josh do when pino is playing bass?

2nd/3rd guitar on songs that really don't have much guitar?

[heavenly_bearded]

Skullboy! I was behind you in line chatting! Glad I got to meet a lot of you. Sorry if I ignored you. I felt like a bit of a celebrity walking into that place and everyone swarming me. I am a bit of an introvert and was very stoned and drunk. I gave away a lot of free still cds and shirts. Hopefully some of you here got one.

[heavenly_bearded]

And the guy front and center on the rail next to me. For the love of god and nin wipe your ass and change your pants before the show starts. Seriously he had to have pooped himself. I hope to never see you again...

[skullboy0]

Skullboy! I was behind you in line chatting! Glad I got to meet a lot of you. Sorry if I ignored you. I felt like a bit of a celebrity walking into that place and everyone swarming me. I am a bit of an introvert and was very stoned and drunk. I gave away a lot of free still cds and shirts. Hopefully some of you here got one.

Were you the guy in the Echoing The Sound shirt? I almost said "Hey, I'm skullboy0 on ETS" but I lurk more than I post so I didn't think I'd be as "Internet famous"

[heavenly_bearded]

Were you the guy in the Echoing The Sound shirt? I almost said "Hey, I'm skullboy0 on ETS" but I lurk more than I post so I didn't think I'd be as "Internet famous"

I had the onlt ets shirt there that I saw so yes

My drunken friend kept trying to steal your spot.

Only a month and a half until Las Vegas!

[heavenly_bearded]

Were you the guy in the Echoing The Sound shirt? I almost said "Hey, I'm skullboy0 on ETS" but I lurk more than I post so I didn't think I'd be as "Internet famous"

I had the onlt ets shirt there that I saw so yes

My drunken friend kept trying to steal your spot.

Only a month and a half until Las Vegas!

[heavenly_bearded]

Lol echo... stupid fancy phone

[xolotl]

Holy hell! I'd like to strongly disagree with anyone who said that was a disappointing show - it was fucking awesome. I loved how heavy it was on Hesitation Marks tracks.

Other observations:
* While Running hasn't been my favorite track on the new album, I thought it kicked ass live.
* Josh on Saxophone on While I'm Still Here!
* The out-of-sync sillhouettes during THTF are pretty awesome, they look better than they did at the festivals (IMO), though the out-of-sync over-the-head clapping on Trent still looks weird
* The two female backup singers added a lot to the songs (though I agree they started out too low in the mix). Even Deeper is simply massive.
* Some technical glitches caused a bit of a pause before Find My Way (and a shorter pause afterwards)
* Trent said that we got to hear a "special remix" of Came Back Haunted, I guess things didn't go quite how they had planned during that song, though I honestly didn't notice.
* The crowd on the floor seemed largely into it from where I was. Plenty of just-standing-around of course, but the ratio of standing:dancing-or-whatever seemed good.
* Hello to the folks I was talking to back at the sound/mixing area!
* I can tell I'm not going to be able to move tomorrow.
* All Time Low!

If I had to choose just one acronym to describe the show, it would have to be "omfg."

If I had to pick just one phrase, it would be "Woo, Nine Inch Nails! They're good!"

[leo3375]

I got home at about 12:30 AM this morning. This concert is still swimming in my head. There were a few technical glitches (but that's to be expected on the first date of the tour). The visuals were very, very intriguing, in my opinion. As for the two backup singers, they were an interesting addition, but where I was blown away was their vocals on "Even Deeper." Holy. Fucking. Shit.

This was my first NIN show in the stands rather than the floor. (The husband wanted seats so that's what we got.) I was able to take in the visual experience more than I could the last times I saw NIN live. The only downside of the seats was some woman a row in front of me who was just plain obnoxious during the quieter songs. Lady, I thought that your "FUCK YEAHs" and "WOOOOOOs" totally killed any emotion that the songs had.

[xolotl]

How was A Warm Place?

It was pretty massive - definitely less "delicate" than the album version. In the end I think I probably prefer it on the album, but I would gladly see it live hundreds more times. I'm pretty sure the band was completely hidden during the track, btw - perhaps there was some Alessandro outlines behind the graphics that I missed, though.

So were the backing singers a worthwhile addition?

I think they totally were. They were low in the mix originally, but they added some really nice texture to the songs. For the most part they were doing backing vox during the choruses and stuff. Much as I do seriously enjoy Robin's screeching, etc, I'm glad they were there to take on, for instance, the end-song All Time Low vocals.

@leo3375 already mentioned Even Deeper (as did I), but I'll reiterate that it was absolutely massive, in part thanks to the backup singers.

[xolotl]

Were the backup singers on stage for every song?

The first song they came out for was All Time Low, and they stayed onstage for quite awhile after that... I think all the way through Running. Then they were back on for Even Deeper - I actually don't recall how long they stayed out after that - certainly they weren't there anymore by Hurt.

Oh, and for anyone curious about timing: EITS was on at 8:00 and played for about 40 minutes or so. NIN went on around 9:20 and played for 2 hours. Fun!

[dzaver]

What I would like to know is - who sang the 'shut the goddam door' bit in All Time Low?

Trent and the girls

www.instagram.com/p/eteB35TPXy

[heavenly_bearded]

I assume everyone who wanted one got a poster? I have a hard time calling those things very limited. If the band is done and you see them on the merch stand as you walk out of the building, how limited are they?

[FULLMETAL]

I thought the tour journals were reserved for posts from folks who attended the shows.

Anyhow, I'm still soaking in the experience but I totally had a blast from the get-go. I got into the queue around 10:30a and enjoyed the indoor setup outside of the rain. The snippets of songs rehearsed during the day certainly was entertaining as I had no idea what was in store for the show proper.

Around 4:00 the full band did a soundcheck and shortly thereafter the outside merch booth was setup (thankfully, I exited where the larger merch booth was setup and could compare inventories). While folks were queueing up for the merch, Robin, Ally, Illan, Josh, and a few tech guys came out with a huge cart stacked with pizzas. That was completely nuts and unexpected!

So, the tone was set for the evening's performance and I was quite pleased by the initial framework for the gig. I absolutely loved the reworked version of Copy of A and think it's a great evolution from the Festival version. The visuals were a very much akin to LITS in terms of the layered screens adding a sense of depth to the flat stage.

The addition of Lisa & Sharlotte is a genius move and they added a lot of "soul" (for lack of a better word) to the performance. The singing on "Even Deeper" is a definite standout (I hope there's video somewhere), but "In This Twilight", "All Time Low" & "Running" were pretty fucking great as well.

As far as technical screw-ups, nothing got broken as far as I could tell. TR was having some mic issues and his piano wasn't working for a time (especially during CBH), but there was nary a tantrum. It did seem like they omitted a song while waiting for things to kick back into gear. Has a printed setlist surfaced yet?

My only "complaint" would be the placement of "Black Noise" before "Hurt." I think it would be better served to either use that before the encore or have it before a different song. It just felt strange to me, but that could be a harsh first impression. We'll see how it goes in the next show.

Fuck yeah! This was a fun start and I'm excited to see more!

[pigpen]

fucking amazing show.
highlights for me were MOTP, All Time Low, I Would For You, Find My Way, A Warm Place, and Terrible Lie. The entire show was insane though.
sorry we couldn't get together H-B, my phone died during EITS..

[heavenly_bearded]

fucking amazing show.
highlights for me were MOTP, All Time Low, I Would For You, Find My Way, A Warm Place, and Terrible Lie. The entire show was insane though.
sorry we couldn't get together H-B, my phone died during EITS..

You still in town?

[WorzelG]

^^^
The pizzas are such a nice touch

[skullboy0]

So were the backing singers a worthwhile addition?

I think they added to the songs they were used for, & Trent left them out of the songs where they might come off as silly (my earlier comment of synchronized fist fuck/pump motions during "Wish", or reworking "Closer" into a duet). I started heading out during Only & left the building during THTF so I could get back to the hotel & ice my shoulder. So I missed Even Deeper & While I'm Still Here, but I'm sure they were great on them.

[Mr. Blaileen]

I honestly thought the show was ending after THTF/HLAH..they even displayed the 'NIN' logo for a few seconds after HLAH before taking it down. So glad it didn't end there.

[Krazy]

That could be it- looks about right, where they seemed to have to pause for awhile.

This is is just my guess- but possibly 'Only' had a tech issue. They always have insane visuals for that song, and it got just a standard lighting for it. Kinect down maybe?

[Ryan Tollefson]

Pretty decent clip of disappointed


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk - now Free

[talkingnothing]

I had a blast. was straight back on center in the seats row 20. great place to see the full scope of the light show. everyone in that area was seated for about 75% of the show. when all time low started I couldn't resist and popped out of my seat to groove a bit.

loved all the new songs!

a warm place was cool and exciting, but a bit muddy.

as can be seen in that video above, the lights for disappointed were awesome! it's one of my least favorite songs on HM, but it sounded good live (better than the festival streams I saw).

as far as the tech glitches, I thought it was mostly trouble with Pino's bass cable wireless relay thingy. during CBH he seemed to be looking around wondering why no sound was coming from his instrument. a tech came out to fiddle with it a bit. then during the next song there was still trouble with it and they ran out an actual cable to replace the wireless rig... if I'm remembering all that correctly. I thought that's what TR meant when after CBH he said something about the remix version. the song sounded good despite the lack of bass. I was pretty distracted by what was going on with Pino for that bit of the show.

overall it was really cool. even deeper was a big highlight. i liked last night's version of survivalism better than any version I've seen. Ilan was in top form all night.

I do wish Pino was given more room to shine. one of the best bass players in the world playing some pretty simplistic basslines. Guess we can't expect reworks of the back catalog that are all as drastic as sanctified (which I was sad not to see).

[dbrekke]

Here's my video collage from last night:

[LexTron6K]

Impressions:

1) This is the best NIN live band yet, hands down, and by a longshot. Pino is ridiculous. Ilan, Alessandro and Robyn, they all own. I'm still stunned by how incredible this band was live.
2) My first thought about this backup singers is that I can't believe it's taken this long, and it's exactly what NIN has needed. It felt incredibly natural and very vital. When not singing, and while on stage, those girls brought some serious vibes to the stage with their moves and attitude. And the "solo" by the one backup vocalist may have been the highlight of the evening for me. That shot was ridiculous.
3) Pizza! I was the 2nd person in line, so I got to know the NIN yours manager gal a bit, so I thanked her when we were coming through. Her words: "It was Trent's idea."
4) it seemed to me that the visuals, while incredible and massive, kind of tool a backseat to the band, the musicians, and the musicianship on stage, as opposed to the way that the visuals really seemed to be the focus at the LITS tour. I was at the rail and right in the middle, so I obviously didn't get to fully take in the visuals, but knowing that this was till the impression that I was left with.
5) Man, Trent was REALLY channeling his Bowie. There was a lot of the set where he was standing center stage, kind of dancing back and forth with his hands behind his back and just allowing the incredible musicians around him to do their thing. Trent seemed to be taking these moments in as much as we in the crowd were.
6) Goddamit I'm happy that NIN is back. I don't think I really knew what that meant u til after the show last night, and I couldn't be more excited about the execution of last night and implications of what is to come.

Also, doing recon between my group today it seems that the merch that was "per-sold" for the NIN.con ticket holders had a shirt that wasn't for sale elsewhere, and there was a tour date short sold elsewhere that wasn't available at the presale table.

Good times, old friends and new friends, and getting served surprise pizza by the band. . . Thks was certainly a show for the books.

[LexTron6K]

Also, they definitely skipped a song. I'm pretty sure it was Sanctified. The hands set up a bunch of gear, they began having more technical difficulties,band it seemed that Trent made an executive decision to bypass the song they were prepping for, kind of to the staff's surprise. When they started the song the stage crew then went and removed the gear they had just set up that nobody even used.

Also, we tried getting a set list after the show but they're not givin then out "per band's orders." There was a guy in the center of the security pit who was with the band that told us this. He was at a little step ladder thing (that Trent didn't even use when leaving the stage or going back up) and was in charge of keeping the mic cables from becoming a mess and switching between mics on a little rack box. He was also in charge of Trent's hand shakers and tambourines, so this guy was obviously a guy at the top of the NIN tour pyramid.

Lastly, Eustice on sax was just joyous and beautiful and so right. Instead of playing two bars or whatever it was from the album, the part with the sax went on for a probably almost a minute, and it was so fucking enjoyable.

[heavenly_bearded]

Setlist:

[DJGamer]

Setlist:

That is a terrible shame. My biggest complaint with the concert was the extended set of Hesitation Marks songs-even the short review of the concert I read pointed this out. It's not so much that I wanted to hear more older songs, there were plenty in the show and I am so freakin' glad I got to see Somewhat Damaged in person for the first time. Part of it may have been from the fact that I've listened to the whole album several times already-but, well in any case it's somewhat good to hear that they had planned on breaking it up a little with something else and dammit I really wish they'd played it because that's an awesome song!!

Journal-type stuff:

I think I can safely say the seats me and my friend had were the worst I've ever had for any NIN show I've ever attended-and even worse still given that it was high up and from the side, not permitting anything close to being able to experience the visuals as I'm sure they were intended. The audio experience was a little better but still not quite optimal. Can't wait for more videos to go up on YouTube showing the visuals as they were meant to be seen.

We actually made this whole thing a round trip including a visit to the Mall of America, though we didn't buy anything there-which is good since I forgot how INSANE the T-Shirt prices were! I was being stingy with the stuff at City Shirts for being like $20 a pop-had no idea the stuff at the show would be TWICE that. Got a tour date shirt along with a much cheaper tour date poster-having seen a picture of the limited edition one, I'm pretty sure what I got was not that (and it was only $15). We didn't get back home until a little after 3 in the morning.

Also, since we'd both recently gotten smartphones we got to try out GPS for the first time, though it ran down my battery so bad I couldn't use it to try to film the show-not that I would've gotten anything looking remotely good anyway. That was sort of a blessing in disguise since I could just focus on enjoying the show.

Really hope Trent's got plans to film some of the shows on this tour, ideally in the 3D format he'd originally planned on using for LITS. I would definitely got to a theater to see that, whether it be a wide release or a Fathom Event.

One of the craziest parts was definitely the back-up singers during the end part of Even Deeper. I think they invented an entirely new note with that one. Kinda wish they'd thrown in at least one never-before-played song not off the new album, there are so many new possibilities with that given the larger line-up. Maybe they'll do something further into the tour. I'd really like to see and/or hear My Violent Heart done live. Another song I think would sound really good with the back-up vocalists (although it's been played before) is God-Given.

Overall, I wasn't too disappointed with what I got.