2014.04.05 - São Paulo, Brazil @ Lollapalooza Brasil

[TheBang]

Lollapalooza Brasil

[andre78]

Man, it’s hard to review a NIN concert after some time: the performances are so perfect, professional, that you can’t help but to look for errors or some different reactions from the crowd and the band themselves to point how different it was. And, at the same time, it’s not as if this was like any other concert you have seen before, from NIN or any other act, because the raw energy coming from the stage is totally unique.

Especially here in Brazil, where I think it’s always interesting to point out that Nine Inch Nails isn’t a very much known band. There were few records released, while the videos for “Closer” and “The Perfect Drug” received some little airplay on our MTV ( although “Everything” has been recently played a lot on a rock radio here in Sao Paulo, just due to the band coming to Lollapalooza ). Definitely an alternative act over here. So, to see them playing live in here is not only a huge rarity, but it also brings in a question concerning the audience – who’s going to see these guys that almost no one knows around here?

Just like their first coming, in 2005, Trent and co were brought down here as one of the headliners in a festival – this time the 3rd edition of Lollapalooza Brazil. Even so, the media’s attention was all over a few other acts, like Lorde, Muse and Arcade Fire. They were preceded in their stage by Imagine Dragons ( a Coldplay look-and-sound-alike which reunited a lot of kids ) and Lorde ( “Royals” is a fucking huge hit down here ) on another stage; Muse would be the follow-up, also in another stage. So it was no surprise to me when the hundreds and hundreds of kids amassed to see Imagine Dragons left to see Lorde and Muse, leaving NIN stage with a few dozen people. Yay: chance for us fans to get right in front of the stage!

The band was slotted to the 7:55pm ( getting onstage right on time ) and, even more surprisingly, the audience began to grow up more and more after Lorde’s concert. It was noticeable that people not only show up to see what these Nine Inch Nails were about, but also got interested in the visuals tested while the stage was being set up, maybe due to the six huge walls of light put in the back of the drums – a huge difference from all the earlier acts, which used a simple backdrop.

http://d3j5vwomefv46c.cloudfront.net/photos/large/847514231.jpg?1396901700
My view of the stage, moments before the band came on.

People were still coming up when “The Eater of Dreams” sounded off the speakers. Then, almost from nowhere, Ilan sat up on his drums, Alessandro appeared behind the keyboard, Robin got his guitar strapped on and “Wish” exploded – alongside the crowd! Right when everyone started screaming, Trent shows up behind the mic and, what turned out to be one of the best moments of the night, everyfuckingbody screamed the first verse together! That was so, so cool! Not only the fans in front of the stage were jumping and going nuts, but most everyone in the back were with their fists up in the air and jumping. In the back, people were running down to the crowd to see the band. Really, an unforgettable sight.

From that point on, the concert was top-notch. “Letting You” maintained the heaviness of “Wish”, with Trent screaming alongside the fans. Then “Me I’m Not” changed the mood completely, with people trying to understand where that almost heavy metal band went and where that electronic act came from. Things returned to jumping and screaming when “Survivalism” got on ( Alessandro’s doing faces to Robin here were a treat! ), ending with that cool outro by Trent playing with the song title on the samples. Then everyone went jumping and pogoing to “March of the Pigs”, besides accompanying Trent in the chorus. Seeing Ilan exploding behind the drumkit then running to the keyboard for the chorus and getting back was awesome!

Maybe the coolest part was next: “Piggy” followed and Trent let the crowd sing the “nothing can stop me now” part… he just stood in the edge of the stage chanting it to us, without the mic. Beautifully cathartic. Then came “Find My Way” ( which got a somewhat cold reception from the silent crowd ), “Sanctified” and its “Sunspots” tidbit, and “Disappointed” – in fact, this whole part of the concert caused some weird reaction from people, who appeared kinda amazed that all band members suddenly changed their instruments for frontstage keyboards. “All Time Low” followed, with some funny reactions: Trent getting surprised with fans screaming “everything is not okay” damn high; and when the “Closer” part came on, people noticed and started screaming… then a chanting for the band to play it at the end was solemnly ignored by the band ( and, on a very personal note here, I think it was a missed opportunity, since playing it would definitely bring in some more casual fans looking for the band’s hit and draw some media attention… ). Next, fans went screaming “Burn” all over the song, which got a very special ending with Trent and Robin trading riffs in front of the drums, very Kiss-alike.

Another highlight: “The Great Destroyer” break and electronic part. I have never seen something so amazing and powerful sounding like that. Even after seeing all those mega productions from U2, Rolling Stones, Muse or whoever, I can’t really describe how perfect and disturbingly eye-catching that wall of lights being used at its full effect can be. Right now, I would say that was my favorite part of the night.

Sadly for me, my favorite NIN record got represented in the set by only one song: “The Big Come Down” – well, at least was one of the best tunes from the album, amped by Trent jumping around onstage and some amazing riffs from Robin. People went nuts all over again with “Gave Up” ( and by now you can already notice that Brazilian fans most likely prefer NIN’s heavy songs ).

Trent went for the keyboards for “Hand Covers Bruise” ( which wasn’t included in a supposed São Paulo setlist being shown around the web, with “Copy of A” in its place ) and “Beside You in Time” followed, with him messing up the first and second verses – he seemed to be distracted by something ( the crowd or someone from production? ), but got the lyrics back on really fast. And talking about fast: the band immediately followed with the double fire of “The Hand That Feeds” and “Head Like a Hole”, making everyone jump and scream the whole lyrics for both.

And the fast pace went on: just after HLAH they didn’t even got offstage, just changed instruments and went for “Hurt”, in a pretty, emotional moment as everyone in the crowd seemed to sing along with Trent. As pointed by media later on, NIN was the only band in the whole festival that had the guts to end their concert with a slow song.

For me, it wasn’t the best concert I have seen from the band. Their 2005 gigs in here are unforgettable, with the With Teeth formation showing some raging fury that radically contrasted with the full-on production of the stage. And the band seemed way more relaxed on the Tension tour last year ( irony not intentional ). This time something was taking Trent off its core, maybe distracted by the crowd in a good ( as in the enthusiasm from the few fans ) or bad way ( by the relatively small crowd, mainly when compared to the other gigs from the tour ). Robin was also strangely quiet, not paying too much attention to the crowd… something odd, since he even said some Portuguese words and played a Brazilian song in a 2001 gig with Guns N’ Roses. Alessandro was Alessandro, almost a shadow. In the end, Ilan got some huge attention from the crowd ( lots of people talking about his drumming and versatility by changing instruments so fast after the gig ) and media – the TV host broadcasting the concert not only telling viewers to pay attention to him earlier in the night, but even praising on Instagram (http://instagram.com/p/mbdUI9MjJy/)).

I know the band is commonly quiet – Trent said a couple of “thanks” during the night and asked “are you still with us?” right after “Find My Way”, if I remember right – but I felt that something was really distracting him. In the end, it really didn’t affect the performance, as it was basically perfect, best concert of Lollapalooza Brasil in my opinion, hands down. But, as I said earlier, when it comes to the high standard level of Nine Inch Nails concerts, we tend to find any small thing to compare it to their other gigs and give you guys any notion of how it was to be there.

The setlist:
Intro: The Eater of Dreams
1. Wish
2. Letting You
3. Me, I'm Not
4. Survivalism
5. March of the Pigs
6. Piggy
7. Find My Way
8. Sanctified ( feat. Sunspots )
9. Disappointed
10. All Time Low ( feat. Closer )
11. Burn
12. The Great Destroyer
13. The Big Come Down
14. Gave Up
15. Hand Covers Bruise
16. Beside You in Time
17. The Hand That Feeds
18. Head Like a Hole
19. Hurt

[FernandoDante]

I know the band is commonly quiet – Trent said a couple of “thanks” during the night and asked “are you still with us?” right after “Find My Way”, if I remember right – but I felt that something was really distracting him. In the end, it really didn’t affect the performance, as it was basically perfect, best concert of Lollapalooza Brasil in my opinion, hands down. But, as I said earlier, when it comes to the high standard level of Nine Inch Nails concerts, we tend to find any small thing to compare it to their other gigs and give you guys any notion of how it was to be there.

I'm right with you there. Being a superfan and seeing my first NIN gig, it was complicated. The show didn't really surpass my expectations - everything went well, the sound and the performance were pretty much flawless, but nothing surprising (except for The Great Destroyer). As much as I love Hesitation Marks, tracks like Disappointed and All Time Low seem like they'd work better in a different setting - with better visuals. Sure, it's more than what most bands bring, but this is NIN we're talking about. We've grown used to expecting more. A couple of older cuts, and opening with Somewhat Damaged, could've helped.

NIN and Soundgarden played basically the same slot on separate days, and it was such a contrast. NIN played hard to get throughout the entire gig, while Soundgarden slowly warmed up and completely embraced the crowd. I have to say I enjoyed Soundgarden more.

Did you catch Trent completely forgetting part of the lyrics during Beside You In Time? That was maybe the most human, spontaneous thing in the entire show:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=medSMGaWnkY#t=78

[andre78]

I can’t hardly say that I was disappointed: I saw the Tension gig in NYC last year and I was totally aware that the Lolla concert would be a very different experience – not only production-and-bandwise, but by being inside a huge festival. And you know about the troubles ( or, as we call it in Portuguese: perrengues ) that can derive from going to a festival in here. So I really think that the concert was awesome – the memories of “The Great Destroyer” lights still make my skin fringe. And with all due respect to the other fans around the world: despite AND including the language barrier, the crowd singing for “Hurt” was something I have rarely seen. I still watch it on my cellphone ( I recorded a little bit ) and get amazed.

About the setlist: for me, it also will be hard to see the band to play “Disappointed” and not to be underwhelmed by the lack of those incredible visuals of Tension – and I love the song, maybe my favorite from HM. “All Time Low”, actually not one of my faves, when the crowd screaming “everything is not okay” impressed me ( and Trent, for sure! ) and people recognizing “Closer” and asking for it at the end made the performance unique! And I thank the holy freaking god they didn’t open with “Somewhat Damaged”, one of my favorites songs EVER: I’d scream and sing it so loudly that I would probably need medical attention right there at the middle of the crowd.

Yeah, I noticed the “BYIT” thing. I’d say it made the gig a little more special. I would really like to know what distracted him in there to do so. First thing that came to my mind was some kind of production warning that the concert time was due – reinforced by “Copy of A” being excluded and the somewhat rushed ending. You know, Muse would come in the other ( and way far ) stage five minutes after NIN. But it’s just a guess.

About Soundgarden: saw it on tv and love the band. Superunknkown is in my top 10 albums of all time. Amazing how they are so sharp after so much time apart. But Cornell vocals were a great letdown for me, since I used to found his voice so powerful. In the end, the setlist saved the night ( though I missed “Pretty Noose” and “Slaves and Bulldozers” ). Great concert, but NIN was, as you put it, basically flawless.

[andre78]

The full concert was posted on You Tube: https://t.co/twQ0RaldAN

[ninjaw]

The full concert was posted on You Tube: https://t.co/twQ0RaldAN

here too https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Lc5Njfcat0 source is dime

[andre78]

A little sneak view from the audience singing "Hurt": http://instagram.com/p/mbrlqHyJFA/