2014.05.08 - Helsinki, Finland @ Hartwall Arena

[TheBang]

Finland...

[sertse]

setlist:

Copy of a
1,000,000
Terrible Lie
March of the Pigs
Piggy
Reptile
The Becoming
Gave Up
Sanctified
Closer
Me, I'm Not
Came Back Haunted
The Great Destroyer
Beside You in Time
Somewhat Damaged
Wish
The Hand That Feeds
Head Like a Hole
Hurt

Loved this version of Sanctified! I might write more in a few days. I enjoyed it :)

[heads]

First proper post here, and suitably enough after yesterday.

After seeing countless shows at Hartwall Arena and always coming away disappointed at how mudded and hollow bands sound there along comes NIN with the exception.
The show itself was simply breathtaking, and given the venue, the sound was exceptionally good and punchy. Last time NIN was here was the tour before Year Zero came out which was kind of bare bones in terms of production and set list so it was a thrill to see a full on production this time.

The setlist was all in all a nice surprise and loved the diversity of it all, with the beginning devoted to TDS with more emphasis on practical lighting and lasers and then went more electronic accompanied with some inventive LED screen use.
Would of loved to see more songs from Fragile and Hesitation Marks being played but can't complain.

I won VIP tickets for the show and up until yesterday it was kind of labelled as a meet-and-greet type of a deal. In the end it turned out to be just a VIP patch that granted access to this small platform next to the mixing booth and a free t-shirt of choice. The platform was kind of a nice thing since you could see the show above the crowd and all, and would have been an ideal place to record it in pristine quality, but only managed to record a couple of short clips.
http://instagram.com/p/nwx3KLAkxh/

Here´s a short video of Me I´m Not:
http://instagram.com/p/nwDY0GAkwb/

[Fangster_]

What a blast.

Front row view was spectacular. Though as I could guess, the marching pigs everywhere sent me back just a little bit. Didn't mind as I was full-body into it the whole time. Already physically exhausted at Piggy. Heh.

Setlist was pretty much just what i expected. I might have put too much value into Trent's talk about reinventing each leg as it wasn't all that different, but i'll just blame the youtubes for that. It was pretty cookie cutter until holy shitballs The Becoming! Boy was I a happy camper when i heard those first notes. Would've been nice to get The Frail/Wretched and Eraser (!!!) from the Riga set but I'm happy to have heard Reptile, Becoming, Somewhat Damaged, Great Destroyer etc. I agree on too little HM being played but... who am I kidding, anything they fed us had me excited like a little kid.

Trent wasn't too talkative. I think he said a quick thank you like twice. Maybe introduce the band as if we didn't know them, for a breather?

By the way, I don't know what the hell that stepping motion Robin did during Copy of A was (an invisible escalator?), but i sure got a kick out of it. Good ol' lolwutrobin.

I WANTS AGAIN NAOW

-edit-

Also what i found amusing: didn't see Rob anywhere the whole night, but a guy who looked exactly like he could be his evil twin brother was playing around at a laptop. Also the mellow black security dude singing along to every song and encouraging us to do the same.

Edited out my stupid logic concerning the crowd. Let's not tell anyone shhhh...

[konkelo]

What a blast.

Front row view was spectacular. Though as I could guess, the marching pigs everywhere sent me back just a little bit. Didn't mind as I was full-body into it the whole time. Already physically exhausted at Piggy. Heh.

Setlist was pretty much just what i expected. I might have put too much value into Trent's talk about reinventing each leg as it wasn't all that different, but i'll just blame the youtubes for that. It was pretty cookie cutter until holy shitballs The Becoming! Boy was I a happy camper when i heard those first notes. Would've been nice to get The Frail/Wretched and Eraser (!!!) from the Riga set but I'm happy to have heard Reptile, Becoming, Somewhat Damaged, Great Destroyer etc. I agree on too little HM being played but... who am I kidding, anything they fed us had me excited like a little kid.

Trent wasn't too talkative. I think he said a quick thank you like twice. Maybe introduce the band as if we didn't know them, for a breather?

By the way, I don't know what the hell that stepping motion Robin did during Copy of A was (an invisible escalator?), but i sure got a kick out of it. Good ol' lolwutrobin.

I WANTS AGAIN NAOW

-edit-

Also what i found amusing: didn't see Rob anywhere the whole night, but a guy who looked exactly like he could be his evil twin brother was playing around at a laptop. Also the mellow black security dude singing along to every song and encouraging us to do the same.

Edited out my stupid logic concerning the crowd. Let's not tell anyone shhhh...

Where were you in the front row? I was there in the front row in the Ally's side, a long haired dude in a Skinny Puppy shirt and NIN hoodie. What number you were in the queue (I assume you had the nin.com presale tickets)? I was #31.

The presale thing was pretty cool. There was a chance to grab all the merch in peace without losing your place in the line because they called out people to go to the line in the number order of their bracelets. It was weird though that they let us in like 15 minutes after the announced time and the people with the normal tickets got in half an hour late.

I was actually quite pleased with the setlist because it had many songs that I haven't heard live before. The Becoming was a great surprise and I was pretty happy to hear Closer again. Reptile and Terrible Lie worked very well on live situations as I haven't heard them live before. It was a good choice not to check out the Riga setlist before the gig so I didn't have any idea what was about to come.

I saw Rob in one point of the show, maybe somewhere near the end if I remember right. That black security dude was cool :D In one part I don't know what was happening because that one guy who was some kind of assistant for Trent (he was changing his mic stands and giving tambourines and stuff like that) was running around looking very nervous and looking for something. Maybe he had lost something or so on.

The sound was really good, even in the front! And what I've seen from the videos it was excellent in the back. It was also great that they finally brought all the production to Europe. At their previous ice hall show they didn't have much of it and the previous show they had here was on a festival where they had some screens but it was in the daylight.

Anyway, brilliant night and a brilliant show. I hope they come back soon!

[Half Way Through]

Hey! The set-list is missing Hand Covers Bruise which came after The Great Destroyer. Some songs would had been nice to hear but as mentioned The Becoming and also Somewhat Damaged topped the show for me. And the Reptile will always be one of my personal favorites.

Yes, the bracelet thing is very clever. It was interesting to notice how much the presale persons made sure that th number order was followed. Just shows the dedication of every person in the NiN crew. Have to mention that at least for the tour t-shirt has a label of fair wear, so no bad conscience for wearing this shirt.


Newer heard them without the fifth member, but still it sounded great. This was by far the best sounding gig in terms of enjoyable audio. Speaker setups in the front made it very clear and pure. And lighting was also so nice.


Newer forget the smile that mr. Robin Flinck had when he waved to the crowd, too bad that Ally had already left stage during the final tones. So one late cheer for him too.
Thanks once again.

[Fangster_]

Where were you in the front row? I was there in the front row in the Ally's side, a long haired dude in a Skinny Puppy shirt and NIN hoodie. What number you were in the queue (I assume you had the nin.com presale tickets)? I was #31.


Right infront of Robin. Me and my ex-gf were #36 & 37, so we probably glanced at each other at some point without knowing. The two of us went back and forth the que asking others which number they were. I was all black (go figure, eh?), collared shirt and underneath a "help me i am in hell" Broken-shirt. And a NIN-wristband. And with a hot girl in fishnet stockings. :P Now that I think of it, we pretty much looked like a couple of stereotypical 1994 Self Destruct Teens.

[konkelo]

Right infront of Robin. Me and my ex-gf were #36 & 37, so we probably glanced at each other at some point without knowing. The two of us went back and forth the que asking others which number they were. I was all black (go figure, eh?), collared shirt and underneath a "help me i am in hell" Broken-shirt. And a NIN-wristband. And with a hot girl in fishnet stockings. :P Now that I think of it, we pretty much looked like a couple of stereotypical 1994 Self Destruct Teens.

Hehe so you were almost behind me then! I'm not sure if I remember seeing you what I get from the description but you never know.

By the way, it seems that the stuff with the presale entrance isn't that strict after all. Because there was one guy in front of me in the line who got a random dude inside with him because his friend couldn't make it to the show. I thought that you couldn't get in if all of your party is with you and especially if your name is not on the list.

[zencho]

It was a great show! Even though I missed the pre-sale I made it to the second row (I just had to queue in the terrible weather). I even bumped into a university acquaintance I had no idea was a NIN fan :) Set list (Reptile and The Becoming!) was good even though I had waited for Frail/Wretched and All time low. And Trent was super charismatic this time! The area was only half full (or even less) so it was a bit embarrassing. I was surprised they chose Hartwall arena (it's the biggest indoor arena in Finland, I guess) because they didn't sell out seven years ago when they performed at the smaller Old Ice Hall.

Here are some pictures from the show: http://www.soundi.fi/jutut/keikat/kuvagalleria-nine-inch-nails-ja-cold-cave-852014-hartwall-areena-helsinki

[Boi Phan]

My 9th show with nin.