Tell us about your first NIN show

[Patrick_Nicholas]

This was probably done before, but I can't find it.



Eleven years ago today was my first of so far only two. Reposted from another forum:



It was on the With Teeth tour. City was Orlando, venue was the TD Waterhouse Center (renamed Amway Arena at the beginning of the following year, now demolished and replaced with the Amway Center a few blocks down), opening acts were Queens Of The Stone Age and Death From Above 1979. Band lineup was Trent, Aaron, Jeordie, Alessandro, and Alex Carapetis. Some of you may be asking who that last guy is, but even I didn't know until years later. Not helped that I was repeatedly asked who the drummer was between then and me finding out that Josh Freese had taken over as drummer. This was actually my first concert. Period. It was also where I got my first ever band shirt.

As there was a hurricane the day before, I didn't know until the last minute that I still had to go to school that day. I will never forget that time I told my class that I was going to see NIN, COMPLETELY unaware that NIN has been branded "Satanic" around those parts. As a result, for better or for worse, NIN had been strongly associated with me for the remaining three and a half years of high school, including bullying from people who know absolutely nothing about NIN but went along with what others were saying just because.

[TheBang]

My first (also my first concert ever) was in the Boston Garden, and the venue had installed and bolted seats to the entire arena floor. Trent was pissed and lay down and moaned about it during Happiness in Slavery. During Wish, the crowd went nuts and ripped up all the seats opening up the entire floor. I saw twisted, jagged, dangerous metal remnants bolted to the floor as I pushed my way to the front. Trent thanked us and was much happier for the rest of the show. A month later he came back (to Worcester) and thanked us again before playing a special encore with Adam Ant.

[elevenism]

FTDS tour-October 29th, 1994, at the Fair Park Coliseum in Dallas, which i thought was funny because it's the dedicated building for the Dog Show during the state fair. The seats face each other instead of the stage. I had wanted SO bad to see NIN in May of that year, but that show was at The Bomb Factory, a club, and i wasn't old enough to get in.
The crowd was unlike anything i've seen, before or since-a sea of black clothing, steel jewelry, and palpable teen angst. These were the original NIN fans-at this point, in terms of LPs, there was PHM and the brand new TDS.
The opening acts were the Jim Rose Circus (which was like a touring circus freak show for the stage,) and a not-yet-famous Marilyn Manson. I assumed she was maybe like a dark folk singer. That show was my introduction.
They played pinion with some sort of cloth thing covering the stage, which trent eventually tore through and then broke into Mr Self Destruct. At this point, about half the crowd jumped from the seats down to the floor, en masse.
The rest of the setlist was Sin, MOTP, Piggy, Reptile, Gave Up, HiS, Eraser, Hurt, TDS, Wish, Suck, Ruiner, DII, Closer, Dead Souls, and SICNH.
The stage was again covered with a screen for Eraser, Hurt, and TDS i think. I'm pretty sure that the Hurt projections were the same ones used in the video, but another thing that really sticks out for me is these kind of shadowy steel grey and black moving landscape type of images projected during Eraser.
The lighting was unlike anything i had seen before. At that age, i had seen some pretty incredible lights at, for instance, a Rush show, but this was a relatively small venue, a band that was just hitting its stride, and furthermore, what they were doing with the lights was just different.
The sound was mind blowing. The band was supernaturally tight, even as they smashed into each other and whatnot. You could tell they spent a lot of time rehearsing.
Seeing NIN touring to promote The Downward Spiral is an experience i can't really describe. There was an air of danger about Nine Inch Nails back then that was gone by the time The Fragile era rolled around, and may or may not have existed on the PHM tour.
The whole thing was bleak, cathartic, chaotic, frightening, unapologetically masturbatory, thrilling, unifying, vindicating.
@TheBang (http://www.echoingthesound.org/community/member.php?u=176) , the crowd ripped up the floor in dallas at my second NIN show in 95 and threw it at the Melvins :)

[niggo]

I only got into NIN in 2009 right after their Wave Goodbye tour so I always thought that I was fucked. I just came late to the party and hated myself for that. Well, then 2013/2014 came and all of that didn't matter anymore.

I went to two shows, the first one being Berlin and the second one being Vienna a couple of weeks later. The venue in Berlin was pretty shitty to say the least – the stage was too small so they couldn't set up their screens, only basic lights. On top of that it was open air and the show started in broad daylight, which isn't too great either. And on top of that the crowd was pretty lame, too, a lot of talking and stuff like that.

I went with my then soon-to-be-girlfriend and we had early entry tickets and stood in the second front row. It was amazing, Trent started with Me, I'm Not and it just blew my mind. Everything went great until my girlfriend had herself pulled out by a security guy because she had breathing issues during MOTP (front row during MOTP can be pretty rough). Since she would NEVER get to the front again I had myself pulled out, too, because we wanted to go see NIN together.

It was a bummer to say the least. After that we were pretty far in the back, people weren't really into it, even more talking, meh. It was still a great show, they played a long set, they even played Various Methods of Escape, Trent said a few nice things, it was cool. But I couldn't enjoy the show the way I wanted to.

After that we decided to go see them again in Vienna. And Vienna was awesome! They played in an arena, full stage setup, great set-list (which had a few nice additions to the one we had in Berlin), they even taped the show (although we will probably never see that one) and it was an all-in-all great experience. I'm so fucking happy that we went out of our way and traveled to Vienna.

The biggest thing I learned from that is that I will try to see even more shows the next time around. Gotta take what you can get.

[Shadaloo]

04/30/2000. Fragility 2.0, Montreal. Only the second concert in my life I'd ever been to.

I was up in the nosebleeds, a little to the front and the left of the band, and got a pretty nice bird's eye view. It wasn't too bad, but I had to lean heavily to my left to see the screens at all.

When Even Deeper started up, I let out an ear-piercing EEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAEEAHHHEEEAAAAH and I'm pretty sure TR put his hand up in my general direction as he started singing in a "thank you, but shut up please" gesture. I believe the couple to my right were somewhat afraid. :)

[Fadeout54321]

4/6/2000. NIN and APC. Was living in Tucson at the time and no one wanted to join me. I drove up solo. Had floor tickets. Smoked a joint with some randoms on the floor. APC fucking killed it. NIN was amazing. This is in my top 10 shows of all time for sure, number 1 being 8/23/2009 in NY at Webster Hall. Nothing will ever top that.

[WorzelG]

I first saw them in 1991 as support to GNR at Wembley Stadium. To be honest I can't remember a second of the show and I really wasn't listening as I was so excited for GNR, ha! (It was so long ago I can barely remember the rest of the show either)
My sister and friends were though and I got into NIN through a cassette tape of one side PHM, one side Gary Numan Pleasure Principle. If I could go back in time and slap myself into paying attention I would. We were right at the back of the stadium so the band were dots anyway

[niggo]

number 1 being 8/23/2009 in NY at Webster Hall. Nothing will ever top that.

Whenever those shows are mentioned something dies inside of me. Lucky bastards.

[ninlive]

Great thread. Love the reads.

[sentient]

Self Destruct 11/12/1994 Louisville, Kentucky

Jim Rose Circus and Marilyn Manson opened. I wasn't up for a GA ticket and I think it sold out before I bought mine. Decent mid-arena seat though. Manson completely blew me away. Reznor and the band did a superb set of everything I liked at the time. It was just as energetic and intense as I hoped it would be. Ears were ringing by the end of it. The shirt has survived!

[elevenism]

Self Destruct 11/12/1994 Louisville, Kentucky

Jim Rose Circus and Marilyn Manson opened. I wasn't up for a GA ticket and I think it sold out before I bought mine. Decent mid-arena seat though. Manson completely blew me away. Reznor and the band did a superb set of everything I liked at the time. It was just as energetic and intense as I hoped it would be. Ears were ringing by the end of it. The shirt has survived! this was like 2 weeks after mine :)

[hellospaceboy]

I believe the couple to my right were somewhat afraid. :)

you mean...
....they were...
...SOMEWHAT DAMAGED?!
ba-dum-tss

[hellospaceboy]

My first show was July 8, 2000, in Wiesen Austria. I was 18 and it was a HUGE deal for me to hop on a train and go to another country just for a show (I lived in Hungary, so it wasn't THAT far).

Luckily this concert lives on as the wonderfully titled "Fragiliglade" concert bootleg!
https://www.discogs.com/Nine-Inch-Nails-Fragiliglade/release/2535036

[Simoirs]

Italian here. Missed first time:

2007, Independent Days Festival in Bologna. (Dream) Lineup:
Nine Inch Nails
Tool
Trail of Dead
+ Maximo Park, Hot Chip and probably another.

The night before, MTV showed an hour of Beside You in Time at 11 pm. It was the very first time I saw/heard NIN and couldn't keep my eyes off the screen. Tried to set up the trip the following morning but couldn't make it. I already liked Tool and would have fell in love with Trail of Dead a few years before it actually happened.

---

First time:

2009, Rock in Roma Festival in (obviously) Rome. Lineup:
Nine Inch Nails
Tv On the Radio
Animal Collective

Didn't like AC, loved Tv On the Radio. An entire hour of stage problems later, NIN started and played a beautiful setlist with some highlights:

- Somewhat Damaged. Trent was probably furious for the lateness and for the first seconds looked everyone in the first rows in a killer way. When his eyes met mine, I probably had an idiot smile ("Wow, that's Trent!") on that disappeared in an instant, leaving me quite paralyzed.

- Something I Can Never Have. The line:

In this place it seems like such a shame
Though it all looks different now,
I know it's still the same

Was sang in a COMPLETE silence. When the instruments stopped after the chorus I remember having thought "Okay, now let's hear the usual idiots talking" and instead every single one was silent. That transition was the first and last shiver down my spine I ever got from live music.

- The Line Begins to Blur. The song that impressed me on TV two years before, unexpected on the Wave Goodbye. The bass intro really surprised me and I still have the image of that moment in my mind.

- Burn + (half of) Gave Up. A girl behind me sang the first one entirely in my ear. During Gave Up someone behind me told her to stop in a very italian way, shutting her down completely for the rest of the show. Seems rude this way, but she was very annoying.

- Survivalism. A great performance that made me finally fall in love with the song. Plus, a little boy dressed as a rapper appeared at my left, having great fun but looking too much like a pickpocketer to be believable.

Robin Finck was quite drunk and threw I don't know how many bottles of water into the crowd. The little rapper missed one because he was too short, but his position was perfect.
Before the show I was hoping for 4 songs: The Fragile, La Mer, The Day the World Went Away and The Way Out is Through. All but the last one were played, you can imagine how felt for a few days.

[virushopper]

9/6/2008 at the LA Forum.

I didn't get into NIN until the year before when a classmate in college was telling me how great the band is and why I should check them out. He loaned me his copy of "Beside you in Time" and it changed my perception of the band completely. Getting into the band in 2007 was weird for me as I didn't understood the whole ARG concept of Year Zero and noticed there were no US dates on the tour (I know about Hawaii but I was a poor college student). Fast forward to 2008, I have become more versed with the bands discography and one day a US tour was announced.

Got my ticket and saw what is to me the greatest arena show I have ever seen. The visuals, the eccentric set list of songs, Robin slamming and throwing his guitar down cause it fucked up on "Letting You" and everything. It made a lasting impression me and ever since then I have made a commitment to catch NIN live as much as possible.

[somewhatdamaged]

This was not only my first Nine Inch Nails concert, but my concert ever. The concert was on 10/31/1994 (Halloween) in Houston, TX and I was 13 years old. Just few days before the concert my mom had told me she had gotten me tickets to see the band and I was shocked, she was also a pretty big fan, but I don't think she knew what she had gotten herself into. The venue was at "The Summit" (now Lakewood Church) and I remember the walk to the arena so well, because it was just astonishing to me. First, everyone was dressed up for Halloween, so a lot of Crow costumes, painted faces, everyone dressed in black and girls dressed in gothic attire, a lot of Dr. Seuss type top cats and trenchcoats - I'd never seen anything like it before. There were also quite a few of protesters from various churches. Walking around the arena prior to getting the our seats, so many people wearing Marilyn Manson t-shirts. I remember thinking, who is Marilyn Manson? I didn't even know about the Jim Rose Circus before they went on stage. My mom and I found our seats and just people watched. It was pretty cool. Then Jim Rose came on stage and did just all the weird shit, I guess in today's standards it's not that crazy, but back then it was pretty incredible. Just these guys abusing themselves on stage, swinging their dick with insane amounts of weights on it. It was just something I could never even thought of ever seeing. Then Manson came on stage and it just sounded like noise, I can't say I was too impressed.

Next, was Nine Inch Nails...I can't say I remember every little detail about the setlist or every action or word that was taken place, but I do remember some key parts of it today. I know, the lights went dark, and then beginning of Mr. Self Destruct started to play, the pulsing sound - it was loud, fast and had a lot of energy - sounded terrible compared to the CD though, haha. It was a pretty good show thus far, but then things got crazy. Like I mentioned before, my Mom and I were sitting in seats about 3 rows up from general admission (so, pretty good seats), March of the Pigs starts, and when Trent Reznor screamed "March, push...crawl right up on your knees", everyone that was in rows, I don't know how far up..jumped out of their seats, rushed the security guards, knocked the barricade down and ran to the stage. The general admission was so jammed with bodies, bouncing all over the place, crowd surfing, it was a sight to see. I looked back at the at the rows of seats above us...my mom and I were the only one still in our seats. After that, I just remember bits and pieces of the show...I know tons of equipment was destroyed onstage, it seemed like as soon as a song was finished the guitar was smashed or the keyboards...it really seemed like after every single song. The next memorable moment was the video for Hurt, nearly all of us have seen it by now. The screen dropped down on the stage and just had these fantastic visuals and I remember seeing the animal rotting and the bird diving into the water, the angles of the video and the rapid of decay of an animal...it was so new to me, never had seen anything like it. It's so hard to express that now with Youtube where you can see everything, back then, for me it wasn't like that. So, it made a huge impression on me. The last thing I remember was Dead Souls playing, because I don't think I had heard the song before. I know I saw The Crow, but I guess the song didn't stick out that much to me when I saw the movie...I don't know. But during the concert, I was like what song is this? It's awesome. Near the end of the concert, so much freaking instruments were destroyed, it seemed like they went on for about 5-10 minutes just destroying stuff. I got a salt and tooth T-shirt with the NIN logo on the back. Funny though, I've seen the same shirt online for sale, but mine is different than online ones - The NIN logo is chopped up. Anyway, that's my experience.

[elevenism]

@somewhatdamaged (http://www.echoingthesound.org/community/member.php?u=450) your first nin show was 2 days after mine. (which makes sense-dallas show, houston show)

i, too, got the chopped up logo shirt and have been looking for one ever since i lost the OG

[niggo]

My first show was July 8, 2000, in Wiesen Austria. I was 18 and it was a HUGE deal for me to hop on a train and go to another country just for a show (I lived in Hungary, so it wasn't THAT far).

Luckily this concert lives on as the wonderfully titled "Fragiliglade" concert bootleg!
https://www.discogs.com/Nine-Inch-Nails-Fragiliglade/release/2535036

That's funny, I listen to that soundboard rip regularly. Fucking awesome show!

[elevenism]

This one?

http://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/ZywAAOSwmLlX-HPz/s-l800.jpg
Yes, goddamnit. JESUS i wish i still had it.

[bobbie solo]

that shirt looks fucking awesome.

http://i.imgur.com/ke2aO8X.gif

[Louie_Cypher]

lots of memories of cool places that don't exist any more my first
nin show was @ a club on haight st. called theI-beam across the street was aplace called the night break. which used to have sushi suday's were i saw primus. sf had so many cool live music clubs before dj's riuned live music in the city. sigh imiss those days
-louie

[Louie_Cypher]

haight st. was so fun back then night break full moon saloon and the notorious zim zam room with bruno the martini natzi. if you ordered anything but a dry martini gin he would kick you out. We don't have that but the bar down the street does.
-louie

[dvdglss]

was only supposed to go to the 2nd show, decided to splurge on the first show. AMAZING time. front row the first night.

dresden dolls were awesome, just an amazing amazing time. http://i.imgur.com/3T0u1FZ.jpg

[elevenism]

i would like to say that LITS in 2008 affected me as much as the TDS shows. It was in a different way, but NIN aged like fine wine.

[ryanmcfly]

It was my sophomore year in high school. I wasn't able to go to LITS in Dallas the year before. It bums me out more looking at the Dallas LITS setlist (Down in It, Getting Smaller, God Given, In This Twilight, and The Line Begins to Blur.) My mom and I went to Austin to see the NINJA tour, and I remember from our seats seeing how empty the floor looked and thinking how I wish I was down there, but whatever. They opened with Mr. Self Destruct, and I was freaking out. I remember thinking holy shit, TR is right there. It was an awesome set, Downward Sprial heavy plus the only time they played Not So Pretty Now that year. Four years later, my wife (then girlfriend) and I flew up to Philly for Made in America. We were three feet from the rail, and when Trent walked on stage to start Copy of A, I had the same reaction as I did the first time I saw NIN. My wife tried to take a picture of the stupid smile I had too. Good times.

[bobbie solo]

Love hearing that from a younger fan.

[TheBang]

All I can think is, holy shit, you got married at 21? (22?)

[ryanmcfly]

All I can think is, holy shit, you got married at 21? (22?)

22. We did the Vegas Wedding (it was actually a livingsocial deal also because we are cheap.) Our parents were not too happy though.

[SM Rollinger]

April 17 2000

http://www.ninlive.com/shows/2000/20000417.html

I was 16 at the time and so my friend at the time and I convinced his dad to drive us 4 hours to Minneapolis for this concert. It was sweet, seeing A Perfect Circle for the first time too. It was Maynards birthday and I remember him between songs saying something like "if you want to do something for me, go home and put on some elton john and masturbate until you pass out."

We had upper balcony seats, but with the Fragility 2.0 production, it was sweet to have a good angle on things cuz we were pretty much center. Of course the stand out of the set list was the La Mer/Great Below/Mark Has Been Made trifecta. Complicaton was sweet also, and im glad I got to see the original version of Closer performed live at least once because I think the version with the TITOT breakdown may have been performed more than the original. Anyways, One of my friends decided he was going to sneak into GA, and sure enough, we watched him do it. Both of those guys, I have compleatly lost contact with over the years.

It was awesome when I first got into collecting bootlegs, finding that tape of that show. Aside from that, Ive only ran across one other bootleg of a show ive been to that I dint record myself, and that was Rammstein in '99 in St. Paul. Ive seen Tool bootleg lists that have their Lateralus Tour shows from St. Paul and Sioux Falls, both shows I went to, but have been unable to track them down. IIRC the guy that had them just wanted to trade and not release them out to the wild. ANYWAYS.....


@somewhatdamaged (http://www.echoingthesound.org/community/member.php?u=450) your first nin show was 2 days after mine. (which makes sense-dallas show, houston show)

i, too, got the chopped up logo shirt and have been looking for one ever since i lost the OG
ive got one, its a large and too small for me, if your interested in it let me know

On the topic of tour shirts, I had one of the white fragility 2.0 shirts, the the greenish flower on the front and it just said nine inch nails, and the back was the tour dates. I made the mistake of selling it, and would love to get another if somebody has one and would part with it plz let me know.

[nooneimportant]

http://www.nin.wiki/2014/08/27_Sacramento,_CA

Cold Cave was the opener and they were alright.

Soundgarden was the loudest band I've ever seen up to that point, damn man, they haven't let up at all after all these years. Chris Cornell was 50 years old and giving it 100 percent, it was really impressive.

NIN came on and I swear to fucking god, despite being seated in the back (not the lawn) it was crazy for me. I've seen all these live videos and heard some live audio ever since I got into the band in 2008 and here I was experiencing it for real. I thought NIN was finished in 2009 but I guess so did everyone else. I knew the static setlist going in and was going to enjoy it anyways, but they changed it up and that was good. Trent was on top of his game during Copy of A, flying around the stage with his guitar. Frail/Wretched happened, I ain't got anything to say because you all know how that goes. Find My Way blew me away in the instrumental section due to the bass being so deep and Trent's guitar additions.

The highlight came when they did The Great Destroyer and then Eraser. I was completely blown away by seeing my two favorite NIN songs of all time. I could've just gone home after Eraser because that shit was too real. TDTWWA was some sort of emotional thing that I cannot describe. Amazing show. The visuals were great and so was the sound. What did suck though was being in the California heat in late August.

[SM Rollinger]

http://www.nin.wiki/2014/08/27_Sacramento,_CA

Cold Cave was the opener and they were alright.

Soundgarden was the loudest band I've ever seen up to that point, damn man, they haven't let up at all after all these years. Chris Cornell was 50 years old and giving it 100 percent, it was really impressive.

NIN came on and I swear to fucking god, despite being seated in the back (not the lawn) it was crazy for me. I've seen all these live videos and heard some live audio ever since I got into the band in 2008 and here I was experiencing it for real. I thought NIN was finished in 2009 but I guess so did everyone else. I knew the static setlist going in and was going to enjoy it anyways, but they changed it up and that was good. Trent was on top of his game during Copy of A, flying around the stage with his guitar. Frail/Wretched happened, I ain't got anything to say because you all know how that goes. Find My Way blew me away in the instrumental section due to the bass being so deep and Trent's guitar additions.

The highlight came when they did The Great Destroyer and then Eraser. I was completely blown away by seeing my two favorite NIN songs of all time. I could've just gone home after Eraser because that shit was too real. TDTWWA was some sort of emotional thing that I cannot describe. Amazing show. The visuals were great and so was the sound. What did suck though was being in the California heat in late August.

Seen them 3 times and not once have they played Eraser any of those times. :(

[Lew]

september 20th 1995, with mr. bowie.
<3
almost made it to woodstock, but had exams and my prof. would not allow me to bow out (yes, i am the dick who told him i would like to attend a once in a lifetime concert, rather than just going and then getting a sick note from my doctor. yes, i outed myself so then could not go with plan b...especially since the prof. happily informed me that if i did not turn up i would fail, with or without doc note. ugh.)

still, in retrospect, i reckon having the nin/bowie combo was once in a lifetime enough to make up for missing mudstock.

[theimage13]

That's funny, I listen to that soundboard rip regularly. Fucking awesome show!

Naturally, I had to look up "Fragiliglade". This may be old news to both of you, but just in case: the one that's officially named that is an FM source that has an incomplete HLAH. Ninlive has a pre-FM version (less crowd noise) and the entire HLAH. Again, you may very well have known that already.

http://ninlive.com/shows/2000/20000708.html

[niggo]

theimage13 The pre-FM version is actually the recording I have already been listening to. But thanks for the heads up, very nice of you. :)

[EndlessLoveless]

First of MANY was fragility 2.0 at the UIC Pavillion in Chicago. Went with 3 other friends, year I graduated HS. Got really stoned, had seats in the way back but it was awesome. I remember when the screens came down it was unreal. Still one of my favorite shows ever. I've seen every Chicago date since and a few in Michigan and Wisconsin. Begged my dad to take me to nin/bowie years before as he's a huge bowie fan but it never happened. Second show was WT club date in Chicago, night 2, which was also a top show. But the wave goodbye (final, ha) Chicago date might be my favorite due to amazing set list with a 4 piece band. Incredible.

[gamecat235]

March 20th, 1994 - About a week after TDS was released, Nine Inch Nails announced a small a warmup pretour and one of the dates was in Tucson (hometown and where I live now). In a "renovated" old movie theater where I had seen Ghostbusters when it first came out when I was a kid. I bought tickets as soon as they went on sale and showed up 7 hours before the doors opened. No one else arrived for 4 hours other than staff (I arrived before security or the band). The show was amazing. It changed what I would expect from concerts. And set a high water mark that would take years to be met again. I saw NIN twice again on the other US legs of the Spiral tours. But seeing them front and center, in a small venue was an experience which was unrivaled. Until I did it again on the Tension tour, in Las Vegas.

Items of note: having alcohol (my mind is cloudy on whether it was tequila or vodka) poured into my eyes (while he tried to pour it into my girlfriend's mouth) was an experience I would not recommend, but it makes for an interesting story. Though I didn't catch or obtain any broken keys, I did catch a water bottle that Trent tossed into the audience, and used half of it to wash off my face and the other half to drink. It was a crazy crazy experience and I couldn't imagine what my life would have been like had I not seen that show. I have, since then, braved snow, blizzards, etc ( I lived in Chicago for years) while waiting for bands so that I could be up front.

[patj825]

Further Down the Spiral tour (In NY with Jim Rose Circus & Pop Will Eat Itself).
http://www.ninlive.com/shows/1995/19950106.html

A college buddy was supposed to go with me, but came down with the flu the night before, so I went alone. Before the show, I sold his ticket outside the concert venue for face value. Adam Ant came on stage for the encores and did Physical, Red Scab, and Beat My Guest with NIN. I was seated in the back, but snuck upfront during short period before the encores. While up front in the pit, I got knocked to the floor. I saw the crowd surrounding me start closing in. It looked like i was droning (The hole of light above was shrinking. Then this one goth guy put his arms out and shouted to everyone to step back. He extended his arm and helped me up. NIN fans are very cool.

[Disassociative]

I got into NIN just as they wrapped up the Wave Goodbye tour so at the time I thought "FUCK I'M NEVER GOING TO GET TO SEE THEM LIVE :C"

Flash forward roughly 4 years later and they announce the Australian QOTSA+NIN leg of the 2014 tour. Got tickets as soon as they were available.

http://www.nin.wiki/2014/03/11_Perth,_Australia

Sat through the Queens Of the Stone Age set not knowing what to expect since at the time I only had heard like 3 or 4 songs by them. Ended up enjoying themselves immensely and buying copies of Era Vulgaris, Like Clockwork and Songs For The Deaf the next day.

Anyway after a brief break NIN opened with Copy Of A which imo works really well as a opener - builds up and gets everyone hyped. Setlist was pretty average since it was a co-headlining tour which usually tend towards the more well known songs with less rarities and there were a few songs I wish they had played like The Great Destroyer or Somewhat Damaged which they had played at previous nights but March of the Pigs (without the extended outro oddly enough. They only played the album version which from what I understand almost never happens) going into The Line Beings To Blur made up for all of that. At the time that was probably my favorite Nine Inch Nails song and was a bit of a rarity since the With Teeth tour I think so I never expected to hear it live. I had been singing along all night but the verses along with the I DON'T KNOW I DON'T KNOW bits in the second verse had started to hurt my throat a bit so I took it easy until The Wretched about halfway through the set a few songs later lol

Mariqueen came on to do a few HTDA songs which I'm OK with in theory - I really like their songs but the ones they chose weren't ones I particularly fond of (On The Wing and Parasite) plus I feel a bit selfish saying this but as much as I like HDTA I felt a little robbed of NIN songs (even though it was only two). I think if the songs chosen were ones I actually liked I would have felt differently.

1,000,000 and Letting You got everyone hyped again because it felt like the momentum kind of got lost a bit with the mini HDTA set as I don't think a lot of people there seemed to be familiar with them. Then the opening synth sounds of The Hand That Feeds came on and in the back of my mind I knew the concert was going to end soon - THTF > HLAH > Hurt is a pretty standard concert closer isn't it? THTF was a solid performance, nothing special but Head Like A Hole ended up a highlight of the show - something about hearing the crowd singing along in the arena to chorus made me feel like part of something much bigger than me in a way. You could almost feel the energy in the room. Also at this point I lost my voice completely in the final chorus and could barely talk for a few days but was totally worth it.

Concert concluded with Hurt which I expected but hearing that song live - hearing all of the songs performed live that night in person for the first actually - was so special. Hurt hits me pretty hard emotionally and the climax at the end has such a final feel to it. I guess that's why it works pretty well as a setlist closer.

I hope I get to see them again live. Once isn't enough. Ideally I wish they'll come back to Perth but Western Australia almost always gets neglected when bands to 'Australian' tours. At least this time around if it comes to it i'll be able to afford to see a show on the east coast.

[ChipRock]

So well jealous of everyone who saw 'em back in the nineties. I've been a fan since '93, but for some reason it then took me 14 years to make it to a show.
Of course then it should have been an epic occasion, making it up to Brixton for the 2007 tour. Just to show how underwhelming an experience it was, I can't actually remember which date it was. I'm guessing the 11th (http://www.nin.wiki/2007/03/11_London,_UK) just on vague memories of what was played.
Damn! What a setlist huh? It should have been awesome, but I think I was in a bad mood generally, and the people I was with were annoying me. On top of that the crowd was made up of a mixture of sweaty devil horns throwing metal 'dudes' and too cool for school nu-goth posers (I'm such a snob). Just to finish things off - I've honestly never been able to get down with that era band. Of course Freese is a legend, and Cortini is close to a legend, but the North / White axis up front just leaves me cold, and I'm glad neither stuck around for too long.
Anyway, it wasn't all that bad of course, and maybe after so long I had built up my expectations so high that reality had no chance of comparing. I feel like an ungrateful git for not having as good a time as I should have, but that's how it goes I guess. Maybe there are a bunch of people who saw NIN in '94, or at the '09 TDS shows (dream come true) and didn't have an amazing experience either.
In contrast though my second NIN show was a belter - 2014 at the O2. A much suckier venue, with a fairly generic setlist in comparison, but I really felt I was seeing a much better band, and I had a hundred times more fun. There's probably a life lesson in there somewhere.

[Disassociative]

I'm the opposite - as awesome as Robin and Alessandro were when I saw the band live I would have loved to see a With Teeth/Performance 2007 show. Saying that I would have been like 13 the experience would have been wasted on me but still a man can dream.

[acrid avid jam shred]

My first show was back in 2014 when NIN toured with QOTSA all around Australia, the first Sydney gig. I couldn't believe it when the tour was initially announced, I had a chance to see two of my favourite bands on the same night! When March came around, I was so excited. I had been obsessively watching videos from the 2013 tour, and loved how much energy and creativity Trent and co brought to the stage.

It was so awesome when A Warm Place unexpectedly boomed out from the speakers and signalled that NIN were first up. I remember wondering what song they would play first, and when it turned out to be Somewhat Damaged, I freaked out! I loved how the intro was reworked, and how it exploded in intensity. It was such a cool way to open the show, and from then on, it just got better and better. Seeing the different, groovier version of Sanctified for the first time was great... pretty much the whole setlist was brilliant! The entire show was such a fun and exciting experience, and since it was my first time seeing a band live, it was even more special!

[The Madcap]

Tuesday May 23, 2000 in Dallas. At that time I wasn't a huge fan, only familiar with the radio hits. I had just graduated high school the previous weekend and we drove to the amphitheater, not having tickets, looking to see how cheap we could get in. Easily found two lawn tickets for $10 each and made our way inside. A Perfect Circle opened, this was the day their 1st album came out. Had only heard Judith on the radio a couple times so I wasn't really sure what to expect...thought they were great. I vividly remember the scene as NIN hit the stage: It was twilight as the screen dropped down in front of the stage and Terrible Lie just blasted through me as we lit up a joint. Security chased a guy through the crowd and tackled him directly in front of us. I was completely blinded by the strobe lights pulsating from the stage as he was dragged away. The rest of the evening was life changing, I swear I can remember the lighting configuration of every song. The three screens behind the band were displaying the most amazing images I had ever seen. The music was inside me, it was a completely visceral experience. The next day I went out and bought The Fragile and have seen NIN 20+ times since then. I still get goosebumps just thinking about it.

[sick among the pure]

I wanted to start my post with a photo by Rob, but it's buried in who knows which hard drive and while not impossible to find online (I'm sure there's a readily-available archive of Spiral photos somewhere I don't have bookmarked).

My first NIN show was 3_7_06 in Erie, PA. And it was the best show I've ever been to. And not just for the "oh man it was my first show" reasons, though yes, there's that. But because if Rob had been on Trent's right instead of on his left when he took the photo I wanted to show, you would see me (one back from the rail, center stage) holding Trent's hand singing nothing can stop me now at the end of Piggy. The setlist was awesome, as I learned that Trent's "hometown shows" are the best shows, I met a lot of awesome people in The Spiral line (even though we didn't get a sound check... I never got a sound check actually...) including my best friend and NIN show buddy, and I still wish I had taken up her offer to go to the Rochester show the next day since she caught Trent's tambourine at that show.

I don't have the best memory, but there are certain parts of that day that will live in my mind forever. I remember the excitement of this being my first "real concert" (at the time I didn't count my first concert, Weird Al at the local college in like 2001 with my mom) and getting there as early as possible because I knew I wanted to be as close as I could when Trent came on stage. I didn't know what to expect at all beyond watching AATCHB over and over and over from the time it came out until years later as I left to go experience that for myself. I even listened to AATCHB on my cheap not-iPod MP3 player, because it was 2006 and I was way behind on tech.
I was between one and two dozen people back in the line when I got there, I had made my own Spiral shirt (since I didn't get the deluxe membership that came with a shirt the first year) but it was Erie in March so I was wearing a black hoodie (to blend in with everyone else). I remember taking a disposable camera (so I wouldn't be upset if it was taken from me) and took photos of stupid things like The Spiral sign, and a group of friends that I had made in line flipping the camera off, and really just anything that kept my mind off the excitement and anxiety of "in a few hours you are going to be AT A NINE INCH NAILS CONCERT".
Doors open. I don't remember the journey to the floor at all. I don't remember anything about pre-show except I asked the person in front of me if I could reach my arms around her to hold on to the rail once it started to try to hold off the surges of people pushing. And then Trent's niece and nephew came down and talked to a bunch of us on the rail for a few minutes, which I thought was really cool. And then Saul Williams came on, and he was awesome... except the people around me in the pit were not. As much of a city as Erie is, there were a lot of rural people at this show, and I could tell, because of the commentary I kept hearing about him. And I'll admit, being young and wanted to be one of the cool kids and fit in, I didn't say anything to them. I regret that, looking back. Other than remembering that I loved his set, and that I knew the words to a few songs thanks to the Voodoo Fest set they played together.
Forward another... what like hour or so? The smoke starts building up. Everyone starts to woo. This is where I disagree with others, I swear I heard a little bit of A New Flesh for the first few bars of Pinion, but whatever, it was Pinion, and that build gets you pumped like nothing else. And then SLAM into Mr. Self Destruct. Suddenly, as if out of nowhere, Trent Reznor is in my face, mere feet away, screaming one of my favorite songs at me. It was surreal. A few other songs I specifically remember are The Line Begins To Blur, because I remember I kept going from watching Trent to watching the line scroll across the background branching out and activating the glitch screens. Everyday Is Exactly The Same, watching the repeating background scroll across. The screen slow down time in the middle because you always remember that stuff. And, as mentioned before, Piggy.
I remember as the song started, I knew that he ~used to~ come down to the audience on the AATCHB dvd... so maybe I would be lucky and he would come down again, and I was right there. I saw the crew make sure the stacks of boxes in front of the stage left a clear path for him, and waving him down as he glanced at us and smirked a bit. The lights go down, and Trent is right there, and I just reach out without thinking and grab ahold of his free hand and start singing back as he leans across past me and into the crowd. I held his hand that whole fucking time (I didn't try to hold him in, though, when he started to go back up I let go and just kept singing) and I was so in that moment that I didn't notice the thumb harp he played at the end until I saw a picture of it some days later. I also remember talking about it days later on ETS and someone calling me a liar because THEY held Trent's hand at that show. Whatever, dude.

It was an amazing show, and I know this gets said a lot, but that show actually did save my life.

So, I got that date tattooed with a WT-era NIN logo.

[BRoswell]

This (http://www.nin.wiki/2008/11/18_Ft._Wayne,_IN) was my first (and, so far, only) show. I was still a relatively new fan at the time, but the experience was fantastic. I got to hear some of my favorites, as well as some tracks I wasn't as familiar with that later became favorites. My only issue was that they didn't do an encore (one of the few shows on the tour where that happened), but that wasn't the band's fault. The city has a strict noise curfew that, for some reason, applies to large indoor venues. Other than that, it was a great show. I was eager to see them again during the Tension tour, but on the day that I was supposed to see them in Detroit, I had to have emergency surgery. Just my luck. Hopefully they will come through the area...that is, if Trent doesn't decide to quit touring altogether in the near future.

[bobbie solo]

re: that Erie show...Drove out from NY for that as my wife's best friend was in medical school out there at the time. They got into a fight with some dumb chick in front of us who was WAY too active throughout the show and wouldn't stop getting in everyone's personal space with her convulsions. They shut that shit DOWN.

We also all went out to dinner in Erie and apparently it's customary in that part of the country to give everyone their own separate check at dinner? It was a big group of us too...like 10. Odd but helpful.

[elevenism]

It was an amazing show, and I know this gets said a lot, but that show actually did save my life.



Well, but i can certainly understand how such an experience could be life saving, you know, if you had been having a rough time.
Like fucking vindicating. that moment of communion with someone whose work you related to so much must have been incredible.

Thanks for sharing that story!

[icklekitty]

31st March 2005, London Astoria.

You can read all about it here (http://icklekitty.livejournal.com/36480.html)in all its monumentally fuckwitted teenage glory. I honestly did a sick in my mouth reading it back.

[Ruined]

My first NIN show occurred during the 1994 Self Destruct Tour. Since I was attending college in Claremont, CA (about 45 minutes from L.A.), I attended the April 27, 1994 show at the Hollywood Palace. Fem 2 Fem and Type O Negative were the opening acts. The way I got my tickets was as memorable as the show itself. Since this was well before the Internet was a thing, you either had to buy tickets via phone or in-person. My friends and I decided to go in-person and, being young, just spent the night at our local “Wherehouse Records” shop. We didn’t sleep, but, instead spent the night bullshitting, tossing a football around and other nonsense that made the night pass rather quickly. It was the only time I had ever spent the night at a ticket outlet in order to buy tickets, but, there was no way I was missing the show. Since “The Downward Spiral” had been such a huge success, it was obvious that tickets would be hard to get. So, we were the first people there and had the parking lot to ourselves up until early morning. At that point, I noticed another line forming, filled with plaid-wearing folks (ranging from teens, to much older adults). Unknown to me, that same day, tickets for the Eagles reunion show were going on sale. As the Eagles ticket line grew, I got nervous, wondering if we’d be getting tickets first or if they would let the massive line go before us. Again, we were first, but, it was clear the Eagles reunion show was big. When the store’s employees finally arrived, they were stunned by how long the line for the Eagles tickets was and hardly noticed that we were standing to the right, the only people there to buy NIN tickets. When one of the managers finally entered the store, I noticed that he had left his store keys in the door. So, not wanting to be an asshole, I knocked on the door and made sure he got the keys. He was really grateful and I guess was in a panic looking for them, while that crowd continued to grow. When the time to sell finally arrived, the line for the Eagles tickets had to be at least 200 people long. Meanwhile it was just me and my 4 friends in the NIN “line.” Since both tickets were going to be sold at the same exact time, another manager decided they were going to let the Eagles fans go first and make me and my friends wait, even though we were there all night. The shit was crazy and I was just stunned, knowing that the NIN show would sell out well before that huge Eagles line got served. The other manager (whom I gave the store keys to), caught the look of dejection in my eyes and just told his co-worker: “They’ve been here all night; they shouldn’t have to wait.” So, they decided to let me go in and buy all the tickets for my friends. Crisis averted, I managed to buy tickets for the show, which sold out in minutes.

The show itself was amazing: The Hollywood Palace was a smaller venue and I just remember this odd sense like, IDK, shit just didn’t seem real. It’s the closest I’ve felt to being on drugs without being on drugs. The show itself is a blur; all I have to remember is this cathartic sense of euphoria. The raw power was unlike anything I had ever experienced. I just remember, after the show, knowing that I had found MY band. Ever since that show, I have been a devoted NIN fan and have really enjoyed the ride. I’ve been to numerous shows since (at least one for each tour after my first) and still get that euphoric feeling that no other band has given to me, live. The “relationship” between artist and fan is an odd one: It’s like having a friend I’ve never truly known; but, never let me feel alone. I’m thankful I’ve found an artist that I connected to, for so long. I look forward to what Trent has planned next and appreciate the memories I’ve already been given.

[kel]

june 2000, salt lake city, fragility.

we got to the e center (now the maverick center) around 2:00. were at the rail *until* security told everyone to sit down. seriously. so there's a row of people sitting in front of us, someone panics thinking apc is about to start, stands up and causes a stampede. my best friend clawed his way to the rail and i was crammed probably three people deep.

apc comes on (probably an hour later) and i'm crushed. at several points my feet weren't on the ground, rather dragged here to there. the crowd was insanely aggressive and i couldn't breathe. i lasted to "judith", but couldn't take that shit anymore. once everyone eased up a bit after the opener i decided to squirm my way out of that nonsense and to the back right of the crowd.

long, heartbreaking story short, i watched nin for the first time from about 20 feet back on the right side with enough room to breathe.

the show was beautiful and unforgettable, even if i had to 'tap out", so to speak.

there was nothing *fun* or any sense of a so-called *true experience* being where i was during apc. my best friend ended up on aatchb during "terrible lie", but he lost feeling in his hands for three weeks after the show.

still, 10/10.

[guy8707]

6/6/00 at The Arrowhead Pond(now the Honda Center) in Anaheim, CA with A Perfect Circle. I waited 4 hours in line to buy Tix and got 2 floor. Went with a friend and it was awesome. I was using a lot of drugs at the time but went to this show sober and it was great. When NIN started people went crazy. It wasn't a mosh pit, just everyone trying to rush forward. It's like my feet stayed in the same place but the rest of my body was moving all over the place. In some ways, this is still my fav NIN concert I've attended.

[bRoot]

A few years back in Melb. NIN was playing with QOTSA and on coin flip they went first. Pretty good show but I expected it to be better than Marilyn Manson which it wasn't unfortunately. Yeah so I seen the show,
Liked the songs being played, some stuff I never heard before. I ducked out after they finished and QOTSA came on, kinda regret it but whatever. Also weird thing happened, I entered through door 13, spooky.

[muse-lyre candy]

NIN as a headliner....
Jim Rose Circus and Marilyn Manson. PRICELESS!!
NIN offered a very unique shirt during this tour with the NIN logo embroidered on the tshirt. Sadly it was lost in a bitter divorce.

(NIN was an opener for Skinny Puppy in the late 80's. Although it seems like we missed any openers at the show I went to...? At the time I had no clue who SP was either. My friend had just broken up with his gfriend and asked me to go in her place.)

[[parasite]]

the first time i got to see NIN was on my 28th birthday at Coachella '05. (5-1-05)
we (my missus, my little sister & me) flew from the UK, stayed in Palm Springs, on the days leading up to and days after before flying back, and camped over the weekend,
was my first and only visit to the US!
we got to see some awesome bands/artists
it was a great weekend, so many great memories


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[NotoriousTIMP]

June 3rd, 2000
San Diego, CA
COX ARENA

My first show was during the Fragility Tour and I can remember my mom allowing me to skip school so I could go wait out front of ticketmaster to get tickets. I secured GA tickets and was thrilled to finally be able to see my favorite band. Went to the venue super early and met a couple of people who I am still friends with to this day. We swapped stories about how we all got into Nails and what our favorite tracks were from The Fragile. After the show I made my way to the back of the venue and waited to see if we could catch anyone before they got on the tour bus. After waiting nearly three hours, a security guard came out and told us that TR was going to come out and say hello, sign some autographs, and that we could take one photo with him. By this time our group had dwindled down to about 15 people and we all lined up to get our chance to meet the man. When it came time for me to meet TR I was as giddy as a school girl and nervous to boot. I shook his hand, handed him my ticket stub while thanking him for taking the time to come out and say hello to everyone, and the snapped a photo real quickly before walking off. Just as my friend was heading up to meet TR, I turned around and said "Hey Trent, do you think you will come out and say hello to us fans in Anaheim?" - Anaheim was on the 6th and was the next show on the tour - He looked at me, smiled, and said "yeah man, I think I can do that." I walked away from that experience in total awe as I never thought I would get a chance to meet the man who has helped shape who I am as a person. My friends and I went to Denny's later on that night (it was sort of a tradition for after concerts) and I remember sitting there in the booth holding my ticket in the Fragility ticket holder thing and couldn't believe I had just met TR.

A few days later I went to Anaheim and saw them again which was another great show. A good portion of us who were waiting in San Diego showed up at the bus ramp in Anaheim, but sadly TR didn't come out. While we were waiting thought, a talk skinny guy with fucked up hair started to make his way up the ramp. The lighting was really poor so it was hard to see who this person was. At first we thought it was a roadie, but as he got closer we couldn't make up our mind if he was or not. He walked passed us and no one said hello or anything and thats when he turned back around to us while saying something to his friend and that's when a girl noticed who it was.....it was Robin. He seemed kinda shocked that no one asked him for a autograph and was a little upset once we finally figured out who he was. He signed one signature for the girl who called out his name and then shuffled off to the tour bus. After that we waited another 30 minutes before calling it a night and then made our way to our car so we could get started on driving back to San Diego.

And there you have it, my first two NIN shows were 17 years ago...christ I'm getting old...

*SIDE NOTE* who remembers the ETS member passes that were made during the first leg of the WITH_TEETH Tour? I still have mine and keep it with my backstage pass collection:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v412/cingularrox/8DD7B84E-0F41-4856-B280-27752A3FFADF_zpsimpv7cuy.jpg

[thefragile_jake]

My first show was in October of 2005. I got into the band around 2001 or 2002 when I 14 or 15 and I pretty much fell down the rabbit hole of becoming utterly obsessed with their discography, aura and everything else in between. I think back to how incredible it would've been to have seen them when they played St. Louis in the spring of 2000 during their Fragility 2.0 tour, but I didn't have any relatives who would've taken me and they weren't even on my radar as far as being into them goes. I was only in sixth grade, mind you.

So as the years went by and 2005 rolled around when With Teeth finally dropped, I remember being on EtS all the time and falling in love with that record. We all knew at some point that NIN was going to tour, but I think it was during the summer that they finally announced the With Teeth arena fall tour dates. That summer was probably one of the most memorable of my entire life as I wasn't really the kind of kid who always hung out with friends all the time and all day. This even had lead into my adult life ... where I feel like I need my alone time a lot, but that summer I was in my first band with some great friends and we were hanging out almost every other day. It was through this group of friends that I met a girl who ended up being my first genuine relationship that lasted almost two years. So it was this group that ended up going to the local Ticketmaster hub at our nearby Schnuck's grocery store to go get our tickets for Nine Inch Nails show later August. This was huge for me and the drummer in the band at the time as we were HUGE into NIN.

So October rolls around ... and that Nine Inch Nails show ended up being the first show for seeing a band that was a true favorite of mine live. Previously, I had gone with friends to see cheap seat shows of bands like KISS and Motley Crue. I remember the feeling of excitement, anxiousness and anticipation. My friend and I were a little disappointed that Jerome Dillon wasn't able to play, as during that time Alex Carapetis had taken his spot after Jerome had health concerns.

The show blew me away and being able to hear songs that I knew every second to in a live capacity was what I think turned me into being so obsessed with seeing live music for bands I'm inspired by. I know I REALLY wanted to hear Deep since it was in rotation early on in the tour, but thinking back ... I was glad to be able to hear Sin, Suck and Starfuckers, Inc. before they fell out of the current setlists as of late.

I've been able to see them in 2008 and 2013 in St. Louis and 2009 in Kansas City. All the shows afterwards have been good (although bordering on a little samey-samey setlist wise) but nothing really compared to that original show nearly 12 years ago. Hopefully come 2017/2018 ... I'll be able to see more than just a local nearby show and catch a couple more.

[AnaTorpedo]

Ok so I will return to this thread and read all of these and tell my whole story AFTER sunday night. Because right now I'm so excited my coworkers made these for me..

http://i.imgur.com/xkrgH4m.jpg


I'M SO EXCITED YOU GUYS I'VE BEEN A FAN FOR LIKE 20 YEARS

[slammy79]

December 3, 1994 - Boston Garden (Marilyn Manson & Jim Rose Circus opened)

This was my first concert with friends and without my parents. (Though they did drive us to the show as we were all 15 at the time.)

It was just this crazy outstanding loud show that erupted into a "mini-riot". Lots of folks were sitting in the floor seats, not standing or dancing. I remember this quote from Trent right after March of the Pigs..."when you sit in these chairs, it doesn't make me feel better." Eventually most of those chairs ended up stacked up in giant piles at the back of the floor. People passed them overhead, probably threw some of them too. Of course a few were broken as well. The floor erupted into the largest mosh pit I've ever seen. The newspapers in Boston went a little overboard the next day with the scale of the "riot". It was one of the last concerts played in the old Boston Garden before they tore it down.

I still have my t-shirt from that concert, though it's not in the best of shape.

[buzburbank]

26 years ago today, I discovered Nine Inch Nails at Lollapalooza near Kansas City. They went on late-afternoon, and immediately made an impression. In fact, I recall thinking that the strobe light effects (used to a crazy degree I had never before seen) would be so much better at night. Fresh out of high school at 17, I was there mainly for JA and Living Colour; I had not done much reading into the lineup (Ice-T and Body Count dominated the news among the lesser known acts), so I knew nothing about NIN. Anyway, they absolutely blew me away with their performance, and literally stole the festival in my mind. I went out the very next day and bought PHM on cassette and have been one of the faithful ever since. Hard to believe it's been 'twenty-six years, on my way to'...many more, hopefully.

[mewsick]

May 18th 2000 , Lakeland Fl. Fragility2.0
I've seen NIN 3 times since then but nothing can ever top the anticipation and excitement of that first time. I was 16, went with 2 other friends (my parents drove us and dropped us off). We were on the floor so stood in line for hours to get a good spot. APC was amazing and I feel so lucky to have experienced Mer de noms for the first time live (the actual album came out a week later if i recall). Once nin hit the stage and the shit hit the fan (like seconds into terrible lie) i got tripped up on other peoples feet and went to the ground and was trampled for a few minutes before getting back to my feet. Got out of the crowd for a bit to catch my breath and shake it off, then the rest of the show was amazing, everything i could have hope for. We were lucky enough to get one of the few performances of the fragile that was performed on that tour, very cool. in the end i came out bruised, sore, and exhausted, and to this day its still probably the best concert experience of my life.

[mostlymad]

Buzburbank reminded me. It'll be the same on the 5th for me. A friend had put the headphones on my ears almost a year before, that. The one chance I had to see them, I missed, until then. I didn't really pay much attention to anything but the PHM tape I had, but I loved it a great deal. I had no idea what to expect. We were seated at the edge of the grass in the lawn for the day. There were several bands I was there to see, but I admit I was most excited to see NIN. We sneaked into the seating area to watch. The festival was overall kind of... well, not my thing, to put it politely. I enjoyed NIN more than I did anyone else. Siouxsie didn't sound good in that venue. I don't know why. JA was okay, but it wasn't my favorite band. All I can remember is Ferrell trying to get someone to go on stage and give him a blow job. So yeah, NIN is the only thing I liked about that whole trip. I remember being sunburnt, my hair being a huge mess of frizz, and some asshole walking through the grass and getting mad that we had a blanket and were resting through something we didn't care for. I have never been much of a festival goer since then, either. I wouldn't see them again until December 1994. (I think it was December.) Honestly, the Louisville concert for Downward Spiral was more like seeing them for the first time. That was a crazy night. There was no one checking tickets. We wandered in and out of the pit all night. We sat wherever there were seats available as needed. I nearly lost my shoe, had to bend down to get it, and almost didn't get back up. And I was in a not so great place, and balled during SICNH. Good times.

[mfte]

April 28, 2000. Toronto. A Perfect Circle opened. I went to Much Music earlier in the day to see Sook-Yin Lee interview a slightly bloated Trent.
At the venue a weirdo hippy dude gave me a joint in exchange for half bottle of water. Strong shit.
That was a Friday. I had driving school that weekend and my right ear rang until Monday.

[slave2thewage]

Manchester Apollo, July 10 2005.

There was a heatwave and the venue was insufferably hot.
Trent had puffy emo hair.
I SOMEHOW got right in front of Trent even though I was, like, sixth in line.
I may have shed a tear when Trent walked out on stage.
They played Sin and I lost my shit.

[AnaTorpedo]

Ok I'm baaaaaack from my epic weekend. Bear with me cuz this is kinda long I guess.
The first time I had tickets to see NIN was the Fragility tour. I was 13 and a friend from school had failed a test so his parents wouldn't let him go to the concert but (for some reason) my parents were totally fine with me going as long as I had a chaperone. Chaperone backed out.... no show for me.
With teeth comes up, requiring a long ass drive.... driver backs out. No show for me.
Lights in The Sky tour..... I've just move to Vegas and I'm hustling to get my foot in the door as a stagehand. Night of the show? Called in to work. Can't say no cuz then you get bumped off the call list. No show for me. At this point I'm getting pretty convinced I'm cursed.
Wave goodbye tour.... no reliable transportation, I'm in michigan while they are in Nevada, back in Nevada when they are Michigan.... feeling very sad about the whole thing.
Tension tour happens. I've got money, I've got a car, I've got paid vacation... I've got tickets to both Vegas shows plus Phoenix and LA. I AM SO READY FOR IT.
I get my dream job and I leave to go on tour myself... in taiwan. NO SHOWS FOR ME.
BUT WAIT. SHOWS IN TOKYO!!! I WILL BE IN TOKYO!!!! JUST KIDDING MY TOUR GOES TO HELL AND I HEAD BACK TO THE STATES. NO SHOWS FOR ME. CRYING. LOTS OF CRYING. CURSED.

And then... They announced this run of festival dates.
I currently live in Orlando and out of Fyf, Panorama, and Riotfest.... Panorama turned out to be the cheapest overall. I bought my tickets and hotel, etc etc.... started getting anxious/excited.

Panorama was awesome. The show was great, the crowd was fun... people were surprisingly nice considering I was covered in glitter from one of the sponsor tents and I was wearing a shirt that said "Pretty Hate Machine" in sparkly pink and blue letters.... It was an excellent set for someone who had never seen the band before... got me like 90% of what I wanted and while I didn't leave having my mind totally blown, I was so glad I had gone and I was relieved that I had finally seen them and it was no longer this lifelong THING THAT I HAD NEVER DONE looming over my head. I felt beyond happy that I got to see him do the Bowie cover as Bowie is the only thing I've listened to longer than NIN, so that was a transcendent experience that I will never forget. I went back to my hotel happy, spent a few hours winding down and packing my bags to go home on Monday, and went to bed.

I woke up on Monday to the surprise Webster Hall announcement. Somehow I guessed the presale code based off the code for Bakersfield, I got a ticket, and I straight up skipped my flight home.
It was quite literally the NIN sweat lodge experience but it was amazing. All these fans crammed together just so excited that we had managed to get in. Everyone was super friendly and super happy and people were talking and comparing concerts and favorite songs etc etc. And then NIN came on stage and I spent the rest of the set screaming every word along with everyone else there in one giant sweaty human wave. I can't watch the youtube videos from the show without getting ridiculously excited all over again. The room was ON FIRE (also it was literally a sauna). And suddenly in the middle of Head Like A Hole (which ended up being their last song) like... the whole thing just hit me at once and I basically started bawling in the middle of the crowd in the middle of the song and thank god everything was so sweaty that nobody noticed cuz it was super embarrassing. Seriously. Who the hell gets emotional over Head Like A Hole? (me, apparently)

After almost 18 years of wrong place/wrong time I FINALLY was in the right place and the right time, I managed to find a cheap flight out the next morning, I managed to find a cheap hotel for the rest of that night (all three hours between the end of the show and leaving for the airport), everything somehow fell into place and I ended up seeing NIN two nights back to back in two totally different styles of show. By the time I actually got home I had been awake for 28hrs and I was STILL adrenaline high from the shows. I could not have asked for a more magical first experience. (also, if you were at either of those shows and you met me... say Hi!)

[captainbeyond]

After a couple years of being obsessed with the AATCHB Live DVD and CD, I took my first chance to see NIN in 2005. It was originally supposed to be in New Orleans at Voodoofest, but since Hurricane Katrina happened and New Orleans was put into a state of disrepair, they split Voodoofest into two different events, one in Memphis with tickets available to the general public and one in New Orleans with tickets being limited to residents of Louisiana, if I recall correctly. So I went to Memphis, a 4.5 hour drive. The festival was put on in a minor league baseball field, which was pretty unique. Queens of the Stone Age opened and they ruled. I was a huge fan of them at that time so they weren't too far behind NIN on my "bands I wanted to see live" list. Then while the stage was setup for NIN, the New York Dolls played on the adjacent stage.

I had already followed NIN setlists from the tour journals on here by this time so I had somewhat of an expectation, but man...none of that mattered.

Highlights included:

- They opened with "Head Like A Hole" followed by "Terrible Lie." It seemed so weird with "Head Like A Hole" being the first song, almost felt like a malfunction or a corrupted dream.

- During "Terrible Lie," Trent freaked out as per usual and used his guitar like a baseball bat to hit the mic stand then flung his guitar across the stage. That really got me going.

- "The motherfucking Wretched!" One of my favorite songs and probably my favorite song included in that show's set. Man that was like a dream come true witnessing that being performed live.

- The first new song of the night, "Right Where It Belongs." This particular performance of that song really blew me away. I saw them later on during the full on arena setup for the With Teeth spring tour and even though RWIB had visuals for that leg, the song did not sound as powerful as it did outside on that cool Memphis night. When he said the line, "You can live in this illusion", this giant sub bass note hit and it really had a strong effect accompanying that particular line. It gave me chills.

- Then after that, much to everyone's surprise, Saul Williams came out and they did "List of Demands" and "African Student Movement." I found it pretty comical that Trent had the balls to yell out "Where my niggas at?" in Memphis of all places. I'm sure a lot of people where like "WTF is happening right now??"

- I noticed that drummer Alex Carapetis kinda botched "Wish" on certain parts.

- "Suck" - one of my favorite tracks. Lucky me, this girl in front of me that had been grinding on me all night decided to start making out with me. I'm a pretty shy guy and don't try to hit on girls out in public, so I was totally fine with her being the aggressive one in this situation and nothing could complete a single 20 year old's dream of seeing NIN more than an attractive girl making out and groping you during the song "Suck." Memory of a lifetime right there people.

In retrospect, I really wished I would have attended one of the arena shows that week (Atlanta or Nashville) instead of the festival show. At that time, I was too naive and uneducated about concerts to realize that festivals had shorter set times and scaled down lights/lack of visuals. I just jumped on the cheapest and closest opportunity. But it's cool, I ended up seeing the arena concert a few months later on the spring arena leg of the tour. By going to the Memphis Voodoofest gig, I was fortunate enough to witness one of the most unique NIN gigs ever that included "HLAH" as an opener, Alex Carapetis on drums, and Saul Williams make a guest appearance with NIN doing two of his tracks.

[Fred]

Mine was Roskilde Festival, July 3 2009 (https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/nine-inch-nails/2009/festivalpladsen-roskilde-denmark-3d66983.html).

Having missed their previous gig in Denmark on Performance 2007, I knew I needed to go. I didn't attend the festival itself, but got a one-day ticket and hung around for the day in anticipation. Also got to see Faith No More, which was cool, since I was and am a fan of Mr. Bungle.

The video of Somewhat Damaged (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L47a_BAhp0c) from that show speaks volume about the energy. I was right in front, slightly to the left of Robin, and I'll never forget everyone jumping along to that song. Trent was clearly in a good place on that tour, getting into the songs in a big way. He tossed his guitar into the air at the end of Gave Up, and had a bit of fun banter going with a fan who held up the "Important pre-show ritual" picture. If I remember correctly, he asked to see what he/she was holding up, grinned and went "I remember that picture." As someone who became a fan in 2002 as a 13- or 14-year old, it was really great to see that Trent could give the songs the punch they needed, but also allow some of his real-life happiness to make it way into the show. I was in a happy place at that time myself, so it kinda felt like everything coming full circle.

I liked the setlist a lot, even if I lost out on Closer. Mind you, I fully believed this would be my first and last NIN gig, since Trent had made it fairly clear he would stop touring after that year. But there were some nice surprises. I wasn't familiar with Metal, so I spent the next couple of days binge-listening to that song and getting into Gary Numan. I loved hearing I'm Afraid of Americans, though. And Heresy, which was just insane to witness, given how rare that song is. I do remember thinking it was weird they didn't play anything from The Slip. This was, after all, their first trek across the pond after releasing it. I wonder it it sold poorly in Europe? I don't suppose I can convince anyone that, contrary to what every setlist online says, they didn't play Piggy (Nothing Can Stop Me Now). I wish. But it was just the regular, old, boring Piggy. I've tried editing that on setlist.fm god knows how many times, but someone keeps reverting it. Oh, well.

The rest of the band was pretty great. Near the end, I was yelling at Robin and raising my first in approval, and he reciprocated it. Great fucking moment, since I count the man as one of my biggest guitar inspirations. Justin was slightly subdued, but I had anticipated that beforehand. His manager's young son had just died, so he wore a black armband for the performance and generally didn't thrash around much. Musically, it was a treat, though. I was quite impressed with how well they sounded after losing Alessandro and replacing Josh. It was a raw, dangerous affair, but the quieter selections were still hauntingly beautiful. I walked away extremely satified that I'd finally gotten to see them.

Finally, here's the only worthwhile photo I have from it. Phone cameras were obviously way shittier back then, and I only took three sub-par photos anyway. I didn't feel like holding up my phone constantly. But here's a decent one I got of Robin and Trent. This is during La Mer, I think:

http://i.imgur.com/Bgq1zgJ.jpg

Great thread, by the way. Really enjoying reading these stories.

[Steven Smith]

Cuban Club Feb. 15, 1990. Tampa, FL. Opening for The Jesus and Mary Chain

NIN were the opening band for The Jesus and Mary Chain. I had won two tickets from the radio (different station) and took 2 friends along and we each chipped in a 1/3. Epic night. The Cuban Club was just that, a club built by the Cuban community in Tampa /Ybarra City. The stage was set up in the back courtyard. NIN took the stage covered in corn starch as they often did in the early days. Black leather and corn starch. I liked NIN and often played Down In It on the radio show the three of us ran at USF's college radio station. Head like a hole hadn't broken big, so the frnezy for the band wasn't there yet. A couple songs in all hell broke loose. Their equipment failed mid song and Trent went ape shit as he often did in the early days. Tearing everything apart, breaking what he could. Equipment reset and they were off again. Fun to watch. Then it happened, the point were I became a lifelong fan. They covered Get Down Make Love by Queen. I almost did a spit take. Loved Queen in High School and to hear a song I grew up with reinterpreted in a way that was new and exciting just clicked. The rest of the set was good and they were done. Maybe 30 -40 minutes tops.

J&MC played a great set. From a band that supposedly didn't like to play live, the band played past the 11pm curfew and their sound was cut off.


Visage July 6th, 1990. Orlando, FL

First time seeing them headline. 5 months later and a lot had changed. This was a sold out headline show. Visage, a great club in Orlando, FL. Meat Beat Manifesto opened and were good. The leader would swing a mace over his head at the audience while wearing creature stilts. Industrial /dance beats. Great visuals and music combination.

NIN now had arrived. Head like a hole was everywhere. The stage was covered in old movie film strands and there was an overhead truss that the band / Trent would swing and hang from. Shoving, pushing, and moshing were constant, and that was just the band on stage, the floor was the same, but it was rougher on stage, everything seemed like it was made to be broken. The music sounded great live, the energy level was through the roof. Again cementing my lifelong fandom. A wonderfully fulfilling sweat soaked evening.

[Tommy_Macbeth]

Riot Fest-Today, September 15th 2017, isn't only the first NIN concert I've ever been to, but also the first concert I've ever been to...period. I was on the fence if I wanted to go see it in person (I don't like the idea of live concerts in general), but I thought, "Hey this is a perfect situation, might as well go for it."

I went with my uncle (who's a big NIN fan as well) and 3 of his friends who are fans. We waited in the local train station and got told the train was going to be like an hour late (bad omen) but actually it was only like half an hour late. So we get off, and are walking with thousands and thousands of other people going to the festival. It was like the biggest circus I'd ever seen. I come from a really suburban/normal neighborhood and it was crazy seeing so many people in band shirts, let alone NIN shirts. We chill by the merch booth and I get two sick NIN shirts.

We make our way to the main stage to watch Ministry (They were before New Order which was before NIN).

I thought I was somewhat prepared for it was going to be like.


I WAS NOT.

There was so much pushing and shoving and scary looking people everywhere. Early in their set some DRUGGED up guy pushed me like 10 ft and it shook me up a little but I got used to that craziness. Ministry was awesome though, don't get me wrong, but there was some annoying-ass people around me who were moshing in a area that wasn't really meant for moshing.

Next was New Order, sounded nice but I was anxious for NIN to start.
After waiting for what seemed an eternity, New Order's set ended and some lights came on in the crowd. We started moving UP, I should add that I was pretty damn close to the stage, like only 30-40 rows back which, when you consider there was tens of thousands of people, really close.

Finally we can tell that NIN's coming up and then I hear: "YES. EVERYONE SEEMS TO BE ASLEEP" and Branches/Bones starts playing. Now I thought the crowd was crazy when Ministry was playing, it got about 10X more insane when Trent got up there and started spewing about spiders and infected Japanese. It was a STORM of pushing backwards and forwards, from either sides, diagonally. My uncle had to hold onto the back of my shirt like I was a dog on a leash to make sure I didn't die. One of our friends was just completely swept away in the span of like 5 seconds! Scary stuff. Some older lady got PISSED off because she lost some jewelry or something and just went off, even the craziest guys there stopped and tried to help her find what she was looking for, but it was no good. She and the guy she was with didn't have any kind of fun time after that. The setlist in general was great, very balanced but fun. Something I Can Never Have, The Wretched, The Background World, Burning Bright, and the last 3 songs (Somewhat Damaged, THE DAY THE WORLD WENT AWAY!, and of course Hurt) were fucking phenomenal. Trent was ON FIRE for every song as well as the other guys.

Trying to get home was a nightmare, we tried asked people where was the train, NOT THE L, but it kept getting more fucked until we got a cab and finally managed that we needed to get to union station ASAP if we wanted to get home at a reasonable time. The cab driver hauled ASS to get us there. Then we literally started running until we reach the train that was going to leave in literally about 10-20 after we got on.

I was sleepy, a little shocked, legs dead, ears ringing, dehydrated.

Incredible night, most fun I've ever had.

[bobbie solo]

Thar review was awesome. Different perspective than most of us are used to at this point. How old are you?

[Boots]

My first NIN show was almost 10 years ago in Calgary. I had a huge crush on Alessandro at the time. I had also just come out of the most important relationship of my life. I started listening to NIN because Trent reminded me of my ex--his looks and his attitude.

[Tommy_Macbeth]

Thar review was awesome. Different perspective than most of us are used to at this point. How old are you?

17

[TheBang]

To be young again.

[thenorthwood]

First show was Fragility 2.0 April 2000 in Indianapolis. I had been to 6 or 7 concerts in total prior to this but this was the first time I had gone to a concert myself, so that was a big deal for a single woman in a large venue in an unfamiliar city. I listened to The Fragile endlessly and wanted to see NIN but could not find anyone I knew who was interested in joining me. I was graduating college the next month and therefore a broke college student so price was the most important factor. As a result I bought a seat in the upper tier to the side of the stage and could not see the screen or much else and honestly I don't remember much about the show and felt kind of detached due to my location, the crappy view, and the people around me chit chatting.

The show was several hours from where I lived, but I had a friend who lived in Indy and shuttled me to and from the venue. Mostly that show gave me the confidence to go to concerts on my own if I so desire. Now it's nothing to go on my own; others are welcome to join me but they'd better decide prior to tickets going on sale because I rarely wait for anyone to hem and haw to make a decision.

The second time I saw NIN was 2005 in Denver. That's when my thirst for the live shows really began and I don't know if it will ever be sated.

[thenorthwood]

Ok so I will return to this thread and read all of these and tell my whole story AFTER sunday night. Because right now I'm so excited my coworkers made these for me..

http://i.imgur.com/xkrgH4m.jpg


I'M SO EXCITED YOU GUYS I'VE BEEN A FAN FOR LIKE 20 YEARS

THIS is amazing! During the With Teeth era I had a friend who would make humorous things like this for me.

[ryanj101]

First show was Fragility Tour 5/2000 in Worcester, MA with A Perfect Circle opening. The thing I remember most clearly is Terrible Lie kicked in to start the show...that is almost always my favorite moment of shows, when the first notes of the opening song plays.

Favorite show was 5/2005 at the Tabernacle in Atlanta during the club tour. Went to the show alone and the energy was just amazing.

Next show (number 9 I think) is Friday in Vegas. Flying out for the show, really excited about it.

[henryeatscereal]

Mine was Roskilde Festival, July 3 2009 (https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/nine-inch-nails/2009/festivalpladsen-roskilde-denmark-3d66983.html).

Having missed their previous gig in Denmark on Performance 2007, I knew I needed to go. I didn't attend the festival itself, but got a one-day ticket and hung around for the day in anticipation. Also got to see Faith No More, which was cool, since I was and am a fan of Mr. Bungle.

The video of Somewhat Damaged (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L47a_BAhp0c) from that show speaks volume about the energy. I was right in front, slightly to the left of Robin, and I'll never forget everyone jumping along to that song. Trent was clearly in a good place on that tour, getting into the songs in a big way. He tossed his guitar into the air at the end of Gave Up, and had a bit of fun banter going with a fan who held up the "Important pre-show ritual" picture. If I remember correctly, he asked to see what he/she was holding up, grinned and went "I remember that picture." As someone who became a fan in 2002 as a 13- or 14-year old, it was really great to see that Trent could give the songs the punch they needed, but also allow some of his real-life happiness to make it way into the show. I was in a happy place at that time myself, so it kinda felt like everything coming full circle.

I liked the setlist a lot, even if I lost out on Closer. Mind you, I fully believed this would be my first and last NIN gig, since Trent had made it fairly clear he would stop touring after that year. But there were some nice surprises. I wasn't familiar with Metal, so I spent the next couple of days binge-listening to that song and getting into Gary Numan. I loved hearing I'm Afraid of Americans, though. And Heresy, which was just insane to witness, given how rare that song is. I do remember thinking it was weird they didn't play anything from The Slip. This was, after all, their first trek across the pond after releasing it. I wonder it it sold poorly in Europe? I don't suppose I can convince anyone that, contrary to what every setlist online says, they didn't play Piggy (Nothing Can Stop Me Now). I wish. But it was just the regular, old, boring Piggy. I've tried editing that on setlist.fm god knows how many times, but someone keeps reverting it. Oh, well.

The rest of the band was pretty great. Near the end, I was yelling at Robin and raising my first in approval, and he reciprocated it. Great fucking moment, since I count the man as one of my biggest guitar inspirations. Justin was slightly subdued, but I had anticipated that beforehand. His manager's young son had just died, so he wore a black armband for the performance and generally didn't thrash around much. Musically, it was a treat, though. I was quite impressed with how well they sounded after losing Alessandro and replacing Josh. It was a raw, dangerous affair, but the quieter selections were still hauntingly beautiful. I walked away extremely satified that I'd finally gotten to see them.

Finally, here's the only worthwhile photo I have from it. Phone cameras were obviously way shittier back then, and I only took three sub-par photos anyway. I didn't feel like holding up my phone constantly. But here's a decent one I got of Robin and Trent. This is during La Mer, I think:

I attended that show too! I was right in front of Robin so i guess i was a few people away from you.
I agree it was an awesome show, i loved when they played "Metal" and "I'm Afraid of Americans".
I also saw Faith No More and it was glorious, i loved Roskilde, i want to go back again to the festival.

Needless to say; that wasn't my first NIN show, i'll talk about it in another post...

[Fred]

That's really cool! You clearly came a long way to see them at that festival. Yeah, we must have been standing close to each other.

Something I neglected to mention is that an acquaintance of mine caught Trent's tambourine. I really envy him for that.

[henryeatscereal]

That's really cool! You clearly came a long way to see them at that festival. Yeah, we must have been standing close to each other.

Something I neglected to mention is that an acquaintance of mine caught Trent's tambourine. I really envy him for that.
Oh yeah, i'm so glad i made the trip, so jealous for the tambourine, i once caught a water bottle (story up next...)

So, the first NIN show i ever saw was back in 2005 (Live: WITH_TEETH Tour (https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/nine-inch-nails/2005/palacio-de-los-deportes-mexico-city-mexico-73d6f6a1.html)).

I can't even put into words how i was feeling before, during and after the show; it was nuts! my favorite band, playing in my hometown after many years as a fan? I was beyond excited!
I follow NIN since the "Downward Spiral" era and i always imagined watching them live during the "Self-destruction" tour, but during those days seeing NIN in latin America was a "wild dream" (they did came to Mexico during the "Pretty Hate Machine" era to a very small club in Tijuana, but very few people even knew about this...)
I remember when "Pinion" sounded on the P.A. i was nearly pissing myself, then "Wish" kicked the show and everything was awesome!

They did changed the setlist they were doing mostly in the tour to "fit" the audience who was their very first time watching them.
They played: "Something I can Never Have", "Home", "No, you don't", "Dead Souls", among many others, but those tracks stand because they are not on the "regular setlists".

When the "Head like a hole" intro started i told my friend "wait for me", i'm going upfront; i was so excited i forgot everything i knew about concert etiquette and did not care for security.
I made it to fron row and then i saw a water bottle fly (i think either Twiggy A.K.A. Jeordie or Trent threw it, i did not think twice; i jumped on it like a granade in a battlefield...)
That was the "gold seal" of my night, afterwards i was exhausted but happier than ever!

I would end up watching NIN 3 more times and if i ever get the chance i would gladly watch a fifth time...

https://k61.kn3.net/4/7/9/F/7/1/B8F.jpg

[ericy210]

Downward Spiral, must have been ‘94 at the Rosemont Horizon outside of Chicago. I had been to a handful of concerts before.

jim Rose and PWEI opened. The curtain was up waiting for NIN. I had no idea what was coming. We all know what those shows were like, different from anything I’d seen. The music was unbelievable live, but the spectacle was insane. I remember a guy next to us trying to explain the production. He said Robin could fall over dead and it would sound the same. He also had some crazy story about driving Clint Mansel around after a show.

i had trouble describing the staging and performance to friends, especially the integration of film. Like you guys, I’ve seen him a bunch of times since the first, and I’ve been to hundreds of others. What impresses me the most is that Trent keeps raising the bar and leaving me a bit awestruck at every show.

[iamclassic]

Sadly, my first show was Riotfest this year. I've seen 80 acts or so live and christ, I was floored. I have liked NIN somewhat casually for years, but never , fucking never have I seen such a cohesive, brilliant live show. I went and saw them again in October at The Joint and will be going to the Day for Night festival. It's money well spent , imo. I wish I would have been smarter and seen them before. Fuck.

[roolfdriht]

Downward Spiral, must have been ‘94 at the Rosemont Horizon outside of Chicago. I had been to a handful of concerts before.

jim Rose and PWEI opened. The curtain was up waiting for NIN. I had no idea what was coming. We all know what those shows were like, different from anything I’d seen. The music was unbelievable live, but the spectacle was insane. I remember a guy next to us trying to explain the production. He said Robin could fall over dead and it would sound the same. He also had some crazy story about driving Clint Mansel around after a show.

i had trouble describing the staging and performance to friends, especially the integration of film. Like you guys, I’ve seen him a bunch of times since the first, and I’ve been to hundreds of others. What impresses me the most is that Trent keeps raising the bar and leaving me a bit awestruck at every show.

Sounds like we had the same first, or one day apart at most! The Rosemont Horizon stops on the FDTS leg were January 15 and 16, 1995. The 15th was a Sunday night, which was only possible for 8th-grade me thanks to the MLK Jr. Day holiday. My parents were completely oblivious and/or indifferent to my physical safety, so my friends and I had GA floor tickets. This meant that we were jeopardized by the idiots crowdsurfing between sets, presumably out of boredom, but also that I was able to worm my way within a few bodies of the rail over the first several songs. Wedged against some random guy's ample back, I was able to ride out the rest of the show in highly-compressed comfort. And what a show it was! Specific details are hazy, but the impression that endures is the overall intensity of the performance. Certainly the production itself was spectacular, but none of my limited prior concert-going experiences (L7, Meat Puppets, and the first Q101 Twisted Christmas festival) had anything remotely resembling Trent's raw energy. Obviously there are plenty of factors that have helped keep NIN at the pinnacle of my live and recorded music fandom over the years, but it's probably not that reductive to say that the cathartic element is the most fundamentally addictive.

[chuckrh]

i remember being extremely bummed out that NIN wasn't on the bill @ the first lollapalooza in seattle. the date was tacked on the end of the tour & they had other commitments. i did get to hear the downward spiral before it was released. blew my little mind...

[chuckrh]

to go with post before: my first show was beginning of downward spiral tour at the moore theater in seattle. an awesome show that seems to have a great reputation.

[pukkelpop]

2004: some crazy guy insisted to listen to an album he burned for me. it was downward spiral deluxe. it hit me hard, i was only 19 years.

i wasnt really into concerts or festivals but went to Werchter 2005, mainly to get drunk, en to see Rammstein.

in the little programmation book i saw NINE INCH NAILS , on that day, to make a come back. damn, i was suddenly excited, and on the right place.

i was a mile away from the stage, but there were old school rockers so enthousiastic just before they came on stage, and i read this article in the little book about fighting his addictions, while i was in my deepest point of my life.. it was incredible. i didnt know the lyrics, but i knew everything he sang about. the article wrote also about a fight between Fred Durst and him, and NIN was programmed after Limp Bizkit, and before Rammstein.
Fred Durst said he was going to kick his ass at this festival, but then he came on stage, buffed, strong, incredible...

and then the production with the own camera guy... its a joy to watch the screens at festivals for NIN.

in-cre-dible.

ofcourse, now im used to their indoor concerts, and their festival shows are "medium" for me. allthough the 3rd best show i saw of them was at Pukkelpop '07 (saw them 13 times now ,everywhere)

[ninsp]

Lollapalooza 92. My mother is a huge fan and was pregnant with me.
I WIN!

[TheBang]

NIN didn't play Lollapalooza 92, so your mom lied to you!

[notsoprettynow]

my first nin:

i already listened to NIN since about 4-5 years, so it was a very big deal to me. and "the fragile" was so awesome and new ...

fragility 1.0, düsseldorf (germany), 1999.
support: atari teenage riot.

venue: like a cave, not that big.

we travelled from frankfurt. 2 1/2 hours via train, no way back home after the concert, we had to wait for the first train in the morning.

best friend & girlfriend with me, it was october or november i think, really cold. i was 22 years old.

there was a girl with a "somewhat damaged"-ringtone at düsseldorf-main station, it impressed me.

(later on i saw nin several times more: southside festival 2000, berlin 2005, les eurockeennes festival 2005, frankfurt 2007 (playing "we're in this together", really!), berlin 2009, berlin 2014)

to me the ugly düsseldorf-experience was the best yet, next to the very cool performance at that french festival 2005 on this beautiful site. southside 2000 = weird. "him" (do you remember this shitty "band"?) all around. and berlin 2014 (zitadelle) couldn't really catch up neither, because of the daylight and the sound.

[gardenia_spectre]

number 1 being 8/23/2009 in NY at Webster Hall. Nothing will ever top that.
Agree!
My first was APC/NIN Fragile tour at Madison Square Gardens. Incredible first show. But nothing will top 8/23/2009.

[FieldOnFire]

July 2009, O2 Arena in London on the Wave Goodbye tour. Gary Numan turned up, they played 'I'm Afraid Of Americans' and La Mer. Then got stranded on the way home. It was a good night.

[captainkurtz]

Brixton Academy December 1st 1999.

I've seen TONNES of gigs since my very first one (ZZ Top at Wembley Arena in 1986, since you asked)...NIN and PJ Harvey are undoubtedly the most consistently brilliant live performers ever - I've see PJ around 20 times and NIN around 11 and all of the shows have been utterly superb...

[MrPogo]

It should have been the Lost Weekend festival at London Arena in 2000, but as that was cancelled it ended up being one of the London Astoria shows in 2005 instead!

[dnimreveN]

July 2009, O2 Arena in London on the Wave Goodbye tour. Gary Numan turned up, they played 'I'm Afraid Of Americans' and La Mer. Then got stranded on the way home. It was a good night.

That was my second gig. I remember the chaos after the show. If I remember correctly someone had had a heart attack on the tube and one of the lines wasn't running because of it.

My first Nine Inch Nails concert was at Hovet in Stockholm in 2007. I had just turned 14, it was my first concert ever and I went with my dad.

[bRoot]

Few years back I went when he was playing with QOTSA on a coin flip, Trent won and was first, once trent finished, so did I (wait...that CAME out wrong.....(wait what am i saying?).....nevermind)

Anyways the show was good, had its moments (I came in door 13 which is funny to me)(and bought my first band shirt ever (well pretty much like it wasn't forced on me like kmart trash) but unfortunately not as good as Marilyn manson ( he played my fav song, rocknroll n*gg3r! ( I was singing along VERY LOUDLY from VIP) the year or two before (Marilyn was my first EVER concert, and he was rocking the Aussie flag and it was a cool moment)

[bobbie solo]

and he was rocking the Aussie flag and it was a cool moment)

"Location: Aus, $AuD$, Au$$ie"


ah, that explains the mind-numbing rash of posts you belched up. Not exactly busting those stereotypes apart pal.

[AnaTorpedo]

This ended up being such a great weekend

[sweetcompanion]

My first show was in May 2005 in Philly on the With Teeth tour. I'd been a fan since about 2002. (I'd bought The Downward Spiral when it came out, but I couldn't get into it initially, so it collected dust for several years until I gave it another chance. Silly me!) I had to pay $180 on eBay for probably a $40 ticket, because the show had sold out quickly, but I didn't care; I was bound and determined to go. The craziest part of the show happened at the end, during Head Like a Hole. Trent's microphone kept cutting out (earlier his amp cut out during Reptile, I think, so he was already pissed off with things not working properly), and he was getting aggravated. Everybody kept on singing, though, even when the mic was crapping out. At one point, he yelled, "Something's gonna get broken!" The mic continued to crap out, so he tossed it and stomped around the stage and then stormed off. The crowd sang the whole rest of the song. It was awesome! The energy from the band and the crowd was crazy. I've probably seen NIN 20-plus times since. Worth every penny, every time.

[millionmilesaway]

It was for With Teeth in 2005 but rescheduled for summer 2006 because Trent got the flu. I was 17 and went with a random assortment of people from my calculus class that I didn't expect to be NIN fans and I remember us all carpooling and lining up at the ticketmaster booth in the mall to buy tickets. The good thing about makeup shows is that I've gotten some extended setlists and rare songs outta them. Peaches was the opening act, she was horrible, people booed her and cringed at her humping various parts of the stage.
NIN was simply amazing though. during one song the lightscreen they were using had this really cool 3D blood dripping effect that has stuck with me. I had never seen effects like that at a show before and was blown away by it at the time.
Also according to NIN wiki for the show they messed up during the Big Come Down and Trent kinda sorta apologized for it.

[Jinsai]

Dress Rehearsal performance for The Fragile. I went through a weird special hell to get that ticket...

[Miss.Selfdestruct]

3/23/2005 at the William Saroyan Theatre in Fresno, CA. Had a balcony seat, looking back it was a good tame way to experience the new songs live. It was he first show since TR went sober, everyone was optimistic and excited about the new material. Thanks, nintourhistory!



Whenever those shows are mentioned something dies inside of me. Lucky bastards.
Ditto :'(

[Nellyrific]

My first show was May 30, 2005 during their club tour at the Soma in San Diego. I was 22 and had never been lucky enough to see them before that. I asked my cousin to get us tickets and he somehow made it happen. It was fantastic and it created a monster. The highlight for me was Sin as that’s always been one of my favorites 🖤

[use you up]

My first show was 24th may 1994 London forum on the TDS tour,it was very intense and they looked like a bunch of maniacs! after that I saw them twice more, London 1999 and 2005.

[ThisIs]

Fragility Tour, Starplex Amphitheater, Dallas, TX, 18 years ago, NIN took my concert virginity

[snichols]

I have been a fan since the early 90's but never made it to any NIN concerts until august 20th 2008 in st louis scottrade center. it was the most amazing show i have ever seen and a 30 song setlist. got my tix through the presale and was let in early so we were close to the stage. also went to the november 20th show in cedar rapids iowa for the second leg of the north american tour. the 30 song setlist was slightly different from the st louis show and was equally amazing. still regret not going to any of the wave goodbye or 20013/2014 shows. thanks to wolfkiller i have tickets for all 3 chicago dates in october! i love ETS!

[Dr Hotdog]

Hello there forum. Long-time lurker, first-time poster. My first NIN gig was the back-to-back nights at the Manchester Apollo in July 2005. Two of the hottest gigs I've ever been to. The first night I was up in the balcony and was sweating my face off. Second night I managed to get a general admission ticket so went pretty close to the front. They opened with 'Terrible Lie' and I got swallowed in the pit. Two years later they did the same two-nights-in-the-same-building in February but I didn't go to either gig, which is a regret because I've since checked out the set lists (and Josh F was on the kit). I didn't go in 2009 at the Mcr Arena because I'm an idiot (Janes Addiction and it being in a Big Room put me off) but I did go four years ago on their last UK tour and it was one of the best gigs i've been to. The visuals were bang on and the set was perfect. I was having a big slip/year zero renaissance and they opened with 'Me, I'm Not' and I went pretty euphoric as I was expecting the 'Copy of A' opening. They then did '1,000,000' and 'Letting You' and I was beaming from ear to ear. Later on in the set they segued from 'The Great Destroyer' into 'Eraser' and I lost it. Proper goosebumps.

My first gig could have been the infamous 'Lost Weekend' cancellation at the Docklands but I passed up on the trip (which in hindsight proved wise), but I wouldn't know it'd be a 5 year wait til the With Teet: Live tour!

I feel very, very fortunate to have scored tickets to the Southbank centre gig later this month after getting through online on Tuesday when they released some returns. Front Stalls, Row P, dead central. Not close enough to smell their cologne, but close enough!

[AJWilde]

Going to see NIN in Vegas this year. My first show was in Nashville around Halloween years ago and I went with friends. This show is a solo mission. I managed to get a GA Floor seat and I don't know what to do. I'm clueless about everything. Can anyone help a lady out? Any advice is welcomed. How early do I need to get to the venue for a good view? What are some essentials I need to bring with me? Stuff like that. Thanks ETS Fam!

[AThousandDaysBefore]

Mexico 2014

I had a ticket for 2005 concert but i couldnt go
in 2008 I was saving money to see my girlfiend, 2 months later I broke with her

So the beginnig with a warm place/somewhat damaged was one of the best things in my life
Finally I see one of my favorite bands live

[zaps30]

May 3, 2000. The last time they played in Rhode Island. I just uploaded a review of the show to NIN tour history that was in the local paper the next day.

http://www.nintourhistory.com/concert.php?concertid=418

[elevenism]

I love this thread because these are like treasured memories of something we're all passionate about.

Also ThisIs I was at that show. It was my third nin show but first apc show.

[aleywwu]

Oct. 24, 1995. Outside tour with Bowie at the Tacoma Dome in lovely Tacoma, WA. I was a freshman in high school. My mom drove some friends and me down from the little town we lived in up by the Washington / Canada border. We had GA and she had a seat. Crazy mosh pit and my ears were still ringing when I went to school the next day.

[REPLICA]

May 10, 2009. Atlanta, GA
My only show during the NIN/JA (Wave Goodbye) tour and until the NIN + Soundgarden, Charlotte + Atlanta 2014 shows. My best friend and I live about 3 hours from ATL, so we drove down same day. My friend and I took shots and had a few beers in the parking lot. Once we got into the venue, we watched Street Sweeper Social Club, hit up the merch booth, and bought $7 hotdogs. The show was amazing! The best moment was when Saul Williams shuffled out on stage (in his little yellow pants) for the end of Survivalism. Banged and Blown Through was great; the drum work was pretty heavy! I've only seen NIN 3 times total and this has to be my favorite set, so far.

Can't wait to see some of you all in ATL later this month!

[antimatter]

19.11.1999 in Munich. It was the best fucking birthday gift of my life :)

[kel]

May 3, 2000. The last time they played in Rhode Island. I just uploaded a review of the show to NIN tour history that was in the local paper the next day.

http://www.nintourhistory.com/concert.php?concertid=418
i used to live in providence. every time i passed the dunkin donuts arena stop at kennedy plaza i wondered why there weren’t a ton of awesome shows lined up.

[Calla lily]

Woodstock '94. We were close to the stage, but pretty far off to the side. It took us most of the day to get there from the camping area. Stood there for Crosby, Stills, & Nash, then NIN, then Metallica. That was a great 3 band set.

Next was Jan 27, 1995 in Orlando.
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1894/30726936218_ef458403ae_m.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/NPezCo)

Sadly, didn't see them again until 2013. Will be making the drive from Orlando to Atlanta in a couple weeks for number 5!

[Shipley]

Nine Inch Nails - Live: With Teeth

October 11th, 2005 - Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul, MN, USA

Supporting Acts: Autolux & Queens of the Stone Age

My first NIN show was when I was 16yo with my now ex and my parents. We had pretty decent seats on the side of the arena, lower section, about halfway up. I don't particularly remember Autolux, and I'm pretty foggy on QOTSA as well. I had only listened to Lullabies to Paralyze, so I wasn't very familiar with them at the time. I remember them being funny and great live. My parents liked them, but thought they were a little vulgar (ha).

Right before NIN came on, my entire section began jumping the barrier dividing us and GA, and the security just waved them on. I should note that my parents sat pretty much directly across the arena (can't remember if we couldn't find tickets together, or if they were trying to give us space). My ex and I decided to walk down to the GA section. When we got to security, he asked for GA tickets and I said we didn't have any, and he just waived us through! Once in GA, I found my parents and waived to them with the biggest grin on my face. They gave us a joking scold for being in GA, but waived us on to go have fun.

At that age, seeing my favorite band for the first time, I was on top of the world. What followed was me basically blacking out from the sheer level of excitement and thrill. I remember occasional highlights (The Line Begins to Blur, Right Where it Belongs going into Beside You in Time, Reptile, Head Like a Hole finishing the show with noise/lights flickering and walking off the stage). Within the last couple years I realized a now good friend of mine was actually at that same show. He particularly remembered how great Beside You in Time was.

Anyways, after this show NIN would be cemented as my favorite artist of all time, and I would not once be let down by TR. I've seen them two other times (Lights in the Sky and Tension), both of which were phenomenal.

I am now 29yo and married almost one year. My wife quickly caught my NIN addiction, and she will see them for the first time in Chicago 10/25, 10/26 and 10/27 with myself, my sister and her fiance (who have also never been), and some other NIN-virgin friends who will attend one of the shows. We're ready to make memories (or in my case, blackout from the intensity).

[Kyle]

My experience was very similar to elevenism on the first page but it's my own so I'll share anyway.

November 28, 1994, Pittsburgh


First off I was able to get floor tickets the day of the show when they released more. I was so excited that I spent the exorbitant price of $28.50 for them (I was a college student lol). Since it was last minute, I knew people who would be there but it was too late to get in touch with them but I hoped I would see them there (which I did) but if I didn't, I didn't care. I was finally going to see my new favorite band (my roommate got TDS the week it came out and being from a small town classic rock environment, this was the first time I had heard anything like this and it blew me away and I managed to squeeze my fandom in before Closer was a single and video and sent them mainstream - just barely) and it was my third concert ever and the first "big" one (interestingly my second was Jesus and Mary Chain so this new tour is very nostalgic for me). I wasn't 100% certain where the arena was, but I knew the general area so I just planned to get on a bus and follow everyone dressed in black - which worked like a charm, I might add.


First act - Marilyn Manson before they were famous. My only exposure to them at all was one time MTV was on late at night and they introduced a video by Marilyn Manson and I said to myself "hey, that's the chick that's opening for the NIN show I want to go to" so I paid attention. Needless to say, it wasn't quite what I expected. They set the tone for the element of danger and rebellion that was present all night. Jim Rose (I didn't know who it was at the time, just some guy) introduced them with some rant about how he sometimes talks to Satan before a show. At one point Manson pulled down his pants and was wearing a pair of black leather underwear with a giant strap on dildo and asked the crowd if they wanted to suck his rock star cock. The show ended with him completely naked humping the keyboard before Pogo carried him off stage.


Next up was the Jim Rose circus. I was expecting a band and got an actual circus. T was a circus with things like a guy swinging cinder blocks from his nipples and a topless girl laying on a bed of nine inch nails.


And then came NIN..... the various videos you've seen do not do this tour justice. It was pure chaos from the start, culminating in Happiness in Slavery where the ending part of the song was basically wanton destruction. He smashed everything and then went off stage and brought more things on stage just to break. And it wasn't just destroying things, it was a complete sense of anything could happen. And to add to that, there was a board missing on the floor and the ice underneath (the Penguins hockey team also played there) was exposed making there a dangerous spot right smack in the middle of the pit but we all looked out for each other). After HiS ended, the screen came down for the eraser/hurt/TDS midsection and between the destruction (I didn't think they had any instruments left to play) and the screen, I thought the show was over and I was torn between "holy shit that was mind blowing" and "holy shit that was short," but fortunately t wasn't even halfway over. And Hurt.... again, the video doesn't do it justice. This pit that was beating each other up just minutes before was motionless and captivated. It was truly mesmerizing and part of the reason I don't care for the song live anymore - in my head I'm comparing it to this. Did the people in the video know they were being filmed? Because the crowd surfers pull me out of the video because there was nothing like that from what I could see at my show. Everyone was in awe. And then after that section it goes right into wish and the guitars at the end of each line in the verses was a literal assault on all the senses. People moshing around you, a sudden increase in volume and strobe lights flashing right in your face. And the show ended with a completely haunting SICNH. After all the chaos (and right before it was IDNWT, not exactly a mellow song) this was how it ended and it was powerful and stuck with you more than another few minutes of destruction would have. Again, I believe this is what Trent has been going for constantly since then with Hurt but it just isn't the same, at least partly because he and the shows aren't the same.


In almost every way - musically, technically, stage production, etc - NIN is a better band now than they were in 1994, but there was one thing that that show had that NIN hasn't had since and no other band I've seen before or since has had and that's the element of danger and uneasiness that was present throughout the whole show. I saw Manson multiple times in the 90s and even he didn't have it in the same way (largely because it felt a bit more choreographed with him and less chaotic)


I left the show a changed man.

[elevenism]

I dug reading that @Kyle (https://www.echoingthesound.org/community/member.php?u=3135) .

And I always tell my younger friends pretty much what you just said at the end there, that THAT is the only thing they missed by missing those TDS shows: it was actually sort of frightening back then.
Since then the band has been better, the lights have gotten better, etc.

But that pervading sense of "danger and uneasiness" as you put it: I've honestly never felt it before or since, with ANY band.

Edit: it's also fucking hilarious that I wasn't the only one who thought "Marilyn Manson" was a woman at first.

I pictured like a female singer/songwriter doing bleak songs with an acoustic guitar. :p
And then out came the man with the assless pants singing "I am the God of fuck." Hahaha

[zaps30]

i used to live in providence. every time i passed the dunkin donuts arena stop at kennedy plaza i wondered why there weren’t a ton of awesome shows lined up.

It seems like mostly Disney on Ice and WWE.

[kolbydmc]

August 16th 2008 Lights In The Sky Tour Houston, Texas @Toyota Center
Absolutely insane! (Until I realized how much cooler the NIN/JA tour was...)

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/nine-inch-nails/2008/toyota-center-houston-tx-3bd69434.html (https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/nine-inch-nails/2008/toyota-center-houston-tx-3bd69434.html)

[gorast]

Tension, Amway Center in Orlando, FL, October 31, 2013 (http://www.nin.wiki/2013/10/31_Orlando,_FL).

I was in my third year of college and didn't have a car. At this point, I was living in Tampa and the NIN/Soundgarden tour obviously hadn't been announced, so I saw the Orlando date as my one big chance at seeing one of my favorite bands live. I'd had the chance to see them on the first night of the NIN/JA tour in 2009, but my plans fell through when my friend couldn't get tickets for us, and, given that NIN was "going away for a while," I thought I'd missed my only chance. Then, of course, the festival shows were announced, then Tension, with two Florida dates - Sunrise and Orlando, neither of which are Tampa.

I appealed to ETS to see if anyone might be willing to give me a ride back to Tampa after the show, and @FULLMETAL (https://www.echoingthesound.org/community/member.php?u=356) came in clutch on that front, which I'm still very grateful for to this day.

I took a Greyhound bus at 7 in the morning that day to get to Orlando, arrived around 10, and was faced with the prospect of filling an entire day in a city I was completely unfamiliar with, all on foot. The Greyhound station was only a few blocks from the main downtown area, so once I got there, I wandered around the storefronts for a few hours, just killing time. In the afternoon, I ducked into the library to rest my legs before the show and unwound for a little while before heading to dinner. I met up with FULLMETAL to drop off my bag and wait for the doors to open since I had a seat and he was in the pit, made some small talk with other people in my section, and prepped for Gary Numan.

Numan is a great opener - I'm not familiar with his music, but there was a lot of energy and I enjoyed it. Considering he was a special opener for the Florida dates, I figured he would be coming back for the NIN set. I had no idea what to expect from Tension - I kept myself completely isolated from tour spoilers the moment the tour started, and I had no idea about the stage setup or the set. Needless to say, I was blown the fuck away from start to finish. The sheet dropping and strobe lights for Copy of a, the introduction of the backup singers for All Time Low, The Frail into The Wretched, Somewhat Damaged, the encore break opened with The Day the World Went Away, the Numan two-pack of Reptile and We Take Mystery (To Bed) (that was a weird one), While I'm Still Here into Black Noise, the arrangement of Hurt...man, there are too many highlights to count.

After the show, I met up with FULLMETAL and we drove back to Tampa. I thanked him - too many times I'm sure - and went straight to bed. Completely knocked out.

I'm feeling that same sense of adventurousness with the upcoming Atlanta show - driving across state lines to a concert is something I didn't imagine I would ever do on such short notice, but here we are. I can't wait.

[3knic]

September 30th 1995 - Outside Tour at Blossom in Ohio

I was a wee 12 with Nine Inch Nails being one of my favorite bands, and David Bowie being one of my dad's favorites. This was an outside venue and we were on the grass pretty far from the stage, but the lawn is really the spot to be at this venue. This was actually my first concert ever and man I was blown away. I was confused as fuck when they played Closer to God instead of Closer since I had never heard it before, but it started me down a path of collecting almost every NIN cd I could find because I had to know what the closer remix was (and afford with a 12 year olds budget, which meant chores and gifts for birthday/christmas). I wish I could remember more about that night but I certainly cherish what I can remember.

[nooneimportant]

And I always tell my younger friends pretty much what you just said at the end there, that THAT is the only thing they missed by missing those TDS shows: it was actually sort of frightening back then.
Since then the band has been better, the lights have gotten better, etc.

But that pervading sense of "danger and uneasiness" as you put it: I've honestly never felt it before or since, with ANY band.

It's funny because I feel like that sense of danger and uneasiness went right into Not the Actual Events and Add Violence.

[Kyle]

It's funny because I feel like that sense of danger and uneasiness went right into Not the Actual Events and Add Violence.

I cant speak for elevenism but I wasn't talking about the music, but the live show. I've seen some great NIN concerts since then but none that had the sense of dread that the first one did

[nooneimportant]

I cant speak for elevenism but I wasn't talking about the music, but the live show. I've seen some great NIN concerts since then but none that had the sense of dread that the first one did

I meant that it may not be in the live show anymore but it still works in the music.

[elevenism]

I meant that it may not be in the live show anymore but it still works in the music.oh yeah it's DAMN sure in NTAE especially.

[elevenism]

August 16th 2008 Lights In The Sky Tour Houston, Texas @Toyota Center
Absolutely insane! (Until I realized how much cooler the NIN/JA tour was...)

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/nine-inch-nails/2008/toyota-center-houston-tx-3bd69434.html (https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/nine-inch-nails/2008/toyota-center-houston-tx-3bd69434.html)
Sorry for double post but...
Say WHAT now?

[kolbydmc]

Sorry for double post but...
Say WHAT now?

If you're questioning why I say the NIN/JA tour was cooler: Just like the current tour, I prefer a broken down/surprise set every night. Not the same well rehearsed theatrical show with a few variances. That tour was amazing don't get me wrong, but Nin/ja / wave goodbye was absolutely insane.

[buckets of lube]

This show right here: https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/nine-inch-nails/2007/spijk-en-bremerberg-biddinghuizen-netherlands-3d631af.html

The set started at 5:15 in the afternoon in a tent, and I recall being super surprised that Closer and Hurt weren't played. Frankly, I don't remember all that much anymore from the show since I was a huge NIN-n00b at the time, but I'm happy to have seen it and that it kicked started my fandom.

[CPSmith]

You know how you imagine some event and you build it up in your head and you're all excited about it, and then it ends up being a total letdown and not nearly as good as you had it pictured?

That did not happen in Atlanta last night.

[elevenism]

If you're questioning why I say the NIN/JA tour was cooler: Just like the current tour, I prefer a broken down/surprise set every night. Not the same well rehearsed theatrical show with a few variances. That tour was amazing don't get me wrong, but Nin/ja / wave goodbye was absolutely insane.
Jesus wept.
I didn't know about those Nin/JA setlists. JESUS.

[Reznorection]

Fragility 2.0 in Philadelphia. May something or other 2000.

I was 15 years old and it was my first concert ever. My mom took myself and my brother, who was 12. I had been a huge Nine Inch Nails fan since seeing them at Woodstock '94, which my father ordered on PPV because of Joe Cocker. My mom remarked on how many people were wearing black and asked if they were "goths." We were really far away. Great night.

[K-Rice]

My first NIN show was Duluth in 2008 for the Lights in the Sky Tour. I was just reminiscing on it and watching LITS videos when I realized how unique this show in particular was. First, it had the live debut of "28 Ghosts IV" during the Ghosts section, which was awesome and I wish they would do more Ghosts material live. Second, they actually did not play "Hand That Feeds." Instead we got "Down In It" for the first time on that tour! And for the encore, "Reptile" replaced "The Good Soldier." Of course, I did not realize how special this show was at the time other than it being my first NIN show.

[Max]

I saw NIN for the first time in 1996. It was this show:

http://www.nin.wiki/1996/09/08_Atlanta,_GA

I hardly remember anything about the performance itself and it makes me sad, because this was a SMALL club. Like a couple hundred people tops. I wasn’t drunk or high or anything. Concerts are just like that for me. I remember all the stupid stuff. Like this giant sweaty fat guy with his shirt off, swinging his long hair around in the pit, and trying not to get near him. I remember how deafeningly loud it was and how bad my ears were ringing after and I wondered if it was permenant because that had never happened before. I remember the girl I was with, getting tickets just a couple days before... I cannot for the life of me remember anything about the actual performance. Like a total block. Anyone else have this happen to them? Super frustrating. I mean this was like THE show. I was maybe 10 or fifteen people back from the stage. Ugh. If only I could go back and really take it in.

TBH, even this most recent ATL show in September - I remember little fragments, and similarly lots of stupid non-NIN details.

I’m really curious if I am the only one who is so awful at remembering what I want to the most. Oh well.

[Nellyrific]

I saw NIN for the first time in 1996. It was this show:

http://www.nin.wiki/1996/09/08_Atlanta,_GA

I hardly remember anything about the performance itself and it makes me sad, because this was a SMALL club. Like a couple hundred people tops. I wasn’t drunk or high or anything. Concerts are just like that for me. I remember all the stupid stuff. Like this giant sweaty fat guy with his shirt off, swinging his long hair around in the pit, and trying not to get near him. I remember how deafeningly loud it was and how bad my ears were ringing after and I wondered if it was permenant because that had never happened before. I remember the girl I was with, getting tickets just a couple days before... I cannot for the life of me remember anything about the actual performance. Like a total block. Anyone else have this happen to them? Super frustrating. I mean this was like THE show. I was maybe 10 or fifteen people back from the stage. Ugh. If only I could go back and really take it in.

TBH, even this most recent ATL show in September - I remember little fragments, and similarly lots of stupid non-NIN details.

I’m really curious if I am the only one who is so awful at remembering what I want to the most. Oh well.

You are absolutely NOT the only one. I remember very little once it’s over. Just bits and pieces. And any annoying people that spill their beer on me or sing Hurt at the top of their lungs.

[JessicaSarahS]

I’m really curious if I am the only one who is so awful at remembering what I want to the most. Oh well.


You are absolutely NOT the only one. I remember very little once it’s over. Just bits and pieces. And any annoying people that spill their beer on me or sing Hurt at the top of their lungs.

Ugh, same here! When they go on stage I completely forget everything that happens before the show— all of the traveling, all of the stupid line drama— and I’m completely immersed in the show. But once it’s over, all of that garbage comes flooding back and I forget the fun details.. I suppose that’s why I’m into gathering photos and videos from concerts I’ve been to.

My first show was on the with teeth tour. I was a casual fan and member of the spiral for the merch and online community, but for some reason I didn’t have the urge to see them live— I was satisfied with the choppy live streams and video updates. But one of my friends wanted to go to the amphitheater show and wanted to get lawn tix. I didn’t feel like sitting on the mushy lawn, so I got closer seats through the Spiral. I remember falling in love with the live performance of Help Me I’m in Hell+Non-Entity. I had seen the televised performance before seeing it live, but it was sooo much better in person. In that moment, I wish I could have gone back to all of the previous shows I had passed up. I knew this wouldn’t be my last. And I remember my hands being super sticky from spilling frozen lemonade all over myself. :p

I also remember hooking up with said friend/ticket buddy after the show and screwing up my relationship at the time. But at least my appreciation for NIN is still going strong— one good choice from that day. Oof— I’m cringing at how shitty I was then. It really wasn’t that long ago, but it feels like a lifetime away.

[ManBurning]

First of all, after reading through this whole thread, I am insanely jealous to all of you that saw shows on Fragility and the Self Destruct tours.
A little more envious towards the Fragility shows actually. I know TDS shows would have been a spectacle on their own, but I think that was passed my time. I didn't know about those shows until the internet was invented, but I got into the band when The Perfect Drug came out and the video started to get airplay on TV. It was the only song I knew from the band, then in spring 1998 my friend sis one of those "buy 12 CDs for a cent" things you would find in magazines, and one of the CDs he got was The Downward Spiral by NIN. He only got it for the perfect drug, and when he found out it wasn't on there, he gave the CD away to another one of my mutual friends.

Anyway, we got into TDS, went to my friends place all the time and he rocked that record. I never had my own copy for whatever reason. But over the next year, our group of friends all got into this band, and eagerly anticipated the release of The Fragile.

So, The Fragile came out. I was 16 at the time, I don't remember if I skipped school or just didn't have any classes that afternoon, but me and some friends left school around lunch time to go to the mall and get the CD.

Fast Forward to April 2000. We lived in buttfuck nowhere middle of the prairies Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada where NO SHOW/TOUR would ever dare step foot (unless it was like AC/DC or Metallica or just the biggest band out there), so naturally, no NIN show was going to come to us. The guy that ended up getting the TDS cd and another friend were planning a trip to Toronto to see the band. We were still all 16 at the time, wait... one guy was 17. But we were still in school. School was important to me, and I was living with my grandmother and would have never under a million years been able to travel to Toronto for a concert. But those 2... They didn't care. One guy was very rebellious. He had his own apartment in a very shady part of town at 16 so they set sails on Toronto to witness:


April 28, 2000. Toronto. A Perfect Circle opened. I went to Much Music earlier in the day to see Sook-Yin Lee interview a slightly bloated Trent.
At the venue a weirdo hippy dude gave me a joint in exchange for half bottle of water. Strong shit.
That was a Friday. I had driving school that weekend and my right ear rang until Monday.

That show. They also went to that Much Music event as well, and were inside for the Trent interview. I had taped a copy of the interview on VHS (it's actually up on YouTube right now courtesy of me, lol. I was the one that uploaded it). Both friends that went, were features in the video, and one of the guys was the one that asked the question about Trent's current relationship with Marilyn Manson. What a hot ticket question to be asked.

Anyway.... That is the show and tour I always wanted to go to. The Fragile was a record and period that I lived through and always wished I saw that show, even moreso than a show during the 94-95 self destruct tour.

So... The actual first show I attended were the 2 in Toronto on May 9th and 10th, 2005 during the With_Teeth club run.
I had been to multiple concerts before, but that first NIN show was amazing. I was against the rail. I don't remember too much about the show, but one thing that stuck out was Trent was running around the stage during (I think it was MOTP) and he was wrapping the mic cord around Jeordie and Aaron, and then he hit some power switch and the lights went out and the music stopped and he went "oops" lol. Didn't take them too long to bring it all back, couple minutes tops but that was my first NIN show memory.

Up until recently, I used to put that show as the #1 NIN show I had seen, but the "pre 1998 set" they played in Vegas may have very well just took the top spot.

[Nellyrific]

Ugh, same here! When they go on stage I completely forget everything that happens before the show— all of the traveling, all of the stupid line drama— and I’m completely immersed in the show. But once it’s over, all of that garbage comes flooding back and I forget the fun details.. I suppose that’s why I’m into gathering photos and videos from concerts I’ve been to.

My first show was on the with teeth tour. I was a casual fan and member of the spiral for the merch and online community, but for some reason I didn’t have the urge to see them live— I was satisfied with the choppy live streams and video updates. But one of my friends wanted to go to the amphitheater show and wanted to get lawn tix. I didn’t feel like sitting on the mushy lawn, so I got closer seats through the Spiral. I remember falling in love with the live performance of Help Me I’m in Hell+Non-Entity. I had seen the televised performance before seeing it live, but it was sooo much better in person. In that moment, I wish I could have gone back to all of the previous shows I had passed up. I knew this wouldn’t be my last. And I remember my hands being super sticky from spilling frozen lemonade all over myself. :p

I also remember hooking up with said friend/ticket buddy after the show and screwing up my relationship at the time. But at least my appreciation for NIN is still going strong— one good choice from that day. Oof— I’m cringing at how shitty I was then. It really wasn’t that long ago, but it feels like a lifetime away.

We’ve probably been to so many of the same shows!

I had a friend during those 2005-2007 tours that I always took with me and after 2007 when I paid for us to go to Paris and see NIN, she decided to stop speaking to me out of shame because she couldn’t pay me back. I wish she wasn’t attached to so many of my memories during that time but oh well. I may not remember every little thing but I sure remember Non-Entity!

[JessicaSarahS]

We’ve probably been to so many of the same shows!

I had a friend during those 2005-2007 tours that I always took with me and after 2007 when I paid for us to go to Paris and see NIN, she decided to stop speaking to me out of shame because she couldn’t pay me back. I wish she wasn’t attached to so many of my memories during that time but oh well. I may not remember every little thing but I sure remember Non-Entity!

Yes!! We gotta preplan a meetup the next round of shows. I was glad I randomly bumped into you at the Palladium show. :D

[Halo Infinity]

My first NIN show was at Madison Square Garden, November 3, 2005. It was also at the very start of my 20s now that I remember it, because I turned 20 the previous month prior to the actual show. I was incredibly stoked and kept playing Closure over and over again that year before attending the show. I also kept listening to With Teeth on repeat.

Before the show, I can't believe a friend at the time, joked around as a prank and yelled. "Hey Trent. It's Trent!" when we were all waiting in line.

Anyway, I lost my shit when it started up with Pinion, as I also kept watching Woodstock 1994 on repeat as well. It just got me so hyped up. (I know that's the point, but damn, do I love Pinion as a show opener.) I think this is also the only show where I got to see Closer live. I also couldn't have been anymore happy to see Suck, Reptile and Burn for the vert first time in real life. Remember hearing Trent scream "Loneliness!" was just very satisfying to hear.

Eraser and Hurt just put me into Closure mode, as well as Right Where It Belongs for its visuals as well. I already knew the With Teeth songs were going to sound great, but they certainly sounded much better than I thought they would, including Love Is Not Enough and Only. At the time, The Hand That Feeds being played next to Head Like A Hole seemed so right. And in a way, it still does, but now we also have Copy Of A and Less Than.

[bRoot]

Hah, all i was saying is that MM was my first concert and the impression was better, gee I wonder why?

Doesn't mean I like MM better than Trent though, Trent is an acquired taste. But I reckon you listen to too much Tool or something and think you are better than everyone else here.

You wouldn't happen to be Bobby from MBnet would you?

[CAMEO172]

My first ever show :Gun's N Roses at Lyon( France) in 1993. I was 15 ! Great fun.
My second : The cure in the same venue in 1996. I was 18 and it was after a very drunk party the day before. I drove back with my 1 month license and had to ask my road to prostitutes (I understood the day after !). it was an unique experience and was able to live again in a few of their concerts.

After this important Cure show, I saw them nearly 50 times around Europe until a last one in 2005. I tapped nearly all my show and in 2005 I had something like 800 recorded shows !

I have to stop or i gonna suicide myself : too much passion, too much anger and definitely not enough live vibrations.
I saw again The Cure 2 years ago. I even had a photo pass and that was important for me. Like a junky facing his old drug, but I understood it was definitly the end as the show was empty for me.

After the Cure, I listened to nearly everything for 2 years from jazz to heavy metal, including techno and classical. I have to clean my ears.

Hurt was a song a know since 2000.. I loved it.

I remember perfectly buying in 2008 "and all that could have been".
i remember perfecly my first listenning : i skipped all the tracks until hurt. it was impossible to listen to ! So it was only a new Cd in my collection.. one week after it was nearly forgotten with the next 10 news cd.

But I decided to buy "downward spiral" just for having a studio version of Hurt. Once again, nearly all others tracks was impossible to listen to... but it was too late, day after day it becomes acceptable ! It was like my Cure's Pornography album experience !


My first NIN show was in 2009 at Paris in July (before Esch-sur-alzette and Nîmes).

A day before my travel from South of France, I learned that my young sister was in an asylium near Paris as she had some huge trouble. I saw her 5 or 6 hours before the show. I was Jack Nicholson inside One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. and my sister was one of them, maybe the worst.

I was completely disturbed after and went to the show. it was something like my 100 shows, I went at least 10 times at the zenith so it was only a new show after so much other.

NIN played Somewhat Damaged and I begun to cry.. I was already a new man at the beginning of Terrible Lie and I knew I was living something not so far from my first (or even second) Cure shows.

I'm older, so different... but NIN is definitely my new Cure and Trent my new Robert.
This is the only second band I'm ready to travel and see 3 gigs in a week.