2022.05.24 Philadelphia, PA @ The Met

[TheBang]

[cynicmuse]

I can see myself in that photo.

That was a very good show. The set list was wild… Home, EDIETS, a fair amount of the last three EPs. The encore was the best part: HMIAIH, Happiness in Slavery, (insert band intros here and TR calming the crowd down), AATCHB, Hurt. I am definitely looking forward to tomorrow night and I’m hoping for another varied set list.

[Deacon Blackfire]

Sitting in my hotel room feeling really fucking lucky. Was right on the barricade in front of Ilan, you can see me in the photo above - I'm the only one seemingly looking at the camera creepily? Close as I've ever been. A hell of a place to be for my first NIN show since the pandemic hit, really my first show since the pandemic hit period. And what a fucking setlist, they were in true "fuck it let's play what we want" mode and it was glorious. Trent and the band sounded so great it was like 2018 had never ended, they all seemed really excited and energized.

Setlist:

Home
The Beginning of the End
March of the Pigs
Piggy
The Lovers
Copy Of A
Even Deeper
Survivalism
Shit Mirror
Ahead of Ourselves
God Break Down the Door
This Isn't the Place
Every Day is Exactly the Same
The Big Come Down
Gave Up
The Hand That Feeds
Head Like A Hole

Help Me I Am In Hell
Happiness in Slavery
And All That Could Have Been
Hurt

And All That Could Have Been was just stunning, I had held off on listening to recordings of it in case I got to see it and it was unbelievably powerful. Every Day Is Exactly the Same was another exciting new one for me that sounded fucking awesome, the quiet part during the last verses before the final chorus was so cool. The Big Come Down, God Break Down the Door with Trent busting out the sax again, Help Me I Am In Hell / Happiness in Slavery, and an especially interactive version of Piggy were other highlights but in all honesty every song was amazing. Loved seeing so much new material again (Trent sounds even better on This Isn't the Place!) and the old classics sounded as great as ever. Can't believe I'm blessed enough to have more in store tomorrow.

Only downside of being so close on Ilan's side was that the drums were fucking overpowering in the mix at times but it's a price I pay gladly for such an intimate experience. And man this show was physical! The crowd was wild and on top of each other, it was almost like going back to the 2009 club shows.

As always I met a few of incredibly sweet, cool people along the way because the NIN fan community is so generally rad.

[bobbie solo]

Felt like putting on that old comfortable pair of pants.

It's been about 3.5 years since I've seen the band. Found street parking easily enough. Didn't grab a poster but will get there earlier tomorrow to get one. And Trent really set the mood & made it feel special by walking out to Subterraneans, which kicked in right at 9:25. That led into Home, one of my absolute favorite NIN tracks. Seeing them play it for the first time in 2006 in Atlantic City will always be a special memory since it was a big rarity back then. So getting that first tonight was excellent.

I realized I was on the complete opposite side of Ilan tonight, and my box seat tomorrow will be as well. So I used the pit that opened up during MotP to carefully move all the way left so I could watch him beast the kit all night. I felt like the crowd was pretty good tonight? People seemed engaged, and I don't think we lost TOO many people during the extended set of newer material halfway through.

Band sounded great, sound in there was great, and I thought Trent's voice was in good shape. And he was practically SILLY during Survivalism. He really was playing fast & loose with how he was uttering the lyrics.

Early on the show felt somewhat typical & like a safe version of the 2018 style, other than Home & EDIETS. And then we got the four EP songs in a row (not complaining...This Isn't The Place is my absolute jam). Well any idea that this was a plain setlist got thrown out the window with the combo of Happiness & All That Could Have Been. First time hearing the latter live for me (and only the 7th time total it's ever been played live), so that was all I needed out of the night.

100 Gecs:

I actually like a good amount of what's happening production wise in alot of what they played. You hear nods to all sorts of electronic music, early rave stuff, dubstep, hip hop, pop...etc. Hence the hyperpop label. But past that....no. I can't get behind the autotune vocals, the silly lyrics, the cringey rapping, the attempts at being serious for a second by picking up acoustic guitars, the cone thing on his head, etc. Would love to know how Freese got hooked up with them. Is it as simple as overpaying him for his services, or is there an actual connection there?

Crowd was well behaved outside of MotP. Had some talkers behind me but nothing too brutal. Kid up on his dad's shoulders on the floor for most of the show was cute and def engaged. Is it bad form for the dad to keep him up there so long, or is it ok to expect everyone behind him to move farther right or left so they aren't obstructed by his kid?

Trent's boots looked really expensive.

9/10...would NIN again.

[Ash512]

Really fun and unpredictable setlist with even more songs reintroduced in rotation (so glad HIS is back)!
Like in Raleigh, AATCHB once again had a problem with the acoustic guitar part (the input was turned off for the first few bars). But hey, I got to hear my all-time favourite song live for the third time.

I commented on how lame the pit in the Raleigh thread... boy did I get my ass kicked this time around! I guess Philly area crowds are really wild, I remember the Camden NIN/JA show was also very rough. Makes my old ass want to grab a seat tonight instead!

[kdrcraig]

Hell of a set list for my wife’s first NIN show, might be the best I’ve ever seen. My head almost exploded when Happiness started. Can’t wait for round 2 tonight!

[FULLMETAL]

Night one… face melted!

So many good things to offset the shitty time dealing with back-to-back work meetings. Great queue, they let folks go in early to buy merch, nice bunch of fans inside the venue, and the show was pure fire!

100Gecs aren’t my thing, but I was surprised that Josh only played on half their set.

Opening with Subterraneans was a complete surprise and I was so fucking into it (i’ll never tire of NIN+sax)! The “play what we want” mentality should apply to every GD show as this setlist was a die-hard’s delight. It was amusing to hear someone complain on the walk back to the hotel that they didn’t play “closer.”

Anyhow, i had a great time and am super excited to leave this hotel office and get back for another dose of the good shit.

[buckets of lube]

One of the best encores I've ever seen. Epic set.

[NotinCnStopMeNow]

Anyone have a poster from these nights that they are willing to part with?