Not long after arriving JANE’s ADDICTION took to the stage and began to kick off proceedings. After opening with ‘Three Days’, Perry Farrell and co jumped into ‘Whores’ a song recently re-recorded for the NIN/JA tour and a track that helped to establish the band early in their career. ‘Been Caught Stealing’ was an absolute gem and got most of the crowd, including myself, bouncing along. Despite this though JANE’S ADDICTION failed to please, playing both on a stage and to a crowd present for one reason – NINE INCH NAILS. And so it was with a decent encore of ‘Stop!’ that Farrell and Navarro heeded the title of their final song for the evening and left the stage, allowing me to grab a pre-NIN pint and anticipate how they would fair in this large arena.

Not long after, lights were dimmed and Reznor took to the stage to open with ‘Somewhat Damaged’, a perfect choice that converted the crowd into a headbanging mass, with a mosh pit forming at stage centre. Tonight’s gig was all about what an industrial rock show should be about, mesmerising light shows and hard-hitting ear-splitting music. Not only that but it was great to see Robin Finck back on guitar and joining the rest of the band.

Given the full back catalogue of music NIN have to offer, albums The Downward Spiral and The Fragile represented much of tonight’s offerings and definitely paid tribute to those fans who have stuck by Reznor and his band over the past 20 years. Highlights of the evening included the back-to-back double whammy of ‘March of the Pigs’ and ‘Piggy’, with Reznor joining the crowd during the former and losing his mic to one very happy and thankfully tuneful fan!! Covers ‘Metal’ and ‘I’m Afraid of Americans’ paid homage to two of Reznor’s inspirations and helped this to become my most memorable and favourite of the year so far. With the likes of ‘La Mer’ and hits ‘Wish’, ‘Suck’ and ‘The Hand That Feeds’, no one was leaving the arena disappointed. All that was left was Reznor’s signature sign-off, a heart breaking encore of ‘Hurt’, which 15 years after its first release still bears the truth and agony of addiction that has marked his psyche.

Despite rocky beginnings, this show turned out what I expected it to be and more, I just hope this doesn’t spell the end for NIN as so many have speculated. But it is with this that I wholly look forward to their performance at Sonisphere and implore each and every one of you to see what is a true master at work. Reznor is the best at what he does and some might say he has nailed it, nine inch nailed it!!

Set Lists:

NIN: Somewhat Damaged / Terrible Lie/ Heresy / March Of The Pigs / Piggy / Metal (G. Numan cover) / The Becoming / I’m Afraid Of Americans (D. Bowie Cover) / Burn / Gave Up / The Fragile / Gone, Still / The Way Out Is Through / Wish / Survivalism / Suck / The Day The Whole World Went Away / The Hand That Feeds / Head Like A Hole / Hurt

Ratings:

NIN: 4.7/5.0

Review by Gavin Regan