NIN extravaganza comes to fruition!

So after about two weeks of listening to the new album (that we both highly recommend) and many many listenings of older albums at work, the day finally arrived for us to go see NIN at the Hammerstein Ballroom. It was a really good show, and honestly I wish I'd been exposed to NIN much much sooner, because Trent is a fucking genius. I'm a convert for life, and I know we'll go see live shows as often as we can. I just read today in his interview with Spin that he has a new album almost ready that he hopes to put out within a year, so there's something else to look forward to, :-)!

Just some random musings and comments about the show...

- We were seated in the second mezzanine, and the seats we ended up getting were actually not bad at all. Liz even said it was the closest she's ever been to Trent onstage! Go me!

- I got to see just how tiny Trent really is (though he's really jacked [kinda hard to see in this pic, though]! His arms were ripped as hell when he took his shirt off [and yes, I'm comfortable enough in my masculinity to make that remark, ;-)!]), and Liz commented on how his shortness was the dealbreaker for her, and that that was the reason her and Trent couldn't be together.

- The opening band, the Dresden Dolls, actually weren't half bad, and I know Liz mentioned that she wanted to go buy their album. They're this sort of quirky cabaret-punk duo (according to their website they're "Brechtian Punk Cabaret") with a chick on piano and a guy on drums. She had a really cool, full voice, and his drumming was actually quite good. They played two great covers: Black Sabbath's War Pigs, that caught everyone (myself included!) by surprise, and Radiohead's Karma Police. When we heard the opening chords from War Pigs played on the piano I must say it was quite a surreal feeling, and I was sort of skeptical at first, but they really kicked ass. Karma Police was really well done, too, and they had Jerome Dillon (the current touring drummer for NIN) guest-drum on that cover, while the guy from Dresden Dolls was on acoustic guitar.

- Throughout the Dresden Dolls' entire set there was a loyal contingent of rabble-rousers on the other side of the second mezzanine that kept yelling for the Dolls to leave the stage, yadda yadda yadda. It was great that the dude from the Dolls took that in stride and actually egged them on during an interlude, prompting everyone who wanted them offstage to yell at once.

- Right after one of the Dolls' songs, a guy sitting near us yelled "Free Bird!", prompting jovial laughter from Liz and I. There's always someone who yells for Free Bird, even at a frickin' NIN show, ;-)!

- I knew most every song NIN played, even if I had to ask Liz what the names of a few were if the beginning wasn't immediately recognizable to me. I did not, however, know the lyrics nearly as well as most everybody else in the audience (e.g.- I thought the beginning of Head Like a Hole was "Got-money", as in a person who has a lot of money, sort of the opposite of a "have-not"; I also wasn't sure if the lyric in Terrible Lie was "Hey guy!" or "Hey God!", and it turned out being the latter). I guess that's ok, though, since I only heard everything for the first time about a year and a half ago anyway! The only song that was completely new to me was Burn, from the soundtrack to Natural Born Killers. Good solid track, and I'll be copying it from the soundtrack CD for sure.

- Standout tracks (for me): Wish, The Collector, The Hand That Feeds, Gave Up, Suck, Terrible Lie, Hurt and Head Like a Hole. Apparently they never play Head Like a Hole live, which made our first joint concert experience even better! We were both really glad they played a lot from Broken, since it definitely "plays well", as Liz said.

- I discovered that I could've worn whatever the heck I wanted to the show, as there were people in goth garb, polo shirts and shorts, Euro club garb and even jeans/t-shirt. I was really worried about looking like a jackass if I didn't dress properly, so Liz offered to get me a black t-shirt while I was in NJ visiting a friend, and I'm glad she did. Thanks, pup!

Like I said before, I really loved watching NIN live, and will do it again as soon as I can. I've read rumors of Trent having a second-phase tour later this year, and the other headlining band will be System of a Down! That would really make my year...

Alright folks, back to the yolk of corporate law slavery.

Hugs,
Luis

(This post was written listening to Marilyn Manson's Antichrist Superstar, another great record I hadn't really heard before meeting my dear Lizochka, and this is actually the first time I hear anything from here other than The Beautiful People, that got lots of rotation on MTV Latin America, weird as that must sound, hehe.)