The lights in the sky were focused on the UCF Arena on Tuesday night as Nine Inch Nails took center stage performing their Lights In the Sky Over North America 2008 Tour. Trent Reznor and the band performed for the far-from-"Hurt" crowd an 28-song set list, including tracks from its latest free album, The Slip, that spurred this tour.
Fans were also treated to opening band Health before NIN took the stage. Health's latest album You Will Love Each Other fit the elated mood of the NIN fans.
"Isn't NIN the greatest rock band of all time?" Pre-law junior Jason Black said. "I have to say that Trent Reznor is a god. I've seen them in Omaha and Chicago, too. Omaha's show in May of 2000 with A Perfect Circle was probably my favorite show so far."
Reznor opened the night with "1,000,000" from The Slip and stuck with tracks from that album for the first three songs.
Much to the crowd's delight, Reznor switched gears on song four and took the fans back several years with "March of the Pigs," from The Downward Spiral album, an all-time-favorite of most devoted NIN fans.
NIN played "Ghost 5," "Ghost 19," "Ghost 25," "Ghost 31" and "Ghosts Piggy" in the set list for the night, all of which were accompanied by stellar visuals from a giant screen.
Although second to the music itself, the visuals were the highlight of the show. When the screen dropped, it was covered in dark, stormy clouds while one of the Ghosts tracks played. Next, the signature Lights in the Sky Tour imagery of dead-looking trees in a dark, eerie green field took the screen. Then came the rain. It covered the band like a waterfall. Later the waterfall opened in the middle like a curtain so the band was framed in the water.
One of the cooler visuals was when Reznor picked up a giant spotlight and aimed it at the screen, moving the light up and down so that it appeared that the light became a paintbrush and wherever he moved it on the screen, big black brush strokes covered that area.
As per NIN showmanship style, water bottles, keyboard stands and tambourines were tossed off the stage into the crowd in a fit of passion, while the moshing flowed like the beer all night.
The merchandise for this tour included about 22 shirts to choose from, ranging from $35 to $40. One particular shirt stated "Knowledge is a Weapon," on the front, befitting the political mood Reznor displayed at the show when he brought up the election at the end of the night during the 5-song encore.
Reznor made what he called "public service announcements" to the crowd after the first encore with "Echoplex" from the The Slip album. He introduced his band and then mentioned the election next week, saying that "Florida needs to get their [expletive] act together." And then on a more serious note, he encouraged the crowd to go vote.
NIN continued to present politics during the show with "The Hand that Feeds" from the With Teeth album, when a picture of President George W. Bush came on the screen and slowly morphed into a picture of John McCain, wordlessly yet loudly telling the audience their thoughts on the Republican candidate for this year.
Reznor's outspokenness has extended to the music industry as well. In the past, Reznor has criticized corporate influences on his freedom as an artist, which led to Reznor taking complete control of NIN as producer, performer and director through his independent label, The Null Corporation. The Slip is offered completely free to fans by download from the official NIN Web site. The minimalist site says nothing more than the album is offered "as a thank you to our fans for your continued support."
The free distribution of The Slip might also have been influenced by the free release of Ghosts I, part of Ghosts I-IV, a 36-track instrumental that is a culmination of an "unexpected experience," according to Reznor on the official Ghosts Web site.
Reznor states on the official Ghosts site, "I've been considering and wanting to make this kind of record for years, but by its very nature it wouldn't have made sense until this point. This collection of music is the result of working from a very visual perspective - dressing imagined locations and scenarios with sound and texture; a soundtrack for daydreams. I'm very pleased with the result and the ability to present it directly to you without interference. I hope you enjoy the first four volumes of Ghosts."
"Head Like a Whole" from the Pretty Hate Machine album closed the set list of songs before the encore. Other classics included "Terrible Lie" from the Pretty Hate Machine album, "Wish and Gave Up," from the Broken EP, and the infamous "Hurt" also from Downward Spiral, which was the second-to-last song of the night, played during the encore. The final song of the night was "In This Twilight" from the Year Zero album.
The crowd ranged from students, to non-students to older fans, as well.
"I've followed him all over the place," said Jennifer Eggers, 26, business management major. "I'm going to the Jacksonville show tomorrow [October 29]. This show is the eighth NIN show I've seen.
"My favorite show so far was in Georgia's Tabernacle, because it was such a small venue, so it made it more personal. I'm basically in love with Trent."
Aren't we all?
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