Live Review: Nine Inch Nails at the TD Garden

Playing in an arena is hard. It’s a pretty uncompromising setting–huge, cavernous, prone to swallowing up whatever sound a band might be playing. Very few bands sound great in an arena, and fewer still really excel. I can think of a few offhand–Muse and their bombastic theatrics, U2 and pretty much everything about them–but not many. I can now add Nine Inch Nails to that list.

But, I probably should have known that. Since the 2007 Lights in the Sky tour, and the band-backed, fan-made DVD Another Version of the Truth that documented it, it’s been fairly clear that the band knows how to take advantage of everything that an arena has to offer.

But to see it in person was truly something. After a performance from the vaunted Canadian post-rock act Godspeed You! Black Emperor (who were great, though it was pretty clear that the crowd wasn’t sure what to make of them), NIN opened with the glitchy Hesitation Marks standout “Copy of A.” This was the be a predictor of things to come–the band went on to play nine tracks from the new album. The crowd reaction depended on the song–“Copy of A” and “Came Back Haunted,” both singles, garnered good reactions and even some singing, while deeper cuts such as “Find My Way” and “Running” suffered from the this-one’s-from-our-new-album blues. Still, the band wisely chose nine of the best songs of the album, and they all sounded very natural in-between the band’s older stuff. In particular, “Disappointed” featured an unbelievable light show–seriously, look at it.

The band’s stage show may have been the best part of the concert. Reznor has clearly been refining his ideas for just what a concert can be visually, and, for this tour, he really nailed it. A giant LED screen engulfed the band during “Came Back Haunted,” lights flashed and screens moved during “Survivalism,” and “March of the Pigs” was appropriately chaotic. I wish I could do more than link YouTube videos, as a light show is the kind of thing that really needs to be experienced firsthand. But this was one impressive light show, the kind of visual experience that can really only be rivaled by the aforementioned Muse.

Of course, this isn’t to say that the band was overshadowed by visual production. Far from it. Trent’s voice hasn’t sounded this good in years, and the band he assembled was as good as any he has put together. Trent also made the decision to add two new members, singers Lisa Fischer and Sharlotte Gibson. Needless to say, NIN are not a group that has featured much in the way of female voices pretty much ever, and Fischer and Gibson were an incredibly refreshing addition to the lineup. They joined the band for “All Time Low” and stayed on until the encore. Fischer in particular was phenomenal, her vocals alone took “Into the Void” from a fairly by-the-numbers NIN song to one of the best performances of the night.

The band played 25 songs, many of which were your standard Nine Inch Nails live staples. You got your “March of the Pigs” into “Piggy” and “The Fragile” into “The Wretched” sections, “Terrible Lie” and “Wish.” I can’t fault Trent for sticking with these songs–they’re live staples for a reason–but I definitely would have liked some different stuff (“Sin”? “We’re In This Together”?). The band decided not to play “Closer,” which I could basically take or leave, but is still a fairly bold choice. It’s a great song, but I’m ok with not hearing Trent Reznor sing “I wanna fuck you like an animal” at this point in both of our lives.

After closing the main set with the still-untouchable “Head Like a Hole,” the band came out for a five song encore. They started with “Even Deeper,” which I suppose filled the deep-cut quota. They also played “In This Twilight,” which, as my favorite Nine Inch Nails song, pretty much killed me dead. The crowd got their lighters out for traditional closer “Hurt” which I was hearing live for the first time. Maybe I’ll get tired of it at some point, but that song is simply stunning live. It was the perfect closer for a phenomenal show.

When 90’s bands come back from the dead, I’ve come to expect half-baked albums and pretty good to ok live shows (trust me, I’ve seen post-reunion Smashing Pumpkins three times). Nine Inch Nails have defied my expectations. On Hesitation Marks, Reznor proved that he could adapt to changing musical trends while still staying true to what made Pretty Hate Machine and The Downward Spiral cultural touchstones. On Friday night, he proved that Nine Inch Nails are still the kick-ass live band they’ve always been. Go out of your way to see this tour.