NIN October, 2005, SLC

*** out of ****


I was stoned man. It was like. . . . chock fulla NIN songs. One after the other. They just kept em coming! I particularly enjoyed HEAD LIKE A HOLE (one of my alltime faves - man I can't wait for KORN to deliver their kover of it!), and that one which showed the video of all the baccili and swarming bacteria, and wildlife footage, where the song built and built . . . I don't even know the name of it! And "Terrible Lie" was fuckin awesome (I always think that song is "Tell The Lie!"

They hardly played AnYthing off The Fragile (which was kinda disappointing). . . but plenty off PHM and TDS, and even WISH from Broken (that was fuckin stellar) and one other song from that album. . . . I particularly enjoyed "Right Where It Belongs" and HURT (I think these exemplify where NIN hits me hardest: when they're at their most . . . reflective).

Every Day Is Exactly The Same sounded good. . . they closed with Starfuckers Inc (can't remember offhand if they did an encore after that...) And The Hand That Feeds sounded really tight, and loud . . . a good typical NIN footstomper "Will You BITE The Hand That FEEDS YOU, Will You Get Down On Your KNEES!" .. . Overall, a completely solid NIN performance, but I feel obligated to point out that on the scale established by 2000 FRAGILITY 2.0 TOUR --- If you give that one a 10 (which I most thoroughly do), I would ease back the dynamic rating of With_Teeth down to a more reasonable, easygoing 7 by comparison. The Fragile concert was simply a Tsunami of Sound & Vision that exceeded the most epic standards . . .it was virtually Flawless . . . a Totemic Avatar of subliminal fury merged with gargantuan, crumbling beauty . . . unlike any show I've ever seen actually . . . the 2 tours are as different as if they were provided by *2 entirely seperate bands*, really it's like day and night or something. . . .but I nonetheless enjoyed the hell out of the more "garage"-rock sounding simplicity & straightforwardness of this With Teeth tour.