No, the pick was bravely plucked from the post-concert crush of stamping feet and scrambling hands by a good friend of mine. He kindly let me fondle it at the pub afterwards. And the next day at breakfast, and lunch, and at afternoon-beer time, and a final time before we separated.
The concert itself was a once in a lifetime (for me) event, and it was brilliant. Black Francis didn’t say a word all night, which was a shame, though his vocals were top notch. That screaming, yelping, growling he does so well is even more surprising and assaulting live. Kim took care of the song introductions and asides, and situated as I was pretty near in front of her, I rather enjoyed watching the little games she and Lovering played with each other – faking each other out on count-ins and such.
Highlight would probably have to be, of all things, Into the White – which by the end was an epic wall of sound, with Joey’s geriatric guitar noises punctuating the blaze like fresh sparks of ignition.
Official, live CDs of the concert (either at the Powerstation or Vector – I was at the latter) were being sold afterwards (or you could pre-purchase). But if you didn’t make the Pixies gig, or did and didn’t buy a disc at the venue, they’re still available online.
The greatest moment of my life came and went last Tuesday, amidst a meagre crowd at the Vector arena in Auckland.
I was there to see Nine Inch Nails. Trent Reznor, who is NIN in the studio and fronts the full-piece on stage, has been creating some of the best (alternative) music around for 20 years. By far, NIN are my favourite band and I could rave on for hours about them. But I won’t. I’ll just comment on the show, their first in NZ in nearly a decade.
(Why the crowd was so meagre, I blame on the show being under-advertised and the current recession).
The evening began with a few warm up beers around Auckland with Dog, who also has generally excellent taste in music. At the venue, I purchased an overpriced t-shirt for $50. Although, I was so giddy with excitement I could have bought out the entire merchandise caravan. However, previous experience has taught me that, like those extra few “last” gins I’m prone to, this would only be regretted in the morning.
Inside Vector, we secured a prime standing spot up front and had a good look at the set-up. Now, NIN’s last tour was an extravaganza of lights, real-time video playback, and laser-triggered interactive screens. Trent had said that this tour would be more stripped down, with traditional white lighting being employed. He wasn’t kidding, although it still appeared to be an effective and retina-damaging arrangement that would cause any old lazy fatty to sweat their guts out, let alone fit musos actively rocking out on stage.
The opening band, The Naked and Famous, started up about 9pm. Their sound is somewhere in the region of hard-edged pop rock, though their set tapered into softer tunes as it went along. Their myspace page has some tracks available, though, and it may be the nostalgia talking, I prefer most of them as performed live.
So they played for a half hour, had their shit packed up, and then NIN’s remaining gear came out. Then the house lights went down.
And everybody screamed. I know I did for the first four tracks, which were all blinding stonkers. March of the Pigs was an obvious hitter, and hit the spot it did. I took the opportunity as it was presented and went both ape-shit and mental simultaneously (yes, it’s possible). It’s been a few years since I’ve thrown my body and brain around that hard, and it showed, but it was extremely enjoyable. I even shared a head-banging in unison moment with a fat, bearded bogan.
I managed to shout out a few “Go Michael!”‘s (Trent’s real first name) and “Hell yeah T-Diddy!”‘s in between most tracks, as well as to quote Trent directly before Discipline with “Michael, take your shirt off and dance to it!” (this being the line he introduced that single with on the band’s website).
Unfortunately, those beers, my lack of water intake, the heat, the jumping around, the crazed lighting, and the insane amount of marijuana being smoked all around me had their effect. I nigh on passed out and had to be led from the mosh pit by Dog because, frankly, I’d lost 90% of my vision. I missed most of Something I Can Never Have recovering out in the corridor – a weird syncronicty…
I went to the Vector’s bathrooms to splash myself with water and have a sip, however the evil bastards supply only warm water to force punters to purchase cold, satiating and heavily overpriced water from the bar. The lowly pack of shits.
I thought I’d tough it out without water, seeing how big the line at the bar was. However, soon after re-entering the concert, the heat again hit me and I had to leave. Though I saw all of The Line Begins to Blur, a personal highlight, I missed the entirety of Burn waiting at the bar behind some scummy misogynists to pay way too much for way too little water. I drank it down though and was able to enjoy the rest of the show moderately hydrated.
It still saddens me greatly to have missed an entire song and portions of at least 3 or 4 others. *sob*
What I did see of the show (almost all of it) was awesome. And I saw all the best bits. It was a special night for a number of reasons to begin with – the first show in a new tour leg; the first time the band has been down to an intimate 4 members in total (down from 5), with the departure of keyboardist Alessandro Cortini (Trent took over those duties, bringing the keys right up front); and come the departure of drummer Josh Freese, this was also his replacement Ilan Rubin’s first show with the band. They also played some real classics that they haven’t aired for years, namely The Fragile and The Downward Spiral. Two amazing tracks that, live, were total aural and soul sex. They also played Non Entity, which isn’t a personal favourite but given that it doesn’t appear on any official releases, was still a bit of a treat. Trent prefaced it by saying, “This is one of my favourite one’s that isn’t on With Teeth.”
For some reason, near the set’s end, Trent decided to spoil the mood by announcing, “This will probably be the last time we play New Zealand”, which caused the crowd to unanimously shout “Boo!”. Trent’s response: “Let’s try to finish on a mature note”. The band then launched into The Hand That Feeds and Head Like a Hole.
Perhaps it was the crowd’s booing, perhaps it was my earlier cat calling, some kind of house curfew, or band-wide diarrhoea, but after NIN left the stage the house-lights came on and there was no encore. NO ENCORE. The set list had as a possible encore: Reptile, Meet Your Master, Dead Souls. Holy crap – Reptile and Dead Souls! I don’t know if I would have survived the thrill of hearing those two tracks, but damn you Trent, I’d have liked to have found out.
It’s for that reason that I say Trent and co. were not the full nine inches. My own self-inflicted and irresponsible low-moments (accentuated by Vector’s chronic cheapness) cannot count toward my reflections on the band. I think that for a band that hasn’t been here in nearly a decade and that announces they probably won’t ever be back, they could have managed to play one bloody encore. I didn’t even mind that they didn’t play Closer.
It was still a damn good concert overall and a fantastic chance to see a musical hero and legend in action. A full set list can be found at the nin wiki.
If you went and would like to reminisce or if you simply didn’t go (fool!), here’re some youtube clips:
