[kj] NIN Final Show

[The Mighty TB]

I hadn't planned on seeing NIN's final show at The Wiltern last night.  I'd 
caught the Palladium show last week which they played the entire Downward 
Spiral album and that really was enough for me.  Tickets for this final long 
sold out show were very tough to get even for hundreds of dollars (evens 
thousands) on the secondary market.  But I happened to be checking out the 
official website yesterday morning and happened to score a single ticket 
when they released a handful of tickets.

Hearing that a massive line was already forming in the morning, I went ahead 
and finished my personal stuff up as quickly as possible and managed to get 
to the Wiltern around 3pm.  The line had already grown to easily over 1,000 
people (The Wiltern holds about 2,500) and I wasn't even sure I'd be able to 
get down on the floor.  Over the next few hours as they finally (and very 
slowly) started handing out tickets and separate wristbands for the pit (the 
first couple hundred in line got in the pit) floor and balcony, the 
afternoon sun was just merciless. Some of the people who'd been there 
overnight looked really fried.  Luckily, far back in line as I was, I still 
got a floor wristband.  Comedy moment of the afternoon had to be the huge 
restroom line in the Ralphs supermarket next to The Wiltern - looked pretty 
funny with all these goths, rockers, etc waiting to take a piss while 
shoppers were trying to buy stuff around them.

Anyway, once I got in around 7:45, I found a great spot on the far right 
behind the small VIP/Handicap section just behind the pit.  The only down 
side so far was I couldn't meet a couple friends - we just kept missing each 
other. The opening band "IO Echo" was decent but nothing memorable. About 15 
minutes before NIN came on, a slew of celebrities including Eddie Van 
Halen(!), David Bowie, Rick Rubin, Tony Hawk and Ron Jeremy (that dick seems 
to be at every LA area concert these days) were seating in the first row of 
the balcony to loud cheering.

The single merch booth in the lobby was mobbed right away and the nice 
looking wine colored "Wiltern" tour shirts were gone before NIN even came 
on.

Just before the show started, several people including some douchebag snuck 
into the VIP area directly in front of me and stood there the whole show 
making it tough for several short girls near me to see the stage.  The guy 
would even step in front of wheelchair-bound people blocking everyone who 
was seat-bound's view.

NIN started around 9:15 with a solid version of "Home," a bonus track off 
the "With Teeth" import cd.  The sound was impeccable.  The bass was like a 
gut punch, really solid and clear - I've always said The Wiltern has the 
best sound of any LA area venue and this show was the best sound I've ever 
heard at The Wiltern.  Really loud but crystal clear.  I actually think many 
of the songs in the set were played specifically to take advantage of the 
Wiltern's excellent sound system and acoustics.

Things really didn't start to go off until 4th song "Discipline" and 
especially "March of the Pigs."  I have to say, the crowd seemed really 
respectful of the quieter moments but really got into the more aggressive 
songs.  The pit was fairly mellow because of the strict "no-moshing" posted 
policy but at times, especially in the last third of the show when the stage 
got trashed, some people were going off without being hassled by security. 
One really fucking weird part of the show was a trio of muscle-bound guys 
led by this one steroid-loaded dude who looked like he was having a bad acid 
trip in the isle next to the VIP section who spent the show flexing, pulling 
their hair and grabbing each other in very disturbing ways.

For basically the first half of the show, it was just about all deeper cuts 
from the albums released in the last 10 years.  When David Bowies old piano 
player Mike Garson joined the band for several songs off "The Fragile" album 
which led into an extended piano jam, it was getting clear many in the 
audience were kind of reaching their tether and you could here a few 
hecklers amidst the generally quiet crowd.  Next we had a 3 song set with 
Gary Numan who'd appeared at all the previous LA shows the past week and 
frankly, that was a piss break for me. For me, Numan's the kind of artist I 
originally liked a couple songs of from 25 years ago, and I got my Numan fix 
at the Palladium show last week. Everyone had been expecting a Bowie 
appearance (really, all tour long) but I guess he was content enough to 
watch the show from side stage.

The show then kicked into a higher gear with a brace of more aggressive 
songs culminating in the usual end-of-show pairing of "hits" The Hand That 
Feeds and Head Like A Hole which made some think this was the end of the 
show.  Actually this led into another full hour of music featuring an 
increasing number of guest musicians such as Jane's Addiction's Dave 
Navarro, Atticus Ross and others.  This led into the final 6 songs which was 
a well-thought out selection that clearly invoked 9/11 and ended touchingly 
with "In This Twilight."

Overall, the was a epic, marathon day and show I've seldom experienced. 
Completely different from last week's Palladium show.  Nearly 40 songs, over 
3 1/2 hours.  The perfect venue, perfect sound, great spot with perfect 
sightlines.  I'm sore as fuck today with a raging headache but it was worth 
it.  I will say I preferred the Palladium show setlist-wise and in some ways 
last night's show was marked more by what wasn't played then the fact it was 
thematically focused on albums from the past 10 years vs the first 10 years.

Still, I caught the last NIN show. Fuckin' A.

The setlist:

   1. "Home"
   2. "Somewhat Damaged"
   3. "The Collector"
   4. "Discipline"
   5. "March Of The Pigs"
   6. "Something I Can Never Have"
   7. "The Frail"
   8. "The Wretched"
   9. "Ruiner"
  10. "Head Down"
  11. "Burn"
  12. "Just Like You Imagined" (featuring Mike Garson)
  13. "La Mer" (featuring Mike Garson)
  14. "Eraser" (featuring Mike Garson)
  15. "The Becoming" (featuring Mike Garson)
  16. "Down In The Park" (featuring Gary Numan)
  17. "Metal" (featuring Gary Numan)
  18. "I Die: You Die" (featuring Gary Numan)
  19. "1,000,000"
  20. "Letting You"
  21. "Survivalism"
  22. "Suck"
  23. "Down In It"
  24. "The Hand That Feeds"
  25. "Head Like A Hole"
  26. "Me, I'm Not" (featuring Atticus Ross)
  27. "The Warning" (featuring Atticus Ross and Dave Navarro)
  28. "Piggy (Nothing Can Stop Me Now)" (featuring Atticus Ross and Dave 
Navarro)
  29. "Gave Up" (featuring Dave Navarro)
  30. "Mr. Self Destruct" (featuring Greg Puciato and Ben Weinman)
  31. "Wish" (featuring Dillinger Escape Plan)
  32. "Atmosphere"
  33. "Dead Souls"
  34. "The Good Soldier"
  35. "The Day The World Went Away"
  36. "Hurt"
  37. "In This Twilight"

T.B.