My take on the NIN show last night

[Arkady]

Last night marked the third time I have seen NIN. The first 2 times were in 1994 during the downward Spiral tour. The first difference I noticed about the modern Trent compared to the Trent of 12 years ago is that he is buffed out. It's obvious that he's been working out. His arms are just plain big. The next obvious difference was his attitude. Gone is the ego driven, crew abusing, microphone stand throwing of the past and in it's place was a humble artist who was grateful for his fans sticking with him through the ups and downs over the years.

One thing that has not changed is his voice. He has has managed to avoid the bane that seems to grip many veteran rockers in that he has lost none of his vocal ability. He still sounds exactly like you remember Trent sounding. His presence is just as intense if not more intense than I remembered and you can still feel every bit of the emotion that made his earlier works the anthems of my generation.

That being said, I have some definite opinions about the new band. Don't read the following section if you don't want to know how the magic happens back stage. The over all impression I had was that they were hired with the intent of simply augmenting and giving faces to the Pro Tools rig that was running the backing tracks and A/V timing code. With the exception of the drummer, who is no Chris Verenna but did a fairly decent job of playing the live parts along with the pre-recorded material, the over all live musicianship seemed average and lacked the intensity that I associate with all of the previous musicians Trent has worked with as NIN with over the years.

The light show was good but again lacked the punch that I have come to expect from a NIN show. That's not to say that it wasn't on par with most modern rock shows it's just that I have come to expect NIN to set the pace in A/V and lighting in a live setting and with this show, it looked very standard. I do have to say though that the LED effect lighting was cool but I think they could have been used more creatively.

The PA was a line array system that delivered crisp, clear, and even sound all the way around the arena. It didn't' matter where you were sitting, you heard everything the Front of House Engineer intended you to hear. Of course, this is pretty standard these days with concerts on this level. One of the many benefits of this level of quality in a PA is that it really allows you to hear the work being done at FOH.

That being said, to the untrained this show likely sounded great but to me it came off as thin sounding in many places and improperly mixed in other places. To begin with, the kick drum and the bass guitar tones were mostly high end attack and lacked the punch and clarity that certainly could have been there given the size and quality of the PA. I imagine this was to allow room for the low end keyboard parts and backing tracks but I believe the engineer was too conservative in this area. There were also several times where the mix just wasn't right to my ears. It was as if the engineer wasn't absolutely familiar with NIN's material and the intricacies of the dynamics involved. Wish is a good example of what I am referring too. When the chorus kicked in, it should have pinned me against the wall but instead the music was not mixed up to the vocal level appropriately and thus left Trent's voice too out front in the mix. This is appropriate in some live music situations, but this was not one of them.

Am I nit-picking here? Yeah, probably. But you have to understand that I have been a NIN fan since '89 when Pretty Hate Machine came out and have since been working as an audio engineer professionally for several years. In fact, I owe Trent a debt of gratitude for teaching me the art of the mix with his work. To say I have studied his studio styling in depth is an understatement so, it's a given that I hear things most people would never notice in a mix.

All in all though, despite my all my nit-picking, I really enjoyed the show. Was it as good as the Downward Spiral tour? No, not to me but that's ok. It was still far and away better than any other modern rock show I've attended. I give it a 7 out of 10.

[badluck]

could you do better?

Are you doing better?

[Arkady]

nice edit.

[badluck]

nice edit.

I figured the "armchair jedi" part would be seen as an attack.

[Celestial Dung]

Two questions one serious and one flippant.

1. What do you look for in a concert? For me it's part crowd interaction and part unique performance. Crowd interaction being the ability to live off the enrgy of the audience and visa versa, unique performance being the musicians ability to create a unique expereince for the crowd. Well there's also the "Oh my god it's them!" quality, the exuberent joy of hearing and seeing one of your favorite performers live and in reality-o-rama.

I gather you have a love for the quality of sound as well as the quality of musiceanship, among other things of course. I was curious what else you look into.

2. How was Jeordie White? Back with Manson he was quite the bopper and I was wondering if he still had that energy with NIN. Ok, I just wanna know all about Twiggy...er Jeordie had to put the twig in at least once.

[karlaBOO]

could you do better?

Are you doing better?

I'm not trying to start trouble, really. But, I'm assuming that you do not know Jason (Arkady), and that what he is talking about is his profession. As in......it is his real, day to day job.

And, yeah, he is good at what he does. I could be biased, but I guess having someone's children can do that to you.

[Arkady]

Two questions one serious and one flippant.

1. What do you look for in a concert? For me it's part crowd interaction and part unique performance. Crowd interaction being the ability to live off the enrgy of the audience and visa versa, unique performance being the musicians ability to create a unique expereince for the crowd. Well there's also the "Oh my god it's them!" quality, the exuberent joy of hearing and seeing one of your favorite performers live and in reality-o-rama.

I gather you have a love for the quality of sound as well as the quality of musiceanship, among other things of course. I was curious what else you look into.

That's an excellent set of questions. I actually had to pause for a moment and think to myself, "What do I look for in a concert?" After some contemplation, I have come up with several things.

One of the main things I look for is definitely musicianship. To me part of the magic of seeing a really good band is the interaction between the musicians as they play. What I mean by that is are they comfortable with what they are playing and are they having fun with each other as they play? I particularly love it when there's a good groove going on and both the musicians and the crowd know it so the piece begins to come alive with little improvisations or maybe another round from the bridge.

Another huge deal to me is sincerity. Does the singer really look, sound, and act as if he/she's feeling the emotional content of the song? There's nothing worse than paying $40 + to see someone perform that looks bored or to see a band obviously going through scripted motions.

This leads me to something else you mentioned. Is the band creating a unique experience for it's audience or is it just another rock show.... (yawn) If a band is fiercely intense with what they are playing, even I will throw up the devil horns.

The next thing that comes to mind doesn't apply to NIN because of the technical nature of what has to happen in order to perform electronic based songs live. I absolutely hate the idea of paying to see a rock band and finding out that they are singing and playing to pre-recorded material. I was never so disappointed as when I watched the stage manager for Sevendust set up 2 Mac laptops to run all the backing tracks which included layered guitars, bass, drums and vocals. You would think that with a 5 piece rock band you'd be able to create a full live sound without having to rely on kareoke tricks. What's worse is when you hear vocals and no one is near a mike at the time.

Unfortunately, this happens way more than you might expect with national touring acts and is a symptom of the industry's tendency to overproduce bands in the studio in order to make hits out of material that would otherwise be received by the general public as mediocre. Then when it comes time to tour in support of the new album, the only way to pull it off live is to cheat with backing tracks.

Hey guys, here's a novel idea, when you're in the studio why don't you mike the band up, press record, then start playing. At the end of the session, if it sounds like crap, chances are it's crap. If you want to do a studio album, great but if you can't play it live, don't tour with it.

Alas, I digress.

Another thing I tend to notice is how the band transitions from song to song. If there is too much of a gap between songs, the energy dies. If there is for-thought put into the set list though, magic happens.

And yes, I'm a total geek when it comes to the sound system and how it's run. I don't know if this will make sense but I don't want to hear the PA, i want to hear the band. If my hears are hurting, or there are parts to the songs that I know are there but I can't hear, then my attention is being taken away from the show and that pisses me off.

2. How was Jeordie White? Back with Manson he was quite the bopper and I was wondering if he still had that energy with NIN. Ok, I just wanna know all about Twiggy...er Jeordie had to put the twig in at least once.

Unfortunately, I didn't see much in the way of personality on the stage with jeordie. The whole band in fact pretty much came off as a backing band playing parts exactly as they were told to play. this was one of the things I was disappointed with. Especially with Jeordie. I was expecting a bit more presence there. Of course, this was one show out of hundreds. Things could be different down the line. There's no denying the talent that was on the stage, it just didn't feel as if the musicians had bonded to become NIN. That's just my opinion though.

[additionad]

Here we go.....

[Hardcoregirl]

could you do better?

Are you doing better?

I'm not trying to start trouble, really. But, I'm assuming that you do not know Jason (Arkady), and that what he is talking about is his profession. As in......it is his real, day to day job.

Geez I know you can't take that Arkady guy anywhere, the grocery store, the elevators, your kids school play...he's always criticizing the sound system and the acoustics. I bet you can't even sing in the shower without getting bitched at for your sound quality!!


Hahaha,

[Arkady]

Geez I know you can't take that Arkady guy anywhere, the grocery store, the elevators, your kids school play...he's always criticizing the sound system and the acoustics. I bet you can't even sing in the shower without getting bitched at for your sound quality!!


Hahaha,

It's so true I can't get mad. I'm obsessed and everyone knows it.

BTW, I wasn't trying to Diss the Engineer at the NIN show. He did a great job, he just did it a little differently than I would have based on my knowledge of the NIN catalog. Like I said, the sound was clean, crisp and even all the way around. I just wasn't 100% happy with the mix in some places.

[blindboy]

the drummer, who is no Chris Verenna

The new (temporary drummer) is Josh Freese he's had his hands in just about everything. Check out his profile here

[Arkady]

He's got one hell of a resume for shure.

[Spam]

He's got one hell of a resume for shure.

Haha, your punny. Dork.

[junkie christ]

Josh Freese > Jerome Dillon (spelling?) though. was kinda glad to see him go.
Freese overall as a drummer > Vrenna.
but for NIN, Vrenna > Freese.

anybody get the setlist? i was busy having fun on the floor and didnt really keep up with it till burn.