Homecoming for Reznor
Mon, September 08, 2008 | Digg | Read →

Homecoming for Reznor
BY: Jake McGee - Kotori Magazine
Photography by Rob Sheridan
Video by Donnae O'Connor/OoopiDoop

There you were, all ready to kill yourself.  You were gonna hang yourself in the garage, that's it, that's the most certain means you had. Climb up to the ceiling, tie a sturdy rope to the rafters, tie the other around your neck, and drop yourself down into oblivion. 

Up in your bedroom, you prepared yourself by listening to Nine Inch Nails' "Something I Can Never Have" on repeat, crying as you blasted your arm with a stapler over and over again, just for a few more tastes of honesty before you headed down to the garage. 

But instead of keeping you in the mood for suicide, constantly playing this gut-wrenching song had the opposite effect. You started really listening to it, hearing Trent Reznor's soul being bared naked for you. It was raw and true...and you could tell that this guy really knew how you felt. You were NOT alone in this agony; here's this guy, talking about the very same pain your have in your soul, and he's surviving. 

This epiphany makes you want to live on, in spite of the pain. At the very least, you know the pain of living is real. 

Even if you don't have this kind of connection to the music of NIN (produced mainly by Reznor, though he has a band that he tours with), his music is nevertheless among the strongest creative essences that came out of the 90's. His music is able to captivate anybody like nothing else can, and it's no surprise that he has his fingers on the pulse not just of the generation that grew up in the 90's (X or 13 or whatever you want to call it), but on just about every generation since, and even a good portion of older folks. 

Reznor's lyrics were among the first that many people heard that had the guts to be real, not glossed over or intentionally pretty. Not since David Bowie (and then Bob Dylan before him) had songs been written with such purity, and made it out from the Underground. 

But Reznor was a product of his time, in a sense. Rather than strumming along on just an acoustic guitar, he used all the instruments he could get his hands on. The result was the groundbreaking, genre-defying, life-altering Pretty Hate Machine, which came out in 1989. For the most part, Reznor played all the instruments himself, from drums, guitars, keyboards, and so on. 

And he got his start in Cleveland, Ohio, of all places. Which brings us to the Nine Inch Nails concert at the Quicken Loans Arena in downtown Cleveland, on August 22, 2008, almost 20 years since Pretty Hate Machine's debut. After the release of The Slip (available for FREE at www.nin.com), Reznor and Co. set off on a massive tour, called Lights in the Sky over North America. The Slip is in many ways a departure from his last wide-released LP, Year Zero (though you can feel hints of it in Ghosts I-IV), and it's hands-down the most innovative and revolutionary album of 2008. On the surface, the lyrics and music are as genuine and provocative as they've ever been. But scratch deeper, and you'll find a grand world of experimental sonic beauty, layers upon layers of it. 

The concert started out with a typical rock band set up, and the instrumental opener "999,999" started things off as the band took their spots behind their weapons of choice. Then "1,000,000" kicked in, and Reznor tore up the stage as the crowd exploded into a frenzy. He blasted through a few more new tracks, then came "March of the Pigs," and the already hyped-up crowd detonated with the force of an atomic bomb. 

Reznor still performs with the same intense energy of yesteryear. Indeed, he was so rambunctious during "March of the Pigs," he apparently ripped his mic cord out toward the end, cutting off his vocals. The crowd didn't seem to notice, though, as they all raged and screamed and sung the words so dear to them at the top of their lungs, making the last 30 seconds of this track a beautifully chaotic rapture. 

They ripped through some more of the NIN catalog, hitting on favorites like "Closer" and "Gave Up." Then as "The Warning" started up, two light curtains (I don't know if "screen" is the right word, because you could see through them) dropped down, one behind the band and the other in front. The lights pulsated with the beat, eventually getting harder and harder, first looking like raging fire, ultimately flowing into a rainstorm that engulfed the band. This went on for several songs from the instrumental sessions, Ghosts I-IV, and even a version of "Piggy."  

When they broke into "The Greater Good," things got sexy-weird. First, the lights projected an image seemingly taken live, from a camera in night vision, aimed at Reznor's mouth. Eventually, Reznor (and the camera operator) appeared in front of the screen for a bit, then vanished off to the side...as fingers started tracing all over Reznor's face on the screen before us. The track may be a mellow one, but it still amped the crowd up. 

At the end of the main concert, the audience, nay, the arena roared with love for Reznor. It was an emotional homecoming, where you could feel the very concrete vibrating in affection for this guy. At first his thanks felt like obligatory lip service, but as the fans screamed in admiration, you could tell that Reznor truly meant everything he said.   

He connects with his fans on a very rare, and very real level, not as some rock god, but simply as a voice we all feel inside. Yeah, at the end of the day, Trent Reznor is just another guy, but the music he makes is something that not only pays witness to this time and place, it defines it. 

They played five more songs, and that was that: an amazing, outstanding show not to be missed, period.