It was a show that almost didn’t happen. After a 5-year hiatus and several legal issues with his music, Nine Inch Nails returns teething with non-stadium performances to share his darkness on a more intimate level. Appearing in a white shirt, the only thing not painted black on stage, Trent and crew began with “The Frail/The Wretched.” This musical intro was a continuation of the pre-show voice over that listed drug reactions including: internal bleeding, itching and general nausea.
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Nine Inch Nails
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 Entertainment
Art
The Congress Theatre
Chicago, Ill.
May 6, 2005
Setlist
1. “The Frail/The Wretched”
2. “You know what you are”
3. “March of the Pigs”
4. “Line Begins to Bur”
5. “Piggy”
6. “Terrible Lie”
7. “Burn”
8. “With Teeth”
9. “Closer”
10. “Home”
11. “Reptile”
12. “The big come down”
13. “Gave up”
14. “The day the world (optional)”
15. “Suck”
16. “Even Deeper”
17. “Wish”
18. “Hurt”
19. “Hand that feeds”
20. “Head Like a Hole”
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The problem was that no body in the audience heard it, or the first song for that matter. The house sound system proved to be a little frail itself in that nothing came though it. A symptomatic band appeared sick with their un-ceremoniously leaving of the stage to find out what was wrong.
After 30 minutes and several ‘sound’ checks the band took the stage. I was expecting an extremely pissed Trent, but instead he was very apologetic for his (the bands) ‘Fuck Up.’ (Really, I thought it was the house crews fuck up.) In the show that ensued I expected a more violence, but all that happened was an occasional mic stand thrown to the stage floor, and a young guitarist positively going ballistic on his Marshall amp. (Yeah…I don’t get that either, those amps sound great and are expensive, but again I digress.) Most of the show was dedicated to NIN’s older music.
Songs like “Terrible Lie”, “Burn”, “Wish”, and the final song “Head like a hole” seemed edgy, but not really angry. When the band performed “Closer” it seemed downier than Maxwell’s R&B version. Even Johnny Cash’s version of “Hurt”, in my opinion, seems much creeper than its authors live version at this show. The band did present some new material from “With Teeth”, which has a more somber sound. Hey Trent, what’s up with you? Has your system crashed?
With songs from the current release, “The Hand that Feeds”, “Line Begins to Blur” and a new hate machine song that exhibits Trent’s anger with complacence with the song ”You know what you are” by stating, ‘but you cant change anything in the end’ Most of the songs focus on this theme. So has Trent given up or is he mad at us for giving up? I think he has more fuel to feed our fires before he burns out, so please (audiences everywhere) don’t go quietly into that deep dark night.
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