Nine Inch Nails at Lollapalooza Entertainment Art Grant Park Chicago, Ill. August 3, 2008

NIN adapted stage tricks Reznor has been experimenting with for his current tour to the great expanse of Grant Park. The results were mixed. There were paper-thin LCD screens set up about ten feet back from the stage, and the band frequently retreated behind these to highlight the vibrant effects. This reflects Reznor’s new concept of concert etiquette: more so than a rock-out show, he is looking to give fans a stylized mood enhancing arena in which the stage effects are closely akin to the music, creating a complete concert experience. Although a brave and thoughtful endeavor, it is more suited to a concert hall rather than an outdoor music festival. Without the cocoon of walls around the stage, sound gets dispersed and melodic pieces such as “Ghosts 11” get lost in the crowd’s constant conversation, screaming, screeching, and search for water.

The show as a whole was spectacular. Nothing less than NIN has provided fans since they have returned to the road three years ago. The songs were executed with Reznor’s trademark passion, the emotions elicited running wild in the first waves of die-hards up front. Despite a recent illness that caused him to cancel a show in Minneapolis, Reznor’s voice held up surprisingly well through both throat-scorching scales and the closing slow-tempo ballad, “Hurt.”

Reznor concluded the show with a heartfelt note of appreciation to Lollapalooza: “Seventeen summers ago, we were invited to the first Lollapalooza by Perry—we were just kids from Cleveland. We didn’t know what we were doing. Now, seventeen years later, I can’t believe a) that I’m alive; b) that I am still playing in front of a great group of appreciative people with the world’s best musicians. And that means everything to me.”

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