Since the late 1980s, Nine Inch Nails has been the working moniker for Trent Reznor, the frenzied antagonist / woeful romantic / tortured soul who is, for all intents and purposes, Nine Inch Nails. After countless line-up changes, he is the sole original member. Josh Homme began his musical career a little bit later, but as a member of the groundbreaking Kyuss and as the leader of Queens of the Stone Age, he has had a hand in forcing the evolution of hard rock. And, after parting ways with Kyuss/Queens band mate/main foil Nick Oliveri recently, he is, for all intents and purposes, Queens of the Stone Age.
It is fitting, then, that October 7th found these two musical auteurs and their respective sidemen sharing the stage at the mammoth Allstate Arena just outside of Chicago.
Due to public transportation issues, an overly talkative cabbie and an incompetent usher, the Queens were already a couple of songs into their short set by the time I took my seat.
Playing in front of a creepy black and white forest backdrop, the band tore through signature tunes like “Mexicola,” “No One Knows,” and “Monsters in Your Parasol” with workmanlike precision. Homme playfully taunted the audience throughout (sample exchange: Homme: “Knock, knock”; Audience: “Who’s there?”; Homme: “Fuck that guy!”), and the audience responded cheerfully, devil horns raised in appreciation.
After a brief intermission, the lights faded for the evening’s headliners. In the darkness, the stage positively glowed. A neon new wave backdrop (one that would later morph into a blue flamed canvas, a wall of television static and a red art deco cityscape) cast strange light onto five figures. A giant, retractable mosquito net, hung in front of the stage, further obscured Reznor and company as the instrumental “Pinion” set the mood. For the next 90+ minutes, Nine Inch Nails brilliantly moved from atmospheric album tracks to bonafide hits, driving the cultishly devoted audience into a frenzy.
Some of the early highlights included a muscular, herky-jerky take on “Wish,” the insectoid tech-metal of “March of the Pigs,” the wicked tick-tock of “Closer” and the cyclone-spinning “Burn.”
A mid-set excursion into the more atmospheric stuff started with the mosquito net being lowered to accept a projected montage of images that traced a violent evolution: cells> fish> insects> migrating birds> fighting monkeys> tanks> an atomic blast> our commander in chief dancing with the first lady (boos and raised middle fingers, en masse) as the world spins out of control.
From there, the night wound down in spectacular fashion. Latter standouts included the cool-as-fuck classic “Sin,” a sparse take on “Hurt” (indebted, no doubt, to the much admired Johnny Cash cover) and the electro-funk pulse of “The Hand That Feeds.” Only the closer, an undercooked read of “Head Like a Hole,” was noticeably short of the mark.
So, as headlines fade - EXTRA! EXTRA! NINE INCH NAILS AND QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE TO SHARE THE STAGE AT ALLSTATE ARENA - the truth can be told: Josh Homme is taking QOTSA to new heights, while Trent Reznor is truly at the top of his game.
Nine Inch Nails photo from Congress Theater performance earlier this year.
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