Nine Inch Nails and Saul Williams: Richmond Coliseum Dreamed 6610 days ago | | 683 words
Saul was amazing. I knew little of him beforehand but his lyrics are brilliant and the beats earth shattering. He danced around the stage like a gleeful schoolboy without a care in the world.
It was poetry in motion. Literally. The man is a genius poet and singer. I have his CD. It’s just as brilliant, if not moreso, now that I can understand more of the words.
NIN was stupendous. I will be one hoarse fanboy in the morning. I sang/screamed along to every song. I danced like a fool and didn’t give a damn. I had a blast!
Got complimented on my “dancing” by a tiny cute blonde, who was, unfortunately with preppy looking Aberzombie. Couldn’t tell if she was sincere or just wanted me to be the butt of her joke, but I thanked her politely then went back to enjoying the Trentitude.
I was in a nice batch of people, three couples. Tall guys, short girls. Isn’t that how it always is. I was at the tall guy end of that match up many times before. And many times was the barrier between mosh pit and not mosh pit, protecting Tacy and the other couples we were gravitate towards. I am a good wall.
This time was nicer, no most pit on my side. Far enough back to not get kicked in the head by crowd surfers.
NOTE TO CROWD SURFERS: Kick me in the head and you will find yourself on the wrong end of a good hard yank towards the earth 6+ feet below you, preferably head first. It’s happened before it will happen again.
I am going to be so sore in the morning.
Trent played most of Pretty Hate Machines (still one of the best albums ever composed). He threw in Deep and Burn for those of us who know them by heart (those two never made it onto an album, they were movie tracks.)
The “Best Of” from Downward Spiral made its appearance (including Closer sigh)
Hurt did not finish the show, as it had in 2000 when they toured with A Perfect Circle.
The curtain onstage doubled as a projector screen for tracks like Eraser (which I am thrilled he threw in) and a few others (which now escape my brain).
He did not play A Perfect Drug, which was mildly disappointing, however it did not really fit in anywhere and the setlist was amazing just how it was.
I was surrounded by smokers, fucking chimneys, the lot of them during the opening few tracks, then the clove smokers overpowered them (yay cloves!) and by the end of the 5th song they had wandered off to cloud other’s air. This pleased me to no end.
There was a large lack of “typical” gothy kids. I attribute this to the older crowd. It being a “school night” and all. Also, when you think about it, most of the people who would remember Pretty Hate Machine (1988), Broken and Fixed (1992), and The Downward Spiral (1994) and by far the most famous, are older. You’d have to be at least 12 to even have been born when TDS came out.
I think the older crowd meant more of the heavy metal / hard rock kids were out. And out in full force with miles of NIN shirts, but also Slipknot, Tool, Marilyn Manson, etc etc…
I can remember seeing NIN in the summer of 2000 outside and there were far more goth kids there. But then again, that was 6 years ago and I was a senior in high school, dating a goth kid.
How times change…
I think that’s all I can think of for now. It’s time to shower and crash into bed. For tomorrow, there is work.
Work, and soreness…
One last thing.
Nine Inch Nails has added two dates in June, one at Nissan Pavilion and one at Verizon Amphitheater. If anyone is game to go, tickets go on sale the end of March and I can get them early as I am a NIN Fanboy Club Member. So let me know. :-)
They are touring with Bauhaus and TV on the Radio this time out.
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