I had intended to among the first to post last night, but unfortunately the Internet I had been stealing got cut off or something. In any case, my impressions of the night are as follows.
What an amazing night.
To begin, we tried to get there fairly early (around 3-ish). However, our MapQuest directions took us to the middle of Denver for whatever reason. Maybe Red Rock's main offices or something? In any case, we ended up getting there right before the will-call opened, which ended up being fine.
To the two wonderful people who gave us a ride up the mountain, thank you very much. I was pretty dissapointed when you ended up having Standard tickets.
In any case, we finally made it to the top of the mountain, and to our surprise found a pretty large Premium Spiral line. Brandi said we were going to get a sound check very soon, but I went ahead and got a litho, just to make sure I got one. Thank God I did.
Just a little side note, did anyone else see the huge fat bitch that was trying to cut her way up the Premium line as we moved in? She did the same thing at Wichita, and I let her then. This time I was able to stop her with just a "Ma'am." While I was mad at her for trying, I was happy she didn't put up a fight.
We got a short soundcheck ("Somewhat Damaged" instrumental while we were in line, and then "Wish" and "Non-Entity"), at which point it was sprinkling off and on. Trent said something to the effect of "It looks like if you guys get wet, I get wet too." And everyone cheered.
After that, we all sat down. I was somewhat expecting them to kick us back out, but to my surprise they started moving people up row by row for a Meet & Greet. This was simply amazing, because there were over 100 people there.
While the rest of the band stayed down behind the rail, Jeordie moved his way up through the sitting crowd, trying to get done early. He didn't realize his fellow band-mates weren't doing the same. He was really cool, saying how he wouldn't be able to play tonight after all these "scribbles". I told him it was an expensive scribble.
The rest of the band was very cool. I didn't know what to say to Alessandro, other than it was really cool that they were doing this. I asked Josh about his hair, and he seemed a little defensive saying "It's just my hair. Sometimes it's red, sometimes it's blue. Just whatever." I also asked him if his heart was doing okay, to which he was confused, and I followed by saying "Well you are better than that other drummer, right?" to which he said "Oh yes. Fuck yes." I also told Aaron he better pull some crazy shit tonight, because I was looking forward to him the most.
I was towards the end of the Meet and Greet, so by the time I got to Trent, he was obviously pretty tired of signing everything. However, I did tell him that I was glad that he was using his position to pursue the American way of life, and speak for what he believes. He told me he really appreciated that. Whether he meant it or not, who knows, but I'd like to think he did.
To the person who said the staff was not very cool, you obviously were not on stage right (Jeordies' side). There was a woman named Pam (I believe) over there was keeping everything in line. She told the people smoking weed to "at least wait until it gets dark" which I thought was perfectly fair. She also kept everyone from smashing down (which could have been disastrous) and I thought that really kept the show enjoyable.
TV on the Radio was really good, in my opinion. None of my friends liked them much, but I thought they were very good. The chick that was dancing (of which a very fitting video was posted) was pretty disgusting, and TV on the Radio commented as well. They said she was beautiful, and that she was probably having the best time there. However, the lead singer did take his glasses off once she started dancing, which I found amusing, even if it wasn't related.
I cannot say I particularly liked Bauhaus' music, but their personality was just so original and weird that I had to like them. If not for their lead singer, I would have hated them. He was very old (they all were), but so strange and somewhat charismatic with a creepy little boy charm. They had a long setlist, but it was good, because the sun needed to fall.
Then came the opening for NIN. I knew everyone had said it was crazy, and surprising, but I had no idea. The lights came down, and the techs were out getting everything ready. Then the pre-music started for a while, and then suddenly they started playing. I thought maybe it was the techs just playing, but then all the sudden Trent started singing. He was in a hooded jacket, with the hood up, and came up and hung on the lights as he sang. Really amazing.
Highlights of the show:
.. Trent getting very angry during "Terrible Lie" and destroying his guitar afterwards.
.. Trent getting very into the song (I can't remember which one, maybe "March of the Pigs" or "Gave Up") and falling on Josh's drums, which the tech's had to fix during the following slow song.
.. Aaron's guitar fucking up, and him getting really pissed of at it.
.. Trent's quote after "Hurt" which no one else has posted, but he may have said before. Before he said it, there was so much applause and wooing that he couldn't get a word in. He kept trying and finally said something like "Can I have just one minute guys?"
"When I wrote "Hurt", I was in a very dark period of my life. (To which there was a little inapproprite wooing) And to be able to stand here, in such a beautiful place, and sing it for you, the best fans in the world, is really a priveledge. Thank you."
.. "Non-Entity", "La Mer/Into The Void", and "The Big Come Down" were all simply amazing live. "Into the Void" especially surprised me.
Simply put, I could not have asked for a better show. The crowd was very wonderful (short of a drunk faggot starting fights several times with a kid he was angry with), and the setting was just amazing. Being three rows back, and looking behind us to see all those people was simply amazing.
Hopefully Trent will remember Red Rocks for the rest of his life as being one of his best shows.
Edit: I did miss "Get Down Make Love," however, the show was so amazing, that it was okay.
It was a little saddenning that the two right sets of lights were screwed up, but it was okay. Made it kind of cool, in my opinion.