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ETS Tour Journal

2007/08/26 - Reading, UK [Reading Festival]

25 Posts
2007-08-26 Show date
Reading Festival Venue
orestes Site Admin
Sun Aug 26, 2007 11:22 pm · #1145724
2007/08/26 - Reading, UK [Reading Festival]
Post your reviews here, and don't forget about NIN Wiki.
robkismet
Mon Aug 27, 2007 10:50 am · #1146182
Hyperpower!
The Beginning of the End
Survivalism
March of the Pigs
Closer
Burn
Gave Up
Me, I'm Not
The Great Destroyer
Eraser
Only
Wish
Dead Souls
The Hand That Feeds
Head Like a Hole
Hurt
firefly1201 Bricklayer
Mon Aug 27, 2007 10:51 am · #1146183
I think the setlist was something along the lines of this:

Hyperpower
The Beginning of the End
Survivalism
March of the Pigs
Closer
Burn
Gave Up
Me, I'm Not
The Great Destroyer
Eraser
Only
Wish
Dead Souls
The Hand That Feeds
Head Like A Hole
Hurt

Amazing... fully exceeded my expectations for a festival show. The Great Destroyer had a bit of Happiness In Slavery in it which was great, and the visuals were spectacular, more intense than the Brixton shows back in March.

(edit: ah, beaten to it by a minute)
yrcitysasucker
Mon Aug 27, 2007 11:29 am · #1146207
Not a huge NIN fan, but I must say that performance completely ruled. Blew the Pumpkins off the stage and had everyone talking.
Simply brilliant.
Jaxx Bricklayer
Mon Aug 27, 2007 11:38 am · #1146213
That was amazing...by far the best performance I saw all day. I've only seen NIN twice now, so I didn't see anything wrong with the setlist; it was brilliant. Some twat wearing a hoodie jump on his friend's shoulders and starting shouting "TRENT!" in the middle of Hurt, but luckily he was simply ignored.
Pablo
Mon Aug 27, 2007 12:30 pm · #1146249
I echo the sentiments above, in that I had low(er) expectations, mainly cause of it being outdoors and not playing to a 100% NIN audience, but they were fucking amazing. One of the best times I've seen them and one of the best festival performances by any band, I've even seen. Sound, lights and band were all spot on. Hurt (a track I felt I'd seen live enough times already) was several minutes of continuous goosebumps.

I got about 3 decent photos (2 off the video screen) if I knew how to upload them here I would...

Bye
99TH FLOOR Grand Pontiff
Mon Aug 27, 2007 2:04 pm · #1146326
This is one of the best times I have ever seen NIN live. SO much better than I expected. I liked seeing them outdoors at Reading much more.

The audience were really responsive and appreciated the show and were dancing even if they didnt know much by NIN. They drew a massive crowd.

It was cool to see them on an enormous stage outside, and it was a nice change from Brixton.

Highlight for me was The Great Destroyer the lightshow was fucking mental. That big screen in the background really made it better. Gave Up was insane. I really liked Dead Soulds too and it was weird hearing 50.000 people singing along to Hurt.
Brilliant.
breadandbutter Master of the Ninth Arch
Mon Aug 27, 2007 4:21 pm · #1146429
I went through complete and utter torture in order to see Nine Inch Nails. I was in the pit a couple of rows from the barrier since a little before 12pm when the first band came onstage. For ten hours straight I was kicked, punched, trampled on, had things thrown at me, crushed and squashed and just generally beaten by people twice my size, not to mention getting severe sunburn, being extremely dehydrated and being subjected to some horrible, horrible music and being surrounded by complete twats, as well as going 30 hours without food. I nearly collapsed several times and got knocked down multiple times.

But it was all worth it because I got to be in the middle on the fucking barrier to see NIN!! WOOHOO!! I've never been on the barrier at a NIN show before because I get squashed but I managed it this time!

I think that's the best NIN show, or any show for that matter, that i've been to; they were just completely and utterly amazing. I really wasn't sure if it would be a good show and had kinda low expectations, not because of the band, but because it's a festival and most of the people there throughout the day were annoying kids with horrible taste in music, luckily the irritating kids left after Lostprophets though. The crowd seemed really into it though and it was awesome hearing that many people sing along to Hurt and Head Like A Hole. Jeordie seemed more animated than previous times I've seen them live and the band looked as though they were enjoying themselves. Aaron fell over during Survivalism which was funny, he fell backwards on his back with his feet in the air which seemed to piss him off so he threw his guitar and it knocked over his mic stand. Trent spoke a couple of times, the first time saying 'Thank you,' and talking about how they were happy to be playign Reading and about the surprising sunshine and that 'sometimes miracles do happen'. The second time he introduced Dead Souls. Hurt was completely phenomenal, it was great hearing it without having people yelling stupid stuff during the verses. The guy standing beside/next to me was given a copy of the set list and a green plectrum, that made me slightly jealous. After the show I was talking to people who weren't really familiar with NIN and they all said that the band were amazing.

Unfortunately I had to leave to get a train after NIN so I didn't get to see Smashing Pumpkins but I'm not particularly bothered about that (even though SP and NIN were the only reason I went (mainly NIN though)) because it was nice having NIN end the evening and I don't think anything could have topped that anyway.

It really was an incredible show.
fantasticben Master Traveler
Mon Aug 27, 2007 4:23 pm · #1146431
Screw the Smashing Pumpkins, NIN blew Corgan's shitty little self-indulgent guitar wank to hell.

Everyone got what they wanted; hits, new songs, volume, agression, lights. I've seen NIN 5 times this year and this was hands-down the best performance they've done in England. Made Reading's otherwise shitty lineup fantastic. They should have headlined. It was unbelievable.

When I was walking back people were yelling "Fuck Smashing Pumpkins, bring on Nine Inch Nails!"

Someone else said "I'd never heard of that Nine Inch Nails but that was the best fucking gig I've seen all year."

It was amazing. Absolutely incredible.
fantasticben Master Traveler
Mon Aug 27, 2007 4:25 pm · #1146434
breadandbutter wrote:Trent spoke a couple of times, the first time saying 'Thank you,' and talking about how they were happy to be playign Reading and about the surprising sunshine and that 'sometimes miracles do happen'. The second time he introduced Dead Souls.
Corgan quoted Trent saying "We're really humble to be back at Reading....Sometimes miracles do happen" - pissed me off because they were fucking awful. They got booed. You didn't miss much!
breadandbutter Master of the Ninth Arch
Mon Aug 27, 2007 4:34 pm · #1146442
Smashing Pumpkins got booed? *laughs* Yeah, I figured missing them didn't matter. But really, I watched every band on the main stage up to NIN and it was horrible. It was so strange having Nine Inch Nails follow Fallout Boy and Lostprophets, although I think it made NIN seem even more impressive by comparison, they made everyone else look (even more) shite. The other bands really pissed me off when they said stupid things, like Billy Talent saying 'this song goes out to my ex-girlfriend', and the guy in The Used saying how their music is better because it means something. Twats. And that crowd I had to suffer through! In-between sets when songs were played over the PA system, Joy Division was played the stupid kids didn't know who they were, the next song that came on was American Idiot by Green Day and everyone immediately starts dancing and saying things like 'this song is amazing!'. The stiupid fucking cunts. [/rant]
People with bad musical taste annoy me.
Watching Fallout Boy get bottled made me smile.
fantasticben Master Traveler
Mon Aug 27, 2007 4:43 pm · #1146450
breadandbutter wrote:Smashing Pumpkins got booed? *laughs* Yeah, I figured missing them didn't matter. But really, I watched every band on the main stage up to NIN and it was horrible. It was so strange having Nine Inch Nails follow Fallout Boy and Lostprophets, although I think it made NIN seem even more impressive by comparison, they made everyone else look (even more) shite. The other bands really pissed me off when they said stupid things, like Billy Talent saying 'this song goes out to my ex-girlfriend', and the guy in The Used saying how their music is better because it means something. Twats. And that crowd I had to suffer through! In-between sets when songs were played over the PA system, Joy Division was played the stupid kids didn't know who they were, the next song that came on was American Idiot by Green Day and everyone immediately starts dancing and saying things like 'this song is amazing!'. The stiupid fucking cunts. [/rant]
People with bad musical taste annoy me.
Watching Fallout Boy get bottled made me smile.
I wholly agree with you! Though I only endured 15 minutes of Lost Prophets to get a god spot 2 rows from the railing in front of Trent for NIN. So there :P.

I watched Fall Out Boy because my friends like them. They were terrible. To be honest, apart from NIN and Pumpkins it was a fucking terrible lineup. Pumpkins' fucking up the whole thing made the end a whole load worse too - I totally came down from a massive NIN high (the show was AMAZING). Corgan could do with a lesson from Trent, it seems. I was pleased to see the Lost Prophets' singer give a shout out to Trent though - teach those teenage idiots what real musical talent and showmanship is.
firefly1201 Bricklayer
Mon Aug 27, 2007 4:55 pm · #1146458
I only sat through Fall Out Boy and Lostprophets to get a good place for NIN, but seriously - why did someone choose to start a bottle fight? Not needed at all. And I was still being hit in the head repeatedly with bottles through Lostprophet's set, couldn't wait until it ended to be honest. And I noticed more people were dancing to American Idiot than Love Will Tear Us Apart as well. Urrgh.
Ah well, it was more than worth it for NIN in the end :)
owinn Grand Inspector
Mon Aug 27, 2007 4:57 pm · #1146459
fantasticben wrote:Screw the Smashing Pumpkins, NIN blew Corgan's shitty little self-indulgent guitar wank to hell.

Everyone got what they wanted; hits, new songs, volume, agression, lights. I've seen NIN 5 times this year and this was hands-down the best performance they've done in England. Made Reading's otherwise shitty lineup fantastic. They should have headlined. It was unbelievable.

When I was walking back people were yelling "Fuck Smashing Pumpkins, bring on Nine Inch Nails!"

Someone else said "I'd never heard of that Nine Inch Nails but that was the best fucking gig I've seen all year."

It was amazing. Absolutely incredible.
Hehe, I was with a bunch of people who had never seen Nine Inch Nails live before including my girlfriend and my brother who was saying to his mates "Owen says the intro to this concert is going to be HYPERPOWER! spelled out in capital letters and with an exclamation mark to emphasise it's awesomeness."
to which his mate replies "Sounds badass!" and it was indeed (see video above!)
I used to torture my brother with NIN songs from a young age and his final comment was "I think because you used to play this shit all the time when we were kids I used to think "bloody NIN" but now I see how fucking brilliant they are."

NIN could have very easily sucked last night but they impressed a lot of people from what I could gather.


Oh god, The Used... you could tell how bad they sucked by the fact that after only a few songs they decided to just play songs for their fans. Most of the people around me were yelling at them to fuck off.
somewhat_KNACKERED
Mon Aug 27, 2007 6:02 pm · #1146517
NIN was fucking fantastic!
Dunno how the fuck i got to the center of the front barrier but it was fucking worth it.
I didn't mind listening to FFAF and Lostprophets cos i quite like um [please don't hate me] but fall out boy REALLY pissed me off, still made it easier to push the lil emo's out of the way :)

I saw aaron fall over in head like a hole and have a diva moment, trent just smiled at that hahaha.

Amazing set list, still surprised trent didn't do ANYTHING from the fragile, i thought starfuckers would have gone down nicely :)
And whats even better is my mates [who only went for razorlight and other shite] even said how fucking amazing it was, showed up every other band there!

Got some videos too, just uploading um, i'll post when there up.
Fraser Mc
Mon Aug 27, 2007 10:44 pm · #1146759
Best NIN performance I have seen aoaret from them at the Glasgow Barrowlands in 2005. they were fucking incredible, amazing setlist, and the whole crowd singing Hurt was like a religious moment or something ahaha.
To be honest I liked every band on the mainstage lineup before the gig, I am into emo/punk rock as well as metal industrial, so I just went with it, I thought The used were quite good, but Fall out Boy played the worst show I have seen them play. I thought Lostprophets were fucking amazing, but NIN blew everyone off stage. They should have headlined.
metropolis Master ad Vitam
Mon Aug 27, 2007 11:06 pm · #1146778
This weekend has been fucking chaotic.

First losing my VIP Guest ticket i got for free and various scares over the course of my time there. I was also extremely let down by very shitty sound quality and was basically expecting a bog standard gig even for NIN.

They came on and blew my mind. The sound was precise, exactly on key and time, every one of them looked brilliant and healthy, they played Dead Souls (which i never thought i would see live), TGD with some heavy beats at the end incorperated into it and the crowd atmosphere was buzzing. I have never danced so hard in my life- and i did it all in bare feet.


The hair pulling, feet treading, bra undoing, punching, banging and pushing in the crowd was more than worth every second of it. Was slightly gutted that no Fragile songs were really played, but what with the cd collections under Trents belt i guess you can't do it all after so long.

Sadly i missed the on-stage antics, because i couldn't see the stage or screens despite being 2 rows from the front, thanks to being short.



But i was delighted to be here this year- what a perfect gig.
Thanks guys- you were on top form and sounded the best i've heard live for a while.
gyuri Master of the Ninth Arch
Tue Aug 28, 2007 7:02 pm · #1147591
i loved it too.... great concert / lovely weather / lots of beer etc. / cheap ticket

i think they sounded and played a bit better @ the sziget festival 2/3 weeks ago but it was lovely as well
Jeedan Bricklayer
Tue Aug 28, 2007 9:30 pm · #1147710
This was the one of the best gig experiences I have ever seen in my life. RHCP the night before were a massive dissapointment for everyone in my camping gorup. They just looked like they really didnt want to be there. So we had kind of muted expectations for NIN.

We got there a little late and were coming through the arena gates when BOTE was playing, so when Survivalism kicked in we were literally running through the arena jumping over people to get to the front (I fins its always quite easy to near to the front for big gigs if you just go in through the side where the crowd is thin)

Awesome, awesome show. Old songs New songs, Energy, Lights, Bass that grinsds into your chest. All through Hurt you could see on the big screen that Trent was trying to keep this huge shit eating grin off his face.
snakepit_uk
Tue Aug 28, 2007 10:17 pm · #1147734
best gig i have seen ever.
Aftermath Bricklayer
Fri Aug 31, 2007 8:08 am · #1149665
Best show I've ever seen. Seriously fucking immense. Left two songs into SP, because they just didn't stand up against NIN - and I adore me some SP. Just so damn good. Constant goosebumps.