ETS Tour Journal

If you were there, post. If you weren't, STFU. That is all.

I'm pretty sure the setlist was:


999,999
1,000,000
Letting You
Discipline
March of the Pigs
Head Down
The Frail
The Wretched
Closer
Gave Up
The Warning
Vessel
Ghosts (?)
Ghosts (?)
Ghosts (?)
Piggy
The Greater Good
Wish
Terrible Lie
Ghosts (?)
Survivalism
Only
The Hand That Feeds
Head Like a Hole

Echoplex
Reptile
Hurt
In This Twilight

A huge mahalo to the lighting guy who did an end run around the event staff, who were being huge assholes trying to shoo me away from the floor, just to give me the setlist.



They did NOT play God Given due to time constraints, so I've crossed it out on the setlist picture. There was also the usual Corona Radiata and Pinion.

It wasn't a great show for me, but that was mostly of my own making. I spent half the show buried in an LCD, and most of the rest looking around for event staff (who were fucking everywhere).

My favorite song of the night by far was Reptile. I haven't heard that since the Self-Destruct tour, and I was happy when I heard its noises start up, but I had no idea it would kick so much ass. Really incredible. I'll post a video of it later.

I was also very happy to see The Warning/Vessel, because I saw Me, I'm Not/The Great Destroyer last year. I was also surprised that we got The Wretched, given how many times it's not been played recently. I guess it came at the cost of God Given though.

Trent's voice was good for most of the night, but faltered during THTF. Bless him for trying the high notes in In This Twilight though.

As I expected, having been watching ticket sales on Ticketmaster, the floor was only about half full, and the lower reserved seats were only about a third full. They closed off the whole upper reserved section and kicked everyone out to the lower level. Trent made mention of the lack of people in his speech, but thanked us for being "the real deal." I think he was just being gracious. The show definitely could have benefitted from twice as many people being there. The pit looked relatively tame from where I was sitting. Oh well, the band came out and gave it their all, and for that, I thank them.

Now that I see they were going to play God Given, I'm even more annoyed. The venue sucked, the crowd was full of assholes. Should have just saved myself the trouble and gotten a seat ticket.

Reptile was really good. Trent was a total sweetheart, he WAS just being gracious because a lot of the people there did not deserve all the wonderful things he said.


NOTE TO SOME OF YOU PIT PEEPS: I've I've nicely moved out of the way of the pit three times, don't try to grab my arm and drag me in. Learn some fucking floor manners.

Oh and the E Center staff, fuck all of you. Learn how to do your jobs.

Ugh...I'm not anti-drugs to the max, but people smoking in the pit, while probably a fact of life in concerts, just bugs me. Even more so indoors.

God Given would have been amazing to hear, but I'm very glad The Wretched was done. One of my favorite oldies! Wish was also cool. I just wish more people would've gotten into it during Survivalism...

My first NIN concert and it kicked ass. I still don't understand why people always have to do the extreme pushing at every fucking concert but oh well. I was so glad they played Reptile!!! Also, I don't know if it has been at the other shows, but did anyone else see the woman's face that flashed on the screen for a split second towards the end of Vessel? Kind of weird. Anyway, favorite part of the show was Pinion/Wish/Terrible Lie, just kicked so much ass... Oh yeah, Deerhunter definitely ate ass

I was just thinking in the taxi on the way to the airport how bummed I am was the God Given wasn't played. Then to see it on the setlist bums me out even more.

They let the presale line into one hallway at about 5ish, which was nice because the sun was brutal. Pale people dressed in black sitting in the sun is never good. At about 6 they let us into this corridor that had a black curtain at the end. There was music playing, but I wasn't paying much attention because this was the second time that they changed the order of the line. When the music stopped and started again I realized it was THTF instrumental. Then Love Is Not Enough, about halfway through, and then they stopped, and then played the whole thing from the beginning. Both times instrumental only. The only thing blocking us from the floor was the curtain.

I was on the rail in front of Robin at the beginning of the show, but pushed almost all the way into the corner of the T barrier by the end of the show. The crowd was really rough. Apparently they don't do much pushing in Salt Lake City, so they have to do it all during the show. There was some girl in the corner on the other side of the barrier that had her tits hanging out, and all the security in front was too busy watching her to do their jobs. They gave out shitloads of water before the show started, and then hardly any once it started. When people were being pulled out of the pit, one guy was pulling, instead of having multiple people try to pull them up and then turn them so their feet wouldn't get stuck. Made it rough on the people on the rail and hard on the person getting pulled out when their feet were stuck. Although being in the front is great, I am looking forward to my seats in Oakland and LA.
I loved watching Robin. He is a bad ass mofo! He almost got nailed by a mic stand during MOTP, he sort of ducked out of the way. It might have been more of an exaggeration though. He plays a 12 string Gibson for The Warning and Vessel.
I finally got my first Wretched of the tour, and second night in a row of Reptile. The lights do the coolest thing during Reptile. And, the guitar solo rocks.
Got to go catch my flight. Time to Fly.

Yeah, it sucked that the entire back half of the arena was empty. The pit was weird since it had a t shaped barricade. I didn't think before choosing my spot in the intersection of the t right in front of trent... it was the worst crush I've ever had at a show (and this certainly isn't my first rail). The crowd was very rough in pushing. Maybe I was just in the worst place for the crush since it was the intersection of that t. Security gave all the water out within the first 1-3 songs and there was none when we truly needed it. I nearly passed out several times because I simply couldn't breathe due to the extreme crush! Sorry, I was one of the girls with the tits hanging out. I normally do wear tank tops to shows and I am not exposing myself but this crowd was brutal and I could barely breathe, let alone rein in the boobs. I was in the pic on nin.com taken during wish and half my damn bra cup is showing. Ugh. It was the other gal they were more distracted by... on the other side of the middle barricade. I had half my hand closed around the tambourine but a tall guy tried to grab it and it got knocked out of my hand. The guard went to pick it up and give it to me and another guard said something in that guys ear and then he put it under the shelf on the barricade... at the end of the show he gave it to that fucking cuntrag in the red headband and the jesus chest tattoo on the other side of the middle of the barricade. She wasn't anywhere NEAR it and that pissed me off pretty good.

The band was in top form despite the half or more empty arena. What crowd there was had amazing energy. I was thrilled to hear reptile, and Vessel is always one of my faves live. I want to see the big comedown sooo badly before this tour's done.

We had JUST gone to sleep when the "?" apparently came up. It was like 4 miles from our hotel. Fuck me. How disappointing!!!!!! I barely missed red rocks' envelope (by like 1 minute after it was found).

Okay, now that I've got some coffee in me, I can provide a short editorial of last night's performance.

I just really want TR and the crew to know how much I appreciate the work they put into this gig--the SLC performance was a tight, professional production. I might even say it was sort of glamorous, with all those lights. It was absolutely money well spent; I urge those of you going to future shows to bring friends and family not familiar with NIN to the show because they will certainly be impressed.

I had a seat, near the front and off to Robin's side. I could see the stage fairly well. I kept an eye on the pit activity, and from my point-of-view, it didn't seem like a lot was going on except pushing. I don't remember anything too crazy happening during the show except Trent almost nailed Robin in the head with his mic stand and Robin gave him a look like "DUDE!" Robin, btw, was so great. I love his style and I got absolute chills hearing Reptile played live (another thing I can cross off my bucket list!).

Trent blessed us with a rather lengthy speech after playing Echoplex (anyone have audio of this?) that ran along the lines of his concern that no one showed up to see them play (he was watching the crowd from behind the stage during Deerhunter) and that those who did show were "real" fans. I felt embarrassed by the half-full venue. Anyway, I had to shout "THANK YOU TRENT" at the top of my lungs after hearing that (my only fangirl moment). I really like hearing him talk and would have been happy if he had stood there and told us stories! I guess I just like his voice.

Personal highlights: Vessel's visuals and energy; the creepy visuals of The Greater Good (Trent face...aaaaaaahhhh!); the cool new arrangement of Only plus it's staticky visuals; Piggy; Reptile; the solid muscianship of each band member; the whole goddamn concert

Lowlights: no God Given ; asshole potheads and beer swilling douches all around me who only know the words to Closer, Head Like a Hole, and Hurt

Btw, Deerhunter was cool. I liked their vibe a lot. They aren't the splashiest of bands, but they were certainly not as shitty as some of the reviews have made them out to be. I think I'll look into some more of their stuff.

The band was fantastic but, as usual, the crowd was aggravating. Having a sing along is always fun, but I would love to hear Trent every now and then. Most of the lyrics are terrible enough without the drunken slurs.

I was trying to get wrapped up in Ghosts, too, but of course the people around me have to talk about how much they want "heavier, more upbeat (more swearing) stuff," because anything else sucks. It gets harder and harder every year to stomach some of the fans at these popular shows.

Set list was also everything I could have asked for, minus missing God Given. More Year Zero is always OK with me. Reptile and Wretched were big highlights.

All in all, Reznor has never been better at what he does. It's too bad he has to cater to so many riotous fans who would, well, riot, without the same palette of hits that have been played at every single show since his career took off. Nine Inch Nails is not Metallica. Some of us want to hear the new music.

some of us don't like the new music and want to hear the music that made him famous. Has any song really took off since Downward Spiral?

Byran wrote:some of us don't like the new music and want to hear the music that made him famous. Has any song really took off since Downward Spiral?

With Teeth hit new heights of popularity for Reznor. I'm not saying big bands playing their hits isn't common, but there are so many other songs I'm sure Trent would love to be playing other than Terrible Lie, Gave Up, etc. There are always around 10 given songs that have been that way since The Downward Spiral tour.

I'm tired of people who can't respect the music without getting hammered and belligerent and need their "comfort hits" to feel good about themselves at a concert. I am quite aware that I may be barking up the wrong tree in these forums, but I know there are others pining for some decency at shows like this.

The people screaming at Deerhunter to get off the stage prove my point exactly, as they are an acclaimed and brilliant band. Trent is great at choosing opening acts that don't serve the purpose of simply making him look better. Those same people were complaining during Ghosts.

There are so many concerts that I go to that 20-50 people show up to and have such a civilized, fun and interactive night. Get a couple thousand together and the screaming, unintelligent banter must be incessant.

I believe people who don't "like then new music," should curl up at home and listen to the "old music." Artists don't deserve to be restricted just because they had a bunch of teenage anthems earlier in their career. Studio recordings can apparently evolve, but live shows cannot?

I'm just saying that some fans, like me, hold a special memory of NIN back from our college days 91-96 and the older albums are more special to us then the newer ones (you got to agree though that Slip is nowhere near as good and complex as Downward Spiral but thats for a different thread)

Now I agree fans of the old shouldn't be dicks about hearing the new stuff. When I see them again, I'll calmly sit down through the first 4 tracks until the good stuff is played

I didn't go to the show, but I run this joint, so tough tittie. Anyway:

Bryan, on one hand, I understand where you're coming from, but the last couple of tours saw them playing copious quantities of material from the older catalog. In Europe, some shows had them playing nearly the entire Downward Spiral (and oh, how I wish I could have witnessed that)

Thing is, since they last toured the US, NIN put out three albums, one of which is a big old double album. The Slip translates exceptionally well live, and I LOVE what they're doing with the Year Zero tracks.

That's not even mentioning the fact that this is the longest set I think NIN has consistently played. It's also the least regimented, with the band going off the click track for a good portion of the show, and just jamming.

If you were a fan in 91, you've been around for at least nine different US tours ;) Maybe next time they come through town, swing past ETS and see what the setlist looks like before you head to the show.

Ya, thats why I'm here as I heard about the Nashville show so I'm here to check things out. Hope it gets re-added. I'll go regardless of the set list as it looks to be a fantastic show, I'm just being old and looking to the past instead of the future

And its not just NIN. I'm seeing Madonna in November (at my fiancee's request mind you) and am not looking forward the the Hard Candy songs (though I wish I would have caught her last tour as the Confessions album is pretty good)

Also saw Smashing Pumpkins recently for the first time since 93 and they did the same thing, played mostly new stuff with only about 2-3 songs from the older stuff. Good thing about them though is they are doing a Gish era tour in the future that will cater to mostly old stuff so that will be great.

Byran,

If you want to see a band from your college days play stuff only from your college days, then go see Rage Against the Machine.

My favorite U2 album is The Unforgettable Fire. That was the first tour I saw them on, and that was probably the first album that I completely lost myself in. The last album that I really liked was Achtung Baby. I have many reasons why I keep saying I am not going to go see them again, it is never because they might only play "Pride" from TUF. (Kinda like only playing "Closer" from TDS) I don't expect them to play more from it because they have seven albums after that.

People are nostalgic for things usually because they have an idealized notion of something from the past. That comes out of having grown and changed as a person. Recognize that artists grow and change as people and aren't in the same place they used to be. There have been five NIN albums since TDS. The last thing would want to see is a NIN show that is just phoned in, because then it would be like a U2 show.

As was expected, the audience last night was especially responsive to NIN's biggest hits, i.e. Hurt, Closer, THTF, etc.

I imagine as time goes on, these new songs from The Slip will get more love and energy from the audience. Although people weren't spazzing out to them like they did with Last, they did seem into them. For example, people were oohing and aahing Echoplex, and seemed excited when Trent was delivering Letting You. I personally think The Slip sounds better live than on the album.

I think the set list was great and well thought out. I'd like to think that most of us were happy to hear both old and new last night (don't complain Utahns--we got The Wretched, which was epic).

Okay, I'll come out and say it, I'm not a big Nine Inch Nails fan. My husband however, is. So I ended up going last night. Here was my take on the show:
Trent is amazing. His vocals are outta this world. I was so stunned by how amazing Robin is. I was sitting on Robin's side, so I watched him and Trent most of the night. I LOVED his style and his hair. I left with a new appreciation for NIN, and I'm glad that I went.
I'm so glad that we didn't go GA. The pit looked like a complete disaster and I swear that I even saw Billy Idol in the crowd. I don't understand why some people can't go without moshing.
It makes me mad to hear that people were yelling at Deerhunter to get off the stage. I wasn't a huge fan of their sound at the time (their recorded sound is good, but their live just didn't cut it for me). Every band deserves respect though, and I hate how lame some people can be.

I forgot to say earlier, $10 for parking?? Really? Seriously, between the crowds, the venue, and the event staff, I don't think I'm ever coming to Utah for a concert again.

On a happier note, here's a full video of Reptile, the best song that night, IMO.

http://www.vimeo.com/1669639

Tip: Click the download link in the bottom right of the page to download the full HD video.

The show was amazing. I tried like hell to get the set list but was D-Nyed!!! I tred so hard to remember the order of songs but by The Wretched I said "screw it" and just rocked out enjoying the whole experiance. The crush was pretty horrible. I brought my girl who is a little on the small side and was pulling me off to the side durring the first song because she couldnt breath so most of my view was from the side rail on Robins side.

On a side note, I got pretty damn irretated with everyone thinking they needed to record the whole thing from their point of view. I understand that you loved the show but for god sakes unless your in the stands keep your freaking phone or camera in your pocket. All it does is ruin everything that Trent and Co. put into this presentation by destracting attention with the view screen. It was a pretty horrible thing especially given the crap quality of the video you probably got.

The crowd and pit were quite weak. I was pretty disapointed to see it that small.

I'm super fired up for the Nampa show in December. All Salt Lakers.....ROAD TRIP IT!!! I think you will be pretty impressed with what kind of a crowd this city will bring.

^ Yeah, the Boise crowd the last time around was pretty good, however the venue was shite (chained seats?) and the event staff were too strict and rude. That and we don't know what the weather will be like that time of year.

Edit: dammit, top of the page

TheBang wrote:I forgot to say earlier, $10 for parking?? Really? Seriously, between the crowds, the venue, and the event staff, I don't think I'm ever coming to Utah for a concert again.

On a happier note, here's a full video of Reptile, the best song that night, IMO.

http://www.vimeo.com/1669639

Tip: Click the download link in the bottom right of the page to download the full HD video.

Damn, that vid is awesome quality. This show was completely fucking mind blowing. From both a musician and artist standpoint, definitely one of the most amazing things I've ever experienced. Do you have any other vid from the show?

^^^Please tell me you also recorded Survivalism... I'd love to see myself on the screen in this sort of quality!

This was my first Nine Inch Nails show and even though the venue wasn't sold out,I had an amazing time.

I got in line at about 11:00 or 12:00 and time kind of went by surprisingly fast.When it was about 2:00 or 2:30 a woman working there came out and told us it would be best if we moved the line to a different spot and pick up our presale tickets there.I think all it did was mess up the line order.We waited for another 45 minutes and then people were let in to pick up their tickets.Then we had to go line up where we were originally.Ugh.At that point it seemed people were just strolling up and cutting which irritated me slightly but I just let it go.

As akm said,they let the presale line into a hallway around 5:00 where we probably waited for an hour.It felt longer than that because we were stuck in there with an extremely obnoxious drunk woman that kept screaming things like "Trent you're soo fucking hot!!!","Take off your clothes Trent!!!",and "Soundcheck!!!" repeatedly.When they finally let us into the area with the curtain at the end,the staff cut groups of people off neatly into separate lines in the order in which they entered.The staff of course then confused people and messed up the lines again.As much as this all sucked,my highlight was when that guy yelled "Shut the fuck up!" at the drunk woman and everyone applauded. haha

They started letting people on the floor and I got on JMJ's side.I was one person behind the rail until a guy named Joe was kind enough to move over a bit and give me a spot on the rail.I'm so short that any other way would have been hard for me.If you're reading this,Joe,I think you're really awesome for doing that.

I was actually quite lucky to be surrounded by some cool people instead of assholes.Once the show started there was a guy on my other side and one behind me that kept apologizing for the pushing.I had to keep telling them it's okay but I think it's sweet they cared,though.Unlike some of the big baboons you get in there that are willing to hurt anyone just to get what they want.

There certainly was a big crush.My chest and ribcage were smashed up against the rail and sometimes it was rather hard to breath.Head Like A Hole was the most painful song to experience out of the whole setlist.I was actually starting to question if I could take it any more, but I stuck it out.
------------------------

I feel Trent and Co. really put on an incredible show.The visuals and the lighting effects were jaw dropping.The 6 hour drive and other expenses to see this was so worth it.

Major hightlights: The Wretched,Wish,Terrible Lie,Reptile, and In This Twilight.

Also,I really enjoyed Deerhunter.They have got a good sound and some of their stuff makes you want to move.By the way,is it just me or did someone throw a beer cup at the stage when they were on?.Why do people have to be so disrespectful?.

Survivalism in high-def ultra-realism. Special guest performance by FullmetalAlchemist!

http://www.vimeo.com/1698735

TheBang wrote:Survivalism in high-def ultra-realism. Special guest performance by FullmetalAlchemist!

http://www.vimeo.com/1698735

Oh my... I am a fucking dork! Thanks for sharing this gem!! I'll PM once I get the DAT uploaded.

FullmetalAlchemist wrote:Oh my... I am a fucking dork! Thanks for sharing this gem!! I'll PM once I get the DAT uploaded.

Haha, no way man. I thought it was cool how you were singing and doing the gestures and getting into it. It was so much better than the stiffs on the other monitors.

Thank you so much for those awesome quality videos! If you have any more from the SLC show, please do share! I really want to see some of the songs with the crazier visuals. Thanks again!

Such a great show. Please keep the videos and pictures coming!!!!!

TheBang do you have more of those videos? They are epic.

Wow. Just read through everybody's comments/replies here. Thanks so much for your hard work finding the setlist. I WAS THERE. I agree with most of you - here's my opinion. Sad God Given wasn't played. Amazed at the Light Show, at everything really. Sad that the audience wasn't full and yet glad to know I was one of the few that is the "Real Deal".

Best show of my entire life. Thanks for everyone's contributions.

This was the best fucking night of my life and it was the best motherfucking concert I've EVER been to in my ENTIRE LIFE.

Thanks to everyone who went and made the energy/atmosphere at the E Center THAT much better. NIN was so amazing. Unforgettable date for me. 09.03.2008 will stick with me forever.