ETS Tour Journal

Post if you were at tonight's show.

Setlist I think (not quite in the right order):
The Way Out is Through
Wish
Something I Can Never Have
I Do Not Want This
Gone, Still
The Frail
The Wretched
Non Entity
Lights in the Sky
The Downward Spiral
Hurt

It was a quiet set, the crowd wasn't very into it due to the lack of hits and heavy stuff but I enjoyed it a lot.

Really enjoyed the setlist. Beautiful choice of songs, and I loved that it was a middle finger up to a festival that they were clearly above. Very happy to hear LITS. Opening with The Way Out is Through worked really well. The set was 100% in daylight, which would have been bizarre if it was a faster paced set.

It was really something hearing songs like TDS and Gone, Still in cloudy daylight, with a slight breeze running over you. It felt peaceful in spite of the crowd, and I'm sure I spent a lot of the set with my eyes shut and a dopey smile on my face.

I was lucky to be largely surrounded by those who liked/respected Nine Inch Nails, apart from the odd person who kept shouting for Metallica. I was tempted to cause GBH, but it wasn't worth losing my barrier spot.

Many thanks to the Metallica Fan Club members (a few of whom read this board, I understand) who looked after me tonight, and at Werchter. They really helped to make these festivals fun and safe.


Glad I went, but glad it's not my last show.

Elsewhere in the festival: Machine Head making 20 circle pits at once, Fred Durst going on about Trent Reznor's influence on him, before playing that song that quotes all the NIN songs, Justin and Trent watching the LB set from the side of the stage - I'm guessing out of morbid curiosity like the rest of us.

Loved the set. Hated the crowd.

Well I just got home and have to say that I was a little dissappointed by the set list.
I was further back in the crowd as needed to make a quick get away after NIN and the people around me were really not into it. Even as a fan I found myself just leaning against a barrier and staring into space towards the end.

Do not mis-understand me- I fucking loved the playing, the band is tight, Trent's voice was perfect and it was interesting to hear different songs- but were they suitable for a festival? I couldnt believe it when I heard Hurt and then....well that was that. It seemed like an anticlimax to me- considering the build up from LB and how many NIN fans were in the audience. After wicked metal sets from Lamb of God and Machine Head NIN could have blown them and us all away but didnt get anywhere close. It does take some balls to play a set like that at a festival and that shows the sheer goodness of the current NIN line up but they could have done so much more.
And was it just me or did they not play the full set they were allocated? They were supposed to play an hour and only just played 50 mins.

On another subject I was totally stoked to see Machine Head- its been a few years since I have seen them and they totally rocked it. All the old faves with some newer tracks thrown in and the crowd was totally into them. I rocked out a little too much and may have done myself an injury! Plus I am totally sunburnt! I have to say that the event seemed a bit badly organised, I missed Paradise Lost waiting for my mate who couldnt get a bus from the station for nearly 2 hours!!

Something I Can Never Have was beautiful, my favourite of the show. They finished 10 mins early though? was very very short.

It was a shame about some nobs who I can remember saying "This is a rock concert whats up with the piano solo's". In which someone rightfully replied "Limp Bizkit is that way".

Was glad to hear some of the rarer songs like LITS, SICNH and I Do Not Want This, but also pleased I went London aswell which had the more pumped up atmosphere.

trent on nin.com wrote:We played a purposely quiet, intimate set. I figured it would either enrage or baffle the metal audience... but to our amazement it went over great!
Really fun set to play in that environment.

http://forum.nin.com/bb/read.php?21,800 ... msg-800327

I enjoyed the set and had a bit of a giggle at Trent being a smart-ass with it.
Battered from that circle pit during Machine Head and fucking nackered too.

A very weird set, it just didnt seem to be one or the other, the heavier songs were incredible, I Do Not Want This, The Wretched etc, and the quieter songs were, well, amazing, but as a setlist it didnt gel or set any atmosphere at all. Neither heavy not "the quiet set" that has been mentioned, just eratic and confused. The general vibe though seemed to be not that it was a "different" set but more that it was very very short, at least 10 mins short of their allotted time.
The band played great, and it was was great to hear a couple of songs I hadnt heard before but by midway through the set almost everyone around was either engaged in conversation between themselves or on the phone, or just walking out of the front area.

Very very weird indeed.

Was funny reading the comments on the NIN forum though about "if theyd have played a heavier set theyd have upstaged the headliners", lol. Yeah, ok...

What an unusual festival set! The perfect counter-point to the O2 show a few weeks ago. I was expecting an abbreviated version of that set, but I think there were only three or four songs in common between the two. My seventh NIN gig and they played three songs I’ve never seen before – The Way Out is Through, I Do Not Want This and Lights in the Sky. Really didn’t expect that. I expected LitS so little that I thought it was a brand new song for the first 30 seconds!

For all the talk of this being a quiet set, Trent really went for it during Wish and IDNWT. He was fully out of breath and had to pause briefly after those two. SICNH was as intense as I’ve ever seen it, and the audience sing-along during it was fantastic.

Speaking of the crowd, I thought it was great. You’re always going to get a few drunken idiots, shit you get that at a NIN headlining show, but I thought they were in the vast minority, and nearly everyone around me (a couple of metres back from the front) seemed to be viewing the show with awed reverence. Clearly Trent is held in high esteem by the metal community as much as the alternative crowd, which was great to see.

The band was fantastic, and my second time seeing them confirms my feeling that this is the best line-up at least since Fragility, and possibly ever. Justin playing the cello was quite something.

One thing I would say is that I had some friends with me who aren’t at the same level NIN-fan-wise, and they didn’t get that much from it. They really respected the performance, but a few more of the well-known songs would have made it more memorable for them.

Anyway, I loved it. Great to have an action-packed performance in London and a calmer, more intimate (albeit at a festival!) goodbye yesterday.

Oh, and I think this is the setlist in the correct order:

The Way Out is Through
Wish
I Do Not Want This
Something I Can Never Have
Gone, Still
The Frail
The Wretched
Non Entity
Lights in the Sky
The Downward Spiral
Hurt

Sonisphere 09 review: http://www.jdale.net/sonisphere-09/

Apparently, Trent's stance before going onstage was ‘fuck Metallica’s crowd, they’re getting what I want to give them’. (Source)

Personally I enjoyed the set, even though from where I was standing it felt like I was the only one who was.

A photo of the actual set list: http://twitpic.com/cjid2

I might try ordering all of those numbers from a chinese take out and see what I get!

I thought it was an 'odd' choice for a festival set list, but TR has always been a truculent bastard!

A few songs that I' never seen played live before, so that was a bonus for me. I thought at the time that the set list was a definite fuck you. I wasn't sure whether it was the starting time, allotted length set or the metal crowd. I thought it was a strange choice of festival, mind you.

I enjoyed the show, bit strange seeing them in day light where the light (show) had little or no effect.

Also, Metallica's roadies warming up were louder than NIN (volume wise), could seriously hear a lot of chattering and that was right down the front.

Glad I went, as I couldn't get a ticket for the O2 gig & not seen this incarnation of NIN before, but the set list didn't really give me much insight as to what (extremes) they are capable of.

Saw them first time around @ the Astoria & now it has come to this...been great 'growing up' with you NIN - cheers.

I'm suprised they even played without being headliners. Best band there that weekend, only other band that came close were skindred. Metalica made me yawn too much so I collected cups instead and made a small fortune.

Very nice quiet setlist, would of been great in a small inimate venue. Hoping one day trent will make whole albums is that style

I am a MASSIVE Nine Inch Nails / Trent Reznor fan but have to say I was thoroughly disappointed with his decision to play a setlist @the SONISPHERE FESTIVAL that predominately consisted of his more intimate insular material - I think this was a BIG mistake and an insult to many NIN fans who couldn't make the much touted O2 show.

It was billed as NIN's last ever UK / European show and he went out quietly with his stubborn tail firmly planted between his legs in what I consider to be a very pretentious show of misguided defiance apparently purposely designed to enrage / baffle the Metallica audience.

Don't get me wrong, it was fantastic to hear 'Something I can never have' and 'TDS' but I can't help feeling short changed. They didn't even fill the full alotted set time and left the stage a good 10 - 15mins early. To me this shows a massive lack of respect towards the NIN fans who made the effort to come out and support them.

He has disappointed me yet again and this coupled with the FACT that he hasn't made a TRULY GREAT record since 1994 leads me to suspect that he knows he has lost it and is most likely the reason why he wants to lay the dying beast that is NIN to bed now.

I know this post will probably recieve massive criticism from people who think Trent Reznor is a God - he is not, he is just a man who makes wrong decisions just like you & I.

Yeah youre quite a whiney little bitch. Totally gutted that nobody here has had to put up with you before and wont again. Seriously. Gutted.

Anyway. I really enjoyed the show.

I was HOPING for a manic set full of heavy songs, but instead got a really nice set. The metallica fans who i was with enjoyed it a lot more than they did the werchter set, though they do not represent everyone of course! But two who really didnt think much of the last set liked that one a lot. Another made the excellent point that NIN managed to pretty much silence an audience of metal fans for the best part of an hour, which is quite an achievement, eh?

monkey arse wrote:Yeah youre quite a whiney little bitch. Totally gutted that nobody here has had to put up with you before and wont again. Seriously. Gutted.

Anyway. I really enjoyed the show.

I was HOPING for a manic set full of heavy songs, but instead got a really nice set. The metallica fans who i was with enjoyed it a lot more than they did the werchter set, though they do not represent everyone of course! But two who really didnt think much of the last set liked that one a lot. Another made the excellent point that NIN managed to pretty much silence an audience of metal fans for the best part of an hour, which is quite an achievement, eh?

heh, no-one but me and my mate were silent where I was standing, everyone near me was sitting having a drink and a chat or phoning a friend. Scary thing was I could hear every word cause the set was so quiet!

Okay, if you don't consider The Fragile a great record you need to go fuck yourself and pay someone to disembowel you swiftly. You will get no love here so fuck off. Competing with metal bands is worthless. What Trent did was the right thing for a festival of this type because honestly NIN fans were not in the majority.

Year Zero and Ghosts definitely have their merits as great albums, too. With Teeth is what it is and The Slip is a going away give away that is quite good on its own.

You go away now.

In fact, if you look at the setlist as titles to a book you might garner that he is trying to tell you something.

C. wrote:Okay, if you don't consider The Fragile a great record you need to go fuck yourself and pay someone to disembowel you swiftly. You will get no love here so fuck off. Competing with metal bands is worthless. What Trent did was the right thing for a festival of this type because honestly NIN fans were not in the majority.

Year Zero and Ghosts definitely have their merits as great albums, too. With Teeth is what it is and The Slip is a going away give away that is quite good on its own.

You go away now.

Who the fuck are you talking to?

Not you.

The broken arm.

'hasn't made a great record since 1994'