Having seen Nine Inch Nails in Birmingham earlier this year, before they postponed the rest of that tour, I had high expectations for seeing them again little more than six months down the line.  So just after nine o'clock the lights went down and, after a brief intro, Trent Reznor appeared and the band started with “The Beginning Of The End” from their latest album Year: Zero and followed up with a trio of old favourites in the shape of “Heresy”, “Terrible Lie” and “March Of The Pigs”. 

As with so many bands Nine Inch Nails are far heavier live than on CD, with the music losing some of the keyboards and gaining more crunching guitars thus, even after the opening salvo of songs, the intensity of the gig remained high as the band blasted through  “Closer”, “Happiness In Slavery” and “Survivalism”.  Inevitably though the tempo had to slow occasionally and this was the case as Reznor & co then served up “Me, I’m Not”, giving them the opportunity to fully utilize the lighting set up that had been employed at the Reading festival. Lowered from the ceiling to sit behind Trent Reznor and guitarist Aaron North, the set up consisted of rows of lights the full width of the stage, appearing almost like a giant TV screen adding a varying display of flashing lights in accompaniment to the music.  This was about an hour into the show and it was at this point that things dipped slightly. A lot of the typical NIN keyboard jamming ensued, along with a couple of slower numbers introduced into proceedings meant that, sadly, the band lost some of the momentum that had been built up and it wasn’t until they played “Only” and “Wish” that the atmosphere in the hall really came back to life. 

It needs to be remembered that the NIN shows are not just all about the front man, with the other band members also doing their best to keep the crowd entertained. Noticeably North, who flung himself around the stage to good effect like a stereotypical rock star, using his mic stand and speaker as a slide for his guitar, as well as boldly hurling himself bodily into the crowd clearing the first few rows. Once the gig was back in full flow it was faultless from thereon in. Another new song “The Good Soldier” made its appearance along with “Down In It” from Pretty Hate Machine before they finished with a flurry: “The Hand That Feeds” and “Head Like A Hole” got the whole crowd jumping and singing before the now legendary “Hurt” finished proceedings off with the light screen giving a falling stars effect behind a lone Trent Reznor on keyboards and the crowd singing along to every word. 

Although overall this gig did not quite live up to the Birmingham performance from earlier in the year, in my opinion NIN still rate as one of the best live bands around at the moment and I for one am looking forward to the next time they come to the UK.