Scenestar

BY OSCAR RANGEL

JULY 19 | INGLEWOOD—Although Los Angeles has its fair share of secret shows, there’s still an aura of mystique when attending one, especially one of this caliber. Nine Inch Nails surprised fans in Los Angeles by announcing that they would have an intimate warm-up show right before their upcoming U.S. tour. Speculation arose as to which intimate venue it would be. The Troubadour? Spaceland? The Echoplex? The Wiltern? Turns out it was the Forum in Inglewood, and The Scenestar was lucky enough to attend this special event.

The show was scheduled for 3 p.m., and the venue was filled with fans from all over the U.S., including contest winners from radio station promotions and those who found tickets in the Nine Inch Nails Google Earth scavenger hunts in Los Angeles. Tickets from the hunt were hidden anywhere from drainage pipes in Griffith Park to local cemeteries.

At 3:40 p.m., the lights went dark and cheers filled the room. It was show time. Right away, you could see the reason why the show wasn’t at a small venue—the lighting. In one of the most intricate stage designs I’ve ever seen, a super huge set-up descended upon the stage and surrounded the band, as if at any moment the lights would consume them. Starting with “999999,” NIN performed while a wall of individual swiveling lights changed with each beat. Trent came on stage with guns blazing, sweating through his red T-shirt by the end of the song. Strobe lights to the side pulsated in rhythm with the drummer, already making it a visually stimulating show.

Even before you could start applauding for their intense effort on a song, NIN would quickly move on to the next, never slowing down or losing momentum. It wasn’t until a few songs in that something started changing in the stage set-up. The lighting was transforming. As if part of a sci-fi movie, the individual wall of stage lights started moving like a gigantic glowing snake slithering behind them. Even more amazing was that two walls descended down onto the performance. The audience soon found that these were custom video walls projecting some of the craziest special effects. The visuals ranged from a planet to, even more astounding, the middle of a jungle. In the jungle background, the trees that appeared behind the band had light special effects of rain descending on them. There also were clouds of virtual smoke that would fog up the wall in front and then magically part ways. The visuals were surreal, as if the crowd came into the show under the influence. In Los Angeles, where people are usually distracted by their cell phones, the audience here tonight was captivated by the show, where things changed so quickly that you could easily miss something visually stunning.

The show was more than two hours long, as NIN performed 30 songs. There weren’t many pauses or dialogue from Trent during the performance, but the few times he did speak were when he told the crowd, “Fuck you.” He was a bit friendlier later on, thanking people for making it to the dress rehearsal, asking how some got in and looking for the person who found the tickets in a graveyard. He mentioned there’s a more twisted hidden ticket coming down the line, but he wanted to surprise us with the location later on.

The venue gave a lithograph commemorating the event to the first 300 people out, so most left before the encore and others during the introduction to “Hurt.” But I stayed until the end, listening to the crowd reaction and taking in what I had just witnessed. It was one of those shows in which, despite the long set, you didn’t want it to end. Lucky for Los Angeles, the “Lights in the Sky” tour is just starting, and NIN is performing at the Forum on Sept. 6. If there is a show to rival Radiohead at the Hollywood Bowl, in terms of production and musical bliss, it would have to be Nine Inch Nails at the Forum.

Set List
999999
1000000
Letting You
Discipline
March of the Pigs
Head Down
The Frail
The Wretched
Closer
Gave Up
The Warning
The Great Destroyer
1 Ghosts I
6 Ghosts I
Piggy
Ghosts
The Greater Good
Pinion
Wish
Terrible Lie
The Big Come Down
Survivalism
8 Ghosts I
Only
The Hand That Feeds
Head Like A Hole

Encore:
Echoplex
The Good Soldier
The Beginning of the End
Hurt