Nine Inch Nails' farewell tour
Nine Inch Nails founder Trent Reznor is, by all accounts, pretty happy these days. Better late than never: Reznor, 44, has spent the past 20 years writing some of the most punishing, self-hating, miserablist music of the alternative era. So it makes sense that his relatively newfound happiness—he’s engaged to West Indian Girl’s Mariqueen Maandig—coincides with what is ostensibly Nine Inch Nails’ final tour: the so-called NIN/JA tour with Jane’s Addiction and Street Sweeper Social Club, which came to Charter One Pavilion Friday night.
Because Jane’s will headline Lollapalooza in August, they had a night off, and the two-band bill offered a sort of rock ‘n’ roll circle of life: one group being born and another dying. The former, Street Sweeper Social Club, is a new band anchored by Tom Morello of Rage Against The Machine/Audioslave and Boots Riley of long-running hip-hop outfit The Coup. Buoyed by a drummer, bassist, and another guitarist, SSSC sounds exactly like what the pairing would promise: Morello’s groovy guitar laying a foundation for Riley’s deft lyricism. Considering both men’s long activist histories, their union makes complete sense—but it’s just not that interesting. Over the years, Morello has honed an instantly recognizable guitar style; it’s an achievement to craft a sound that will never be mistaken for someone else, but Morello seems uninterested in straying from it. The chunky riffs that anchor every SSSC song (and RATM song for that matter) eventually make them difficult to distinguish, and though Riley remains a firebrand, it was hard not to wish The Coup were performing instead. Maybe the sound will be more effective on record; SSSC’s debut drops June 16.
On the other end of the circle of life was Nine Inch Nails, bowing out (of touring, at least) after two decades. Last hurrah or not, Reznor is not a sentimental man, and there was no reminiscing or watery-eyed curtain calls on a chilly night: just another solid set, no encore. Reznor barely talked until after the seventh song (The Downward Spiral’s “The Becoming”), when he said, “Are you keeping warm? It’s a summer tour—I didn’t bring my ski mask.”
When Reznor finally acknowledged the supposed finality of the night, it was with a matter-of-factness that betrayed no emotion. “On that note, this is our last tour,” he said before “The Day The World Went Away.” “We’ve had a good run.” He thanked the crowd several times, but kept the whole matter beyond arm’s reach, expressing his gratitude with the professional cool of a man closing a business deal.
The calm, soft-spoken Reznor who appeared between songs lay in stark contrast to the Reznor in the music, a man whose seeming hatred for the world and contempt for God is outpaced only by his hatred for himself. Nine Inch Nails’ set offered a parade of loathing and longing, emphasizing the group’s more aggressive material, like “March Of The Pigs,” “Wish,” “Mr. Self-Destruct,” “Burn,” “The Hand That Feeds,” and others. Although Reznor brought the mood down for an especially haunting version of The Downward Spiral’s “Hurt” (as close as Nine Inch Nails gets to a sing-along ballad), the night ended where Nine Inch Nails began: “Head Like A Hole,” the band’s first single from its 1989 debut, Pretty Hate Machine.
After playing “Head Like A Hole” for what probably felt like the millionth time, Reznor and company walked off stage, and that was that. Reznor has spent his career epitomizing the tortured-artist archetype, but his cool detachment Friday night showed his readiness to let go of that persona. At 44, it’s time to be someone other than Mr. Self-Destruct.
Reznor back in the angry ol' days:
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