A U C K L A N D 2 1 . 1 . 0 0
C O N C E R T R E V I E W S
21st January 2000. - Written by 'Sky ' [me]
For the first year of the annual 'Big Day Out' it had been a sell out with thousands of people lining up at record stores throughout Auckland the day before wanting the last lot of tickets available.Apparently causing small riots, when thousands were turned down.
I personally am not one to leave something like this to the last minute and i had my ticket about a week after they went on sale which was back in october of last year.
The lineup for this year was strong with some of the best bands in the world today headlining. NIN, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Foo Fighters,
Chemical Brothers, and i hate to say Blink 182.
Anyway it was a scorching hot day and many of us were stupid enough to attend dressed in black clothes which made us die in the heat.
The first band we really paid attention to was Atari Teenage Riot who were on at the hottest time of the day, around 1:00pm. I didnt really know what to think of them....some of it was alright but at times i just wanted to smash the singer in the face cause he wouldnt shut up about revolution and crap like that.I think they had more people laughing at them than cheering for them.
There really wasnt enough decent bands on during the day and it got kind of boring after a while.We tryed having a look in the 'Boiler Room' dance tent where the DJ'S were doing there thing and although the lighting and strobes were amzing the "music" that was heard didnt impress me much and we decided that this wasnt the place for us.
Anyway it was about 5:00pm and NIN wasnt due on till 8:00pm so we decide to wait around the stage where NIN were due to play in 3 hours.
I decided that it would be better to wait at the front of the stage so we could be garanteed of a good front row spot.the next 3 hours were the longest 3 hours of my life.I stood at the front of the main stage for 3 hours watching New Zealand bands like The Feelers, and Shihad [who fucking rock. www.shihad.com ] and eventually finally the last band before NIN, The Foo Fighters. who were as pansy as ever. na they were good i suppose.
Ok the crowd was really starting to build up and most of the 45,000 were now on the main field waiting for either NIN or The Red Hot Chili Peppers. I had the best view. Front.Dead center. Right where Trent Reznor would be standing in just a short time.
A chant of TRENT started as everybody realised that Foo Fighters had since left the stage.During the Foo Fighters we had been watching the roadies set up the stage for NIN and a huge cheer went up as Jerome Dillon's drum set made its way onto the stage as well as Charlie Clouser's Synths.
As soon as the Foo Fighters left the stage a jet of smoke from the smoke machine filled the stage and the first Nail out was Jerome Dillon who looked like an extra zombie from 'night of the living dead'
A huge cheer went up as Danny Lohner and Robin Finck wandered out and gazed at the massive crowd before them covered in what it looked like to be flour or something. They ripped into 'Head Like A Hole' and emerged Trent Reznor from the side of the sateg with his custom red 'Fragile designed' guitar. At this point i was stunned, i coudnt move and i was just in shock. There they were. Like 3 meters away. The best band in the world.I couldnt beleive it.They started off electrifiying. I didnt really expect them to start with HLAH, I thought maybe something off The Fragile. But anyway im not one to complain.
The mosh wasnt as hardcore as i expected up at the fron ...maybe cause nobody could actually move anyway.including me being stuck to the railing with 40,000 screaming fuckers jammed up against me.The second song was 'Terrible Lie' ....i wondered why they were playing 2 songs from Pretty Hate Machine in a row....i thought about this even more when they launched into 'Sin' next. When they played 'Piggy' Trent took the oppurtunity of meeting some fans when he jumped down off the stage and came up to us but he was met by a wall of huge ass security guards who wouldnt let him near us. He then later threw the Mic into the crowd where fans took it and begun screaming into it which prompted the sound guys to turn it off.The end of piggy gave Trent the oppurtunity to launch into 'The Frail' then into the masterpiece titled 'The wretched' I managed to cling on the the mic cord and had a tug of war with the security guard - he won.
'March Of The Pigs' was one to remeber because of the sheer intensity of Trent's vocals aswell in the song 'No,You Dont'. The song 'Wish' was another fucking good one, Robin Fincks electrifying guitar parts,and jerome, hammering on his kit like it was his last fucking show.One that i hadnt heard much before was 'Get Down Make Love' but that still was a fucking gem.The crowd errupted when the infamous chorus of "closer" rocked the stadium. Thousands of people screaming "i wanna fuck you like an animal" was amazing.
The show was intense..it was the greatest thing i have ever seen in my life. I thought last year when Marilyn Manson rocked the Big Day Out was something but Manson are nowhere as near good as NIN live.Besides manson only played 8 songs compared to NIN's 15 or so 'greatest hits' set.
I made eye contact many times with Trent as i screamed the lyrics back at him. Starfuckers,inc. was a crowd pleaser and by this time it had gotten dark and the lighting and smoke made it quite a scene. especially with the white curtain as the backdrop and the oufits worn by the band. Trent thanked us and said that Red Hot Chili Peppers were up next and said that they are one of their favourites
The show was perfect there were no mistakes with sound or lighting actually the lighting was as good as it gets. [ Oh actually at the start of HLAH the mic wasnt working so Trent grabbed another mic on stage and begun.] talk about impressive. Finishing with 'Hurt' was the best moment for me because i remeber watching Trent giving everthing into this song and eventually ending up in tears at the end of it.Very emotional for Trent and for me cause i never wanted them to end.As in as much pain as i was, i still never wanted them to end.
Trent said thank you to us and other stuff which i couldnt hear as they left the stage and disappeared behind the curtain.The crowd erupted in a huge chant of "WE WANT MORE". But due to the time they couldnt even if they wanted to cause the Red Hot Chili Peppers were due on stage any minute.well i was emotional as well cause it was the best thing i have ever seen and i have been to alot of real good shows like Metallica,Pearl Jam,Marilyn Manson,Faith No More and Radiohead but nothing can compare to Nine Inch Nails.
The Set List :
Head Like A Hole
Terrible Lie
Sin
March Of The Pigs
Piggy
The Frail
The Wretched
No,You Dont
Gave Up
Even Deeper
Into The Void
Wish
Get Down Make Love
Starfuckers,Inc.
Closer
Hurt
If you havent seen NIN live you are missing the best experience,the show is electrifying and is pure intensity,every song.
I have some really good shots of this concert but i dont know how to scan them so i'll get my mate to do it.and also i am getting a bootleg of this show soon hopefully.
Sky - 29.1.00
[ sorry i could write a whole lot more but im kind of tired ]