Everyone had been waiting for the entrance of Trent Reznor at the Kia Forum, the clock hit 9:00, the eerie red lights went dark and instead of a loud ambiance, Reznor Started out quietly on the piano, softly singing to his audience. The usually loud crowd was silent, they watched Trent, mesmerized, listening to him perform NIN’s Right Where it Belongs. The Night started out with a faint piano and ended electrifyingly, thousands of people waited to see NIN live since their first concert way back \in the 90’s and now they can experience NIN live for their last tour, because it’s not just a concert, it’s a psychological experience.
The popular Industrial Rock band Nine Inch Nails was founded by Trent Reznor in 1988, Reznor pioneered the industrial rock genre as we know it today. Trent Reznor is mostly known for his electronic, angsty ,and eerie songs with his edgy lyrics that bring up sensitive topics of depression, drug abuse, and self harm on albums such as: The Downward Spiral, The Fragile, and Broken. These albums pushed the boundaries of modern music and have shaped who Nine Inch Nails are as a band. Nine Inch Nails gained widespread popularity during their performance at the music festival Woodstock in 1994 with the bandmembers skin and clothes covered in a sludge of both mud and leaking fecal matter from the music festival’s portable restrooms shocking the audience who had never experienced Trent’s erratic behaviour on stage. Although the band was largely popular in the Industrial Rock/Metal sub genre, Woodstock increased their popularity showing people that weren’t fans of industrial how visceral and raw a band like Nine Inch Nails was.
In our opinion key songs from the Nine Inch Nails tour setlist at the Kia Forum out of the 20 were: Wish, Reptile, Heresy, Vessel, Closer, Mr Self District, The Hand
That Feeds, and their final song, Hurt. Not only are these one of my favorites from NIN but they were all executed perfectly, the ambiance during each song was perfect, the flashing different colored lights, the sound quality of the instruments, the smoke, the projectors displaying different memorizing images, and most importantly Trent’s voice. When the white and purple lights flashed through the swaying ocean of bodies and smoke in the audience from Stage-B (the mini box stage) that’s when the excitement rushed from the spectators, everyone cheered as NIN’s most popular song slowly glitches and teases fans as they wait for the bass to drop. The Night ended with one of NIN’s more somber songs in their discography, Hurt. This song explores lyrics of self harm, drug addiction, depression, and self hatred, all feelings experienced by a young Trent Reznor, the song’s beautiful melody gave the audience a heartbreaking ending to a once in a lifetime experience.
Overall, NIN’s performance at the Kia Forum was one to be remembered. Trent brought forward such a memorable introduction with a very intimate setting using Trent’s incredible vocals and the mesmerizing effects used to bring the concert to life. The emotion this tour has invoked in big fans of Nine Inch Nails has the potential to be considered, “life changing” not only because many fans have waited their whole lives to experience a NIN concert but also because of how inspiring Trent Reznor’s story is, and it ultimately shows in this concert experience more than ever. This tour was arguably one of NIN’S best tour performances considering it was also one of their last. Being able to experience such a variety of emotions and feelings in one night is only something that NIN has the capability of achieving with their incredible discography, musical talent, and devout love for their fans. As Trent Reznor said, “I don’t take it for granted in the slightest”
