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5 months ago, i was upset. the nine inch nails tour dates had been announced, and i had tried and tried and tried to get tickets, but they sold out before i could get them. 4 months ago, i got one off of e-bay. hoho.
1 month ago, i learnt about a new fan club that the band were starting up, called "the spiral." this would allow fans to have webchats with the band, gain access to their own tickets for shows and lots of other cool shit. so 2 weeks ago, i signed up. 1 week ago, i got an e-mail from a personal e-mail address. it said that if i wanted to meet the band before the show on the 11th of july, i needed to meet some guy at the right entrance. i was dubious. but i was not going to pass up this chance.

the day of the gig came, and my dad gave me a lift. i had to meet this fella at 4:30. we got there at about 4:45. i thought i wasn't gonna get to see the band. nevertheless, i hung out around the back entrance waiting for the band to come out of the tourbus. as they did, we saw them wave to our small congregation and smile. i'll say one thing now. trent is really really short. i'm taller than him, i'm only 6ft. i asked around the small crowd about if they were members of the spiral or not. they all were, so i thought "fuck yeah!" i was even happier when a guy strode upto me and said:

"were you asked to meet someone here at 4:30?"
i nodded.
"what was his name?"
"...eric"
(i remembered from the e-mail)
"what's your name?"
"adam..."
"davidson?"
"yeah"
he looked at his list and smiled.
he checked off a name.
"well you're the last one on my list, buddy."
my heart lept. i was going in.

eric started rounding up the other spiral members in order to get them to come inside the venue with him. a young lad, about 17 or 18 sheepishly walked up to him and they started talking. from what i could grasp from their converstaion, this young man had indeed signed up for his membership, but his details were a bit late coming through, and thus he wasn't on the list. eric wouldn't let him in, and he looked really sad, really unhappy. that's when i realised something. i could get this kid in, as everyone had their pass and a guest pass, and i figured my dad wouldn't want to go in, so i gave to this lad. the look on this guys face when i gave him my guest wristband was amazing. he was so happy and grateful. we all walked, past the ever growing queue, round to the front entrance of the venue, where eric somewhat mysteriously announced, "everyone with a yellow wristband? follow me." and we did. he gave us a bit of a talk before we went into the venue. he told us we were to see the end of the soundcheck, and then the band would come down and say hi and sign stuff for us. our collective jaws all dropped.

me and the dude i'd got in on my guest pass (never caught his name) got in first. we saw the venue floor, then the stage, with instruments set up. my new friend said "shit, there's nine inch nails on that stage!" and we both gleefully trotted to the barrier, and firmly planted ourselves right opposite the middle of the stage. at that point trent reznor was around 10 metres away from us, and was fiddling about on a piano. he then began to play the frail - a short piano intro. it was somewhat intoxicating to see one of my favourite songs being played by the man who had written it right in front of me. after he played that, the band kicked into gear and started to play the wretched - the song that the frail is an intro to. trent strode up to the mic, and began to sing. he was so close, we could hear his voice through the air as opposed to through the mic. the band then played several songs, dead souls, love is not enough, and a part of the big comedown. it was truly amazing to see the band playing love is not enough so close, it was indescribable.

after the soundcheck, the band came offstage and began coming upto us and saying hi and signing stuff. geordie was first, and i though he was a little miserable, he just said "hi, how are ya?" to everyone and signed a few things. i got the same feeling from jerome, the drummer, he didn't seem interested at all, but the rest of the band, trent, aaron (guitarist) and the guy who does all the synths and samples and what-have-you were really nice to us.
the keyboardist was really happy to see us, gave us all a warm handshake and started telling us how us brits really rip it up and how it was really hot the night before.
aaron talked to me about how he gets the sound for the big comdown on guitar, and told me what sort of guitars and effects he uses which was really cool of him because i bet he gets asked about that all of the time.
trent went round pretty quickly, signing everything and just smiling and saying hi. i just told him that he had made some of the best music i'd ever heard and that he'd really touched me. he shook my hand and said that it meant a lot to him. again, i'm sure he's got that a lot, but it seemed to me that he actually still values that sort of praise, which is an admirable quality from a man who has been in the public eye for around 15 years. there are a lot of rumours about trent being stuck up, arrogant, hard to get on with. this is absolute rubbish, from my short introduction the only feeling i got from the guy was that of feeling welcome in his presence, and that he is very gentle and softly spoken. it felt great to actually meet the band and talk to them. i wish more rockstars were like those guys, and actually spent time with their fans, even after they become millionaires.

when me and my new friend came out, we were smiling, then a few steps out of the building we just looked at each other, cracked up and hugged each other. we then went to the pub.

because we were still wearing our wristbands, we got into the venue 10 minutes early, and thus, i was the 3rd person in, and i took up my place at the barrier once more. there i would stay for the next 3 hours.
as the crowd grew, i could feel the heat rising. it was gonna be hot in there once NIN started playing.

there was only one support act, and he was saul williams, a politically motivated rapper with a real talent and passion. think zack de la rocha, and then make him black, and you've got it. he was really cool, got the crowd nice and warmed up, was perfectly cynical, and was poetic in everything he did. the crowd cheered at everything he said that related to them, and it was a really good introduction for the evening. i was certainly entertained, and i will certainly check his stuff out once i get some money!

once saul had left, the crowd grew stronger still, and the temperature rose more and more. i was happily squashed up at the front. it was so good being so close to the action. nine inch nails came onstage to riotous approval from the crowd, and played a set that surprised and delighted me.

the band walked on to a sample of beside you in time off of the new album with teeth, and with no further ado, they opened with an energetic rendition of terrible lie which was followed by you know what you are? and the line begins to blur off of the new album. their beginning attack was finished with march of the pigs, which was one of the highlights for me, trent throwing himself around like it was the first time he'd performed the song.

the order of the rest of the set is a little hazy, but to my happy surprise they played something i can never have, another highlight to the show. as i said, the setlist surprised and delighted me, for one thing, they only played 4 songs off of the new album, them being you know what you are, the line begins to blur, the hand that feeds and getting smaller. the main of the set was concerntrated on songs taken from the fragile album, the band devoting over a third of the set to songs from that record, playing such fan favourites as the frail, the wretched and even deeper and the more famous starfuckers inc.

there were some surprises in the setlist, such as the non album track burn and their cover of the (gary numan?) song dead souls

the set was full of fan favourites and epic songs that spanned a long time, maybe 2 hours. they played around 22 songs, which was more than enough to satisfy the crowd. the band ended with a brace of big hits: hurt, wish, starfuckers inc and head like a hole

these are definitely all of the songs that were played that night, but not necessarily in the right order:

terrible lie
you know what you are?
the line begins to blur
march of the pigs
the hand that feeds
the frail
the wretched
something i can never have
closer
burn
getting smaller
dead souls
reptile
even deeper
the day the world went away
the big comedown
gave up
suck
wish
hurt
starfuckers inc.
head like a hole

i'd give the band 10.0 for effort, especially trent, he was dripping wet after the first few songs!

the set was great, the crowd loved it, the band loved it, it was simply a kickass show. i'm seeing them again this time next year, definitely.

i had a great time that day, and i'm glad i met the band, because they are a group of nice guys, who play fucking cool music, which is how it should be.

Description
5 months ago, i was upset. the nine inch nails tour dates had been announced, and i had tried and tried and tried to get tickets, but they sold out before i could get them. 4 months ago, i got one off of e-bay. hoho.
1 month ago, i learnt about a new fan club that the band were starting up, called "the spiral." this would allow fans to have webchats with the band, gain access to their own tickets for shows and lots of other cool shit. so 2 weeks ago, i signed up. 1 week ago, i got an e-mail from a personal e-mail address. it said that if i wanted to meet the band before the show on the 11th of july, i needed to meet some guy at the right entrance. i was dubious. but i was not going to pass up this chance.

the day of the gig came, and my dad gave me a lift. i had to meet this fella at 4:30. we got there at about 4:45. i thought i wasn't gonna get to see the band. nevertheless, i hung out around the back entrance waiting for the band to come out of the tourbus. as they did, we saw them wave to our small congregation and smile. i'll say one thing now. trent is really really short. i'm taller than him, i'm only 6ft. i asked around the small crowd about if they were members of the spiral or not. they all were, so i thought "fuck yeah!" i was even happier when a guy strode upto me and said:

"were you asked to meet someone here at 4:30?"
i nodded.
"what was his name?"
"...eric"
(i remembered from the e-mail)
"what's your name?"
"adam..."
"davidson?"
"yeah"
he looked at his list and smiled.
he checked off a name.
"well you're the last one on my list, buddy."
my heart lept. i was going in.

eric started rounding up the other spiral members in order to get them to come inside the venue with him. a young lad, about 17 or 18 sheepishly walked up to him and they started talking. from what i could grasp from their converstaion, this young man had indeed signed up for his membership, but his details were a bit late coming through, and thus he wasn't on the list. eric wouldn't let him in, and he looked really sad, really unhappy. that's when i realised something. i could get this kid in, as everyone had their pass and a guest pass, and i figured my dad wouldn't want to go in, so i gave to this lad. the look on this guys face when i gave him my guest wristband was amazing. he was so happy and grateful. we all walked, past the ever growing queue, round to the front entrance of the venue, where eric somewhat mysteriously announced, "everyone with a yellow wristband? follow me." and we did. he gave us a bit of a talk before we went into the venue. he told us we were to see the end of the soundcheck, and then the band would come down and say hi and sign stuff for us. our collective jaws all dropped.

me and the dude i'd got in on my guest pass (never caught his name) got in first. we saw the venue floor, then the stage, with instruments set up. my new friend said "shit, there's nine inch nails on that stage!" and we both gleefully trotted to the barrier, and firmly planted ourselves right opposite the middle of the stage. at that point trent reznor was around 10 metres away from us, and was fiddling about on a piano. he then began to play the frail - a short piano intro. it was somewhat intoxicating to see one of my favourite songs being played by the man who had written it right in front of me. after he played that, the band kicked into gear and started to play the wretched - the song that the frail is an intro to. trent strode up to the mic, and began to sing. he was so close, we could hear his voice through the air as opposed to through the mic. the band then played several songs, dead souls, love is not enough, and a part of the big comedown. it was truly amazing to see the band playing love is not enough so close, it was indescribable.

after the soundcheck, the band came offstage and began coming upto us and saying hi and signing stuff. geordie was first, and i though he was a little miserable, he just said "hi, how are ya?" to everyone and signed a few things. i got the same feeling from jerome, the drummer, he didn't seem interested at all, but the rest of the band, trent, aaron (guitarist) and the guy who does all the synths and samples and what-have-you were really nice to us.
the keyboardist was really happy to see us, gave us all a warm handshake and started telling us how us brits really rip it up and how it was really hot the night before.
aaron talked to me about how he gets the sound for the big comdown on guitar, and told me what sort of guitars and effects he uses which was really cool of him because i bet he gets asked about that all of the time.
trent went round pretty quickly, signing everything and just smiling and saying hi. i just told him that he had made some of the best music i'd ever heard and that he'd really touched me. he shook my hand and said that it meant a lot to him. again, i'm sure he's got that a lot, but it seemed to me that he actually still values that sort of praise, which is an admirable quality from a man who has been in the public eye for around 15 years. there are a lot of rumours about trent being stuck up, arrogant, hard to get on with. this is absolute rubbish, from my short introduction the only feeling i got from the guy was that of feeling welcome in his presence, and that he is very gentle and softly spoken. it felt great to actually meet the band and talk to them. i wish more rockstars were like those guys, and actually spent time with their fans, even after they become millionaires.

when me and my new friend came out, we were smiling, then a few steps out of the building we just looked at each other, cracked up and hugged each other. we then went to the pub.

because we were still wearing our wristbands, we got into the venue 10 minutes early, and thus, i was the 3rd person in, and i took up my place at the barrier once more. there i would stay for the next 3 hours.
as the crowd grew, i could feel the heat rising. it was gonna be hot in there once NIN started playing.

there was only one support act, and he was saul williams, a politically motivated rapper with a real talent and passion. think zack de la rocha, and then make him black, and you've got it. he was really cool, got the crowd nice and warmed up, was perfectly cynical, and was poetic in everything he did. the crowd cheered at everything he said that related to them, and it was a really good introduction for the evening. i was certainly entertained, and i will certainly check his stuff out once i get some money!

once saul had left, the crowd grew stronger still, and the temperature rose more and more. i was happily squashed up at the front. it was so good being so close to the action. nine inch nails came onstage to riotous approval from the crowd, and played a set that surprised and delighted me.

the band walked on to a sample of beside you in time off of the new album with teeth, and with no further ado, they opened with an energetic rendition of terrible lie which was followed by you know what you are? and the line begins to blur off of the new album. their beginning attack was finished with march of the pigs, which was one of the highlights for me, trent throwing himself around like it was the first time he'd performed the song.

the order of the rest of the set is a little hazy, but to my happy surprise they played something i can never have, another highlight to the show. as i said, the setlist surprised and delighted me, for one thing, they only played 4 songs off of the new album, them being you know what you are, the line begins to blur, the hand that feeds and getting smaller. the main of the set was concerntrated on songs taken from the fragile album, the band devoting over a third of the set to songs from that record, playing such fan favourites as the frail, the wretched and even deeper and the more famous starfuckers inc.

there were some surprises in the setlist, such as the non album track burn and their cover of the (gary numan?) song dead souls

the set was full of fan favourites and epic songs that spanned a long time, maybe 2 hours. they played around 22 songs, which was more than enough to satisfy the crowd. the band ended with a brace of big hits: hurt, wish, starfuckers inc and head like a hole

these are definitely all of the songs that were played that night, but not necessarily in the right order:

terrible lie
you know what you are?
the line begins to blur
march of the pigs
the hand that feeds
the frail
the wretched
something i can never have
closer
burn
getting smaller
dead souls
reptile
even deeper
the day the world went away
the big comedown
gave up
suck
wish
hurt
starfuckers inc.
head like a hole

i'd give the band 10.0 for effort, especially trent, he was dripping wet after the first few songs!

the set was great, the crowd loved it, the band loved it, it was simply a kickass show. i'm seeing them again this time next year, definitely.

i had a great time that day, and i'm glad i met the band, because they are a group of nice guys, who play fucking cool music, which is how it should be.