{"id":1348,"date":"2008-09-07T19:02:19","date_gmt":"2008-09-08T03:02:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/archives\/2008\/09\/07\/nine-inch-nails-at-the-forum\/"},"modified":"2008-09-08T12:29:16","modified_gmt":"2008-09-08T20:29:16","slug":"nine-inch-nails-at-the-forum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/2008\/09\/07\/nine-inch-nails-at-the-forum\/","title":{"rendered":"Nine Inch Nails At The Forum"},"content":{"rendered":"

You get me closer to God<\/span><\/p>\n

I saw them bust a bootlegger.<\/p>\n

One of the problems with feeling safe is that you’re not.\u00c2\u00a0 Unless, maybe, you never leave\u00c2\u00a0 your house.<\/p>\n

After swerving around a black Nissan with steam pouring from under its hood, I ascended the freeway ramp leading to Randy’s Donuts, Manchester Boulevard and ultimately the Forum, previously known as the Great Western Forum, and before that the Fabulous Forum.<\/p>\n

Actually, it’s not so fabulous anymore.\u00c2\u00a0 Kind of run down. Forty years old and soon to be hit by the wrecking ball, when the value of the land finally appreciates.<\/p>\n

But back on the freeway off-ramp, I’m engulfed by bootleg t-shirt vendors.\u00c2\u00a0 They start pounding on my car.\u00c2\u00a0 I’ve locked it, but the sunroof is open.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s not like I can go anywhere.\u00c2\u00a0 If they want me, I’m theirs, I’m toast, I’m gridlocked in place, and I don’t think they take credit cards.<\/p>\n

After the first wave passed, obviously not afraid of the decelerating cars, their economic futures not bright, I pondered the concept of merch.\u00c2\u00a0 The new bands, the Disney Channel wonders, boast of their dollar per head figures.\u00c2\u00a0 But a decade from now nobody will be wearing their Miley Cyrus t-shirt.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s got months of usability, at best.\u00c2\u00a0 Whereas a classic act’s t-shirt’s wearability all comes down to DURABILITY!\u00c2\u00a0 Actually, the older the better.\u00c2\u00a0 It shows you were there way back when, before the hoi polloi got the memo.<\/p>\n

But I don’t think the hoi polloi ever did get the memo.\u00c2\u00a0 Except for the viewers of the band’s bizarre videos during the nineties on MTV.\u00c2\u00a0 Nine Inch Nails has existed outside the mainstream.\u00c2\u00a0 I’d say that’s the act’s appeal, but Trent doesn’t work it.\u00c2\u00a0 But he does refuse to pick up on the opportunities, that all those people boasting of stratospheric per head merch numbers say you MUST take!<\/p>\n

Nine Inch Nails’ breakthrough moment came in ’94.\u00c2\u00a0 At the imitation Woodstock.\u00c2\u00a0 Where Trent entranced the audience and pulled the largest audience of the festival.\u00c2\u00a0 David Letterman wanted Nine Inch Nails on his show.\u00c2\u00a0 He said so every night.\u00c2\u00a0 Even BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN finally did Letterman.\u00c2\u00a0 Dave was hip.\u00c2\u00a0 He, himself, was one step removed from the establishment.\u00c2\u00a0 He had attitude.\u00c2\u00a0 But Trent wouldn’t only not appear, he wouldn’t respond.\u00c2\u00a0 Because Nine Inch Nails is not fodder for the machine, it’s an artistic outlet for Trent and is only for those who truly care.<\/p>\n

Which didn’t include this bootlegger on Manchester Boulevard, three blocks from the Forum.\u00c2\u00a0 A black and white came racing around the crawling cars, two officers jumped out, threw his cache of t-shirts on the ground, spun the man around, handcuffed him and threw him in the back of the police car.\u00c2\u00a0 You’d think he’d committed a crime against the state.\u00c2\u00a0 And I’m against bootlegging.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s bullshit.\u00c2\u00a0 But I do wonder what all these purveyors do for work during the daytime.\u00c2\u00a0 And is this the best deployment of police assets?\u00c2\u00a0 Furthermore, the audience attending a Nine Inch Nails show KNOWS these are bootleg t-shirts.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s not either\/or.\u00c2\u00a0 Actually, it’s cheap and evanescent along with $35 authorized.\u00c2\u00a0 I saw people exiting the building with both.<\/p>\n

The audience.<\/p>\n

It wasn’t clean-scrubbed, but it wasn’t scary.<\/p>\n

This wasn’t an audience there solely so it could tell its coworkers on Monday morning.\u00c2\u00a0 You know how I know?\u00c2\u00a0 NO ONE LEFT!\u00c2\u00a0 The show was two hours and ten minutes, and EVERYBODY stayed until the encore was done.\u00c2\u00a0 If you’ve ever been to ANY event in Los Angeles, you know this is a HUMONGOUS achievement.\u00c2\u00a0 I can’t tell you how many people I know who left Dodger Stadium BEFORE Kirk Gibson hit his legendary home run, to beat the traffic.<\/p>\n

They were mostly twentysomethings and thirtysomethings.\u00c2\u00a0 Basically 25-35.\u00c2\u00a0 If they weren’t so dedicated, you would be fearful Trent’s audience is aging out.\u00c2\u00a0 But these people NEEDED to be there.\u00c2\u00a0 Whether it be the two guys hanging by the soundboard in NIN jumpsuits.\u00c2\u00a0 Or the girls in full goth regalia.\u00c2\u00a0 Or the lumpy-bodied outsiders.\u00c2\u00a0 These were not America’s insiders.\u00c2\u00a0 Not its conventional winners.\u00c2\u00a0 This wasn’t the TMZ\/PerezHilton crowd. It wasn’t about flash, but what’s on the inside.\u00c2\u00a0 This is the generation stealing your business, taking all your money with their computer excellence while you while away your hours getting plastic surgery and going to lunch.<\/p>\n

The biggest celebrity I saw was Tony Hawk.\u00c2\u00a0 Who stood and shimmied and mouthed EVERY WORD!\u00c2\u00a0 Well, up until the very last number, when he disappeared, probably fearful of being mobbed.<\/p>\n

And it was surprising how tall Tony was.\u00c2\u00a0 And how entrancing Trent’s music is.<\/p>\n

Can’t say that I’m a huge fan.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s not something I put on when I get home.\u00c2\u00a0 But after bullshitting with Rick Mueller, after standing in the back of the auditorium, taking it all in, I found myself moving forward.\u00c2\u00a0 And as someone who’s been squished and has a healthy respect for GA crowds, you know this is not a course of action I take lightly.<\/p>\n

It’s like you’ve been injected with a serum.\u00c2\u00a0 That is testing your joints.\u00c2\u00a0 Your head rolls from side to side.\u00c2\u00a0 Your limbs pop and lock.\u00c2\u00a0 You need to get ever closer.<\/p>\n

And that’s what truly hooked me, about twenty minutes into the set, "Closer".<\/p>\n

The drum drop-kicks.\u00c2\u00a0 The bass pounds.\u00c2\u00a0 The synth starts to pop.\u00c2\u00a0 The wall of lights as large as the Grateful Dead’s sound system starts to gyrate and Trent leans into the mic and sings…<\/p>\n

HELP ME<\/span>
I broke apart my insides<\/span>
HELP ME<\/span>
I’ve got no soul to sell<\/span>
HELP ME<\/span>
The only thing that works for me<\/span>
Help me get away from myself<\/span><\/p>\n

That’s what we’re looking for.\u00c2\u00a0 HELP!\u00c2\u00a0 To make sense of this confusing world within which we live.\u00c2\u00a0 The media says one thing, but we feel another. We want understanding and release.\u00c2\u00a0 Trent delivers both.

I want to fuck you like an animal<\/span>
I want to feel you from the inside<\/span>
I want to fuck you like an animal<\/span>
My whole existence is flawed<\/span>
You get me closer to God<\/span><\/p>\n

You’d think something as inside, as powerful and almost violent as Nine Inch Nails, would be a guy thing.\u00c2\u00a0 But the ratio was at least 50\/50.\u00c2\u00a0 You should have seen the women WRITHING!\u00c2\u00a0 As if possessed by a spirit.\u00c2\u00a0 Each and every one was in a trance.\u00c2\u00a0 Popping and locking, swiveling almost involuntarily.<\/p>\n

I kept needing to get closer.\u00c2\u00a0 There were no video screens.\u00c2\u00a0 No giant images of the band so those in the upper deck could get a glimpse of the singer’s face.<\/p>\n

But, suddenly, they did lower a hi-def screen.\u00c2\u00a0 And the band installed itself in front of it.\u00c2\u00a0 And as it played, stripped down, flame-like bubbles encased them on the screen.\u00c2\u00a0 You almost weren’t sure whether they were BEHIND the screen.\u00c2\u00a0 The images MERGED!<\/p>\n

I needed to get closer.<\/p>\n

Then they were behind the screen.\u00c2\u00a0 And there was this amazing rain effect.\u00c2\u00a0 Then, after that, with Trent playing almost solo, there was this weird computer-generated effect, like you were on a foreign planet where the topography had power and you might never make it back.<\/p>\n

Actually, this was the only point at which Trent’s visage was blown up.\u00c2\u00a0 But it was almost indecipherable.<\/p>\n

This wasn’t throwing money at the stage.\u00c2\u00a0 This wasn’t superstar production.\u00c2\u00a0 This was performance art.\u00c2\u00a0 This wasn’t some tech guy saying what was available, what he could sell the band, but a creation, an INSPIRATION, straight from the artist.<\/p>\n

It’s twelve hours later, and I’m still not right.\u00c2\u00a0 My life’s been changed.\u00c2\u00a0 By a guy who refuses to play by everybody else’s rules.\u00c2\u00a0 Who’s pushing the envelope instead of trying to close it.\u00c2\u00a0 This is not something you see only once.\u00c2\u00a0 This is an act you’re devoted to, you have to go to each and every show, to see what Trent comes up with next.<\/p>\n

He didn’t speak until just before the encore.\u00c2\u00a0 The show was the thing.\u00c2\u00a0 The only political commentary was an image of Bush morphing into McCain. Same as it ever was.<\/p>\n

And that’s why the music business is so fucked up.\u00c2\u00a0 Because, just like in that famous Talking Heads song, it’s the same as it ever was.\u00c2\u00a0 But if you think you’ve seen it all, if you think no one is testing limits, that everybody’s a sold out whore, check out Nine Inch Nails live.\u00c2\u00a0 Or maybe you shouldn’t. It’s not for the faint of heart, the casual user.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ve got to be in touch with your needs, your desires, you’ve got to be open to letting go, you’ve got to keep your mind open and go with the flow.\u00c2\u00a0 To a place heretofore unknown that will open an unmapped sector of your brain.<\/p>\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You get me closer to God I saw them bust a bootlegger. One of the problems with feeling safe is that you’re not.\u00c2\u00a0 Unless, maybe, you never leave\u00c2\u00a0 your house. After swerving around a black Nissan with steam pouring from under its hood, I ascended the freeway ramp leading to Randy’s Donuts, Manchester Boulevard and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-shows"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96vPs-lK","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1348"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1348\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}