NINE INCH NAILS: WITH TEETH 2005-2006
DAVIS, CA [FREEBORN HALL]
3.25.05
(2 Reviews)
By Denise, BASETENDENCIES.COM
What would it be like if Nine Inch Nails came to play at your high school? Anyone who was at the Davis show last night now has a pretty good idea. Freeborn Hall is very much reminiscent of a high school gym or auditorium and is about the size of one as well, with a capacity of around 1800. The band couldn't have chosen a better setting to re-introduce themselves to the fans.
The set list for the Davis show was as follows:
The Frail
The Wretched
You Know What You Are
March of the Pigs
The Line Begins to Blur
Piggy
Terrible Lie
The Collector
Closer
Home
The Big Comedown
The Day the World Went Away
Getting Smaller
With Teeth
Wish
Hurt
The Hand That Feeds
Starfuckers
Head Like a Hole
Opening with The Frail/The Wretched really seemed to catch the crowd by surprise. The only inkling we had that something would be different was when Trent's keyboard was brought out just before the band hit the stage, since it's only brought out when Trent will actually be playing it. The band definitely hit the ground running in choosing to open the show this way, turning up the intensity right from the gate.
Many of the songs played tonight were not played in Reno last night, and the songs that they did keep from that set were switched around in the order a bit. This is definitely a plus for those of us attending more than just one show. At least we'll still never really know what to expect.
Again, this was another high-octane performance by all. Trent crowd surfed for one song, although I'm not sure if he meant to do that or if he just got pulled into the crowd when he came in close to the barricade. Aaron was all over the place again, I remember him jumping up on one of the amps, then jumping off and going into a roll as he hit the ground. This guy must be pretty bruised up by the time it's all over. I noticed tonight that during some numbers, keyboardist Alessandro Cortini plays guitar...or maybe it's a bass, I don't know as I had a somewhat obstructed view of him from where I was standing. I could only see that he had a stringed instrument in his hands. Makes more sense that it was a bass, backing up Jeordie, Trent and Aaron on their "triple guitar assault" on some of the songs. Powerhouse Jerome Dillon is quickly working his way up to being my favorite drummer. As talented as Chris Vrenna may be in his own right, Manson can still keep him.
I really like what they are doing with the lighting on this tour. They've got these...I don't know how to describe it, except to say it's like this candalabra sort of thing, one off to the side of each bandmember except for Trent, who is center stage. At first I thought it was perhaps a bunch of microphones, it was hard to tell what they were from where I was standing. But I'd never seen anything like these before and they are just really, really cool to see. Also the band is backed by a wall of vertical lights, which, in Reno, I thought that was the venue's backdrop. This was even cooler looking than those trees that APC had that I liked so much.
The band closed out the set with "Head Like A Hole", bringing the house down and leaving us all wanting more. As with Fresno and Reno, however, there was no encore. But that's okay. For many of us in attendance, these shows were just the beginning.
To close out with an overall observation, I have to say that I am actually starting to like Jeordie with Nine Inch Nails even more than I did with A Perfect Circle. Not that I don't want him to go back to APC; I really hope that he does. But the thing I like about him with Nine Inch Nails is that he gets to show off even more of his skills in that we get to see him on guitar now as well as bass. He is also given more to do in the way of backing vocals. Also, given the nature of the music, a Nine Inch Nails performance can allow for more chaos and spontaneity on stage. I look forward to seeing what new heights Jeordie will take himself as a performer with this latest gig.
Review by Jim Harrington, livedaily.com
Over the past 11 months, the comparatively intimate Freeborn Hall on the University of California at Davis campus has felt like the center of the musical universe twice.
The first time came in late April 2004, when the reunited Pixies played a show there. The second instance was on Friday (3/25), when Nine Inch Nails (bio | CDs - DVDs - books) completed its three-city warm-up tour, which also included gigs in Fresno and Reno.
If that was just "warming up," then NIN fans planning to dress in their standard all-black gothic uniforms should definitely accessorize with asbestos when the band launches its full-scale U.S. trek in late April.
Nine Inch Nails will be touring through the summer in support of "With Teeth," which hits stores May 3 and marks the band's first new studio album since 1999's "The Fragile." The new tracks previewed in Davis--including the album's first single, "The Hand That Feeds"--all sounded as strong as anything from the band's catalog and further fueled fan expectations that Nine Inch Nails should have a very big year.
Nails' mastermind Trent Reznor has chosen just the right road band to help him flesh out his darkly appealing anthems of lust and longing. The combo of guitarist Aaron North (Icarus Line), bassist Jeordie White (Marilyn Manson), keyboardist Alessandro Cortini (modwheelmood) and longtime drummer Jerome Dillon performed together like an engine and drove through "March of the Pigs," "Sanctified" and other key numbers like NASCAR racers approaching the final lap.
Reznor played his role of the dark angel to perfection. He was menacing and charismatic, often at the same time, and the crowd's eye was drawn to him even when the stage was cloaked in near darkness. He ticked like a time bomb on the immortal "Hurt," which was exquisitely covered by Johnny Cash, and exploded like napalm on the still-racy "Closer."
By the time the band hit "Head Like a Hole," the lead track from 1989's "Pretty Hate Machine," the crowd was one big sweaty ball of fist-pumping lunatics.
This Davis gig was an extremely hard ticket to score, perhaps the toughest thus far of 2005 in Northern California, and there were reports of some obscenely steep resale prices on the Internet. Whatever they paid to secure entrance, these fans left Freeborn Hall having gotten the real deal.