i define myself by how well i hide

headed out to the venue with a detour to try to find food first and got there around 12:45. again not all that many people in line yet. it was a cloudy day but i loaded up on my new 70spf sunblock - which proceeded to get all over my clothes. it better wash out. it rained a bit, nothing like toronto thankfully, and i had bought a $1 umbrella while trying to find food so i was all set and dry. got let into the venue around 6 i think, which seemed like a giant clusterfuck but worked out in the end - rail far on robin's side.

does it offend you, yeah? played again, their last show i guess. i still like them.

nin came on at 8:15 with the usual. we got the wretched this time, still killer. we got me, i'm not and great destroyer with the screen. later in the set we got down in it instead of the hand that feeds. cool to see again, last time was the summer tour. towards the end of the song some guy somehow got on the stage. it was pretty hilarious to see crew guys start jumping on stage to grab him. the kid started to get on his knees and bow to trent when trent's head security guy got onstage and tackled him. there were about 4 guys on him getting him off stage. amusing. i think that was the song robin was like, doing the robot hahah.

the encore brought us trent's basic thank you for coming, intro the band speech. he mentioned being back in pennsylvania and how he tried to get out for 18 years. then more trent talking. he started by saying he's gotten into the bad habit of talking alot at shows which would probably stop after tonight. he went into how someone asked him what is different about the crowd now compared to when he began. he said he went to see rage against the machine at lolapalooza and was watching from the stage, and everyone in the front were dudes, and how when he started everyone at his shows were dudes, but that now he has alot of hot chicks up front at his shows. hahah. a girl behind me proceeded to throw her bra on stage, hitting robin's mic stand. so he grabbed it and held it up, trent and robin having a good laugh, before throwing it back to the audience. he missed tho and it fell in front of the barrier so security gave it back to the girl LOL. then they played "a favourite" and went into reptile. yay! trent and robin were laughing about something as it started.

oh one of the 2 shows trent referred to his band as "his friends" which was really cute haha. he's never done that before.

security guard in front of me had a set list, and toward the end asked me what songs were being played so he could tell if it was almost over. i kept asking him for the set list and he wouldn't give it to me. after the show i asked again and he said he needed it and i said bullshit it meant more to me than to him but he still wouldn't give it to me. jerk.

so from ETS...

1. 999,999 [Intro]
2. 1,000,000
3. Letting You
4. Discipline
5. March Of The Pigs
6. Head Down
7. The Frail
8. The Wretched
9. Closer [The Only Time Breakdown]
10. Gave Up
11. Me, I'm Not
12. The Great Destroyer
13. Ghosts 5
14. Ghosts 17
15. Ghosts 19
16. Piggy [Ghosts]
17. The Greater Good
18. Pinion [Interlude]
19. Wish
20. Terrible Lie
21. Survivalism
22. The Big Comedown
23. Ghosts 31
24. Only
25. Down In It
26. Head Like A Hole
---
27. Echoplex
28. Reptile
29. God Given
30. Hurt
31. In This Twilight

so it's all over. sad :( it's going to be a long drive home tomorrow. i really want to go out to worcester for the show, trent said he'd "make it up to us" for canceling, so there's always the possibility of it being a really great show with rare songs. i know if i don't go it will be exactly that, but if i do it'll be same as all these other shows. i just don't know how work the trip out, how much vacation time i have left, if adr2 has off etc. it's sorta just too far. dunno what to do. will definitely be going to hamilton and still going to try to work vegas out but i really doubt that'll happen....

oh lord i am so very very sunburned...:(

left philly and arrived at the venue at noon as expected. there weren't all that many people there and later in the day when security gave out numbered wrist bands i was #21. it wasn't extremely hot out like detroit but so so sunny and the only shade was the parking garage (where i might say, we were all parked on level G...only funny to nin fans). i sat in the shade for long bits at a time, talking to the french girl i had met in brussels last year, and just trying to avoid a sunburn. so didn't work. my burn is all fucked up too, as i was wearing the green razor sleeved shirt. also have weird burn on my knees in the 2 inches between where my skirt ended and boots began. gah.

anyway. sold my extra ticket to this girl amy who had been at the last few shows too and had mentioned in toledo that she needed one still. she wasn't there when i got there and 2 other people said they'd take it, it was a presale nin.com ticket, if she didn't show. turns out everyone wanted it because there were 2 floor sections...the front section where we all got to go, and then a 2nd barrier as if it was a stadium show that seemed to be the regular ticketmaster people. very strange.

got let in around 6:45 and got rail in front of robin, as usual, but even more to the side. i brought my camera for the first time in 44 shows ha. the opener this time was Does It Offend You, Yeah? who's name makes more sense now that i know they are british. they are definitely the best of the 4 openers i've seen. they were entertaining, the music was decent, and no killer strobes.

nin came on to the standard opening for the tour, followed by the frail into...reptile?! so so very weird but reptile again!!! yay. from there to closer and the rest of the set. the crowd was ridiculously tame. i didn't get touched until march of the pigs (as usual) but even then it was nothing. the people behind me grabbed the rail behind me but it didn't even seem like they needed it to push back or anything. the girl behind me said she was trying to stay off my back as much as possible, and i seriously think she touched me maybe twice. so hey that was good. robin almost beaned me again with a bottle, and got soaked by him once when i wasn't paying attention. trent talked what seems to be a pretty standard encore speech now - thanking people for showing up, introducing the band. but then before hurt he said he felt compelled to talk more, and it went something like this: when i started this i didn't get into it to be famous or rich or to fuck alot of girls, or whatever else people do this for. i had alot of shit in my head that i needed to get out. and you sit alone and write these things down and they actually get recorded. then you find out there are other people who identify with the same things. it's like we communicate....something like that. robin fucked up on survivalism, seemed like he lost track of where he was playing in the song, looked confused. the chorus came in and it was back on track. i don't think his gear was working right at the beginning of hurt either but i'm not sure about that one. josh's echoplex toy wasn't working that good too, kept trying to turn blocks off at the end and they kept going back on. which leads me to...

and now let the rumors begin...they were taping the show. at least 3 large cameras, plus rob was around with a smaller one. there was what appeared to be a director telling camera men what to shoot. i noticed at least 3 times one of them was filming us directly. once was during the middle of discipline which wasn't exactly a good time to film the crowd if you want them to be rocking out or whatever. i was very aware of the camera on me so i probably look like a retard. i hope i don't show up in anything. i didn't see the cameras filming all the time but i'd say more than half they were there. maybe they were shooting some, like the ghosts part, from the back to get the whole light show. who knows. maybe it was all nothing. maybe we're getting a dvd afterall - tho it seems weird to me that trent would record it now, with his voice problems, rather than later on, a different leg, after his problem is fixed etc. but hey whatever. we'll find out. maybe with robin fucking up and equipment not working right he'll scrap whatever was taped. or maybe he's taping multiple shows and splicing parts together like And All That Could Have Been...we'll see if there are cameras in philly friday.

got the setlist after the show. had to beg the guy, he asked why he should give it to me, i said i never got anything before (lie ha) and the security guard vouched for me that i behaved the whole show, so i got it. it also came with the crew schedule - the crew had to travel to philly tonight while the band was staying in nyc haha.

999,999
1,000,000
letting you
discipline
march of the pigs
head down
the frail
reptile
closer
gave up

the warning
vessel

ghosts 5
ghosts 17
ghosts 19
ghosts piggy

the greater good

wish
terrible lie
survivalism
the big come down
ghosts 31
only
the hand that feeds
head like a hole

echoplex
god given
the good soldier
hurt
in this twilight

so i left the venue, got out quickly and onto the nj turnpike. everyone knows how i love industrial sites, factories, etc...but jesus christ newark has to be the ugliest city i've ever seen. who would ever want to live there? and it reeks!! anyway...the drive that took me 2 hours in the morning took me 3 on the way home because i assumed i could just reverse the directions i printed to get me to the meadowlands...well not really. didn't see an exit that made sense and ended up driving the entire length of new jersey and almost crossed the bridge into delaware. turned around, guessed at an exit that did take me to philly, but then once in philly i had no idea how to really get back to the hotel. finally decided just to find the airport and i should be able to find the hotel and it worked. i was so irritated tho because i was so tired after the show, all that sun, and just wanted to get back.

monday we headed back to toledo for the show, getting in around 12:30 and finding only 20 people in line at the venue. the show was at a convention center and we got to wait inside all day which was very nice. saw the same people there as the last 2 shows, as expected when they are so close geographically. so we got our tickets and the line moved to the other side of the building where we were initially told we'd be let inside the floor at 4:30, after sound check. then they said no it would be later, and we didn't end up getting in until 6:30. a wee late but no matter. probably due to the fact....

this was the weirdest venue i've been in. a convention center, so big box room, flat, they added 6 sections of bleacher type seats, and the floor was more like a corral in the middle. they had a concession stand and the merch outside the corral. and smaaallll. apparently "Trent" posted on ETS a week or so ago that he was considering canceling the show when he found out the place was too small for all the stage gear, and that the light show would be compromised. given that, we thought maybe we'd get some extra rare songs to fill in for the ones he wasn't going to be able to play, but turns out no. we figure we were late getting let in because they were still fooling with the stage and working things out.

so a place to bury strangers opened again, and again i missed the last 10 minutes because of the strobes. we were on the rail in front of robin, so there was no one to try to hide behind to avoid the strobes. nin came on and started as usual for this tour, with the slip songs, frail into closer but this time we got me, i'm not and great destroyer instead of the warning and vessel. but typically that goes into the ghosts set, with piggy and the greater good. nope. that portion was completely left out - i guess because of the stage issues - and right into pinion/wish and the rest of the set. no big come down either. we did get one instrumental from ghosts, but i don't know the number. encore came with echoplex and then meet your master instead of the good soldier. after that trent asked if anyone had listened to year zero, to raise hands he was going to count and told everyone to listen to it cuz its a good album, and that they were only going to play year zero songs the rest of the show. they went into god given, but then in to hurt...which was the closer. no in this twilight. i've decided hurt is a terrible closer. depressing and boring.

at the beginning of the show trent said they were glad to be playing the homecoming dance, he seemed irritated the whole show as we knew he would be given the venue limitations. he held it in well, unlike boston 05. he introduced the band saying they were all grumpy from being on the road and that ali was on his period. his voice wasn't too great again, he commented about sounding like tom waits all the time, apologized for the venue.

the show didn't sound bad, but missing 6 songs, it felt disappointing. glad we got 2 new year zero songs, but still, such a huge part was missing it felt wrong. they went on at 8:45 and finished at 10:20...short show given that they're playing about 30 songs this tour...also trent needs to shave. he's been all 5:00 shadow the last 3 shows but toledo was the worst and it made him look sickly and old. haha

setlist from ETS
999,999
1,000,000
Letting You
Discipline
March of the Pigs
Head Down
The Frail
Closer
Gave Up

Me I'm Not
The Great Destroyer
Pinion/Wish
Terrible Lie
Survivalism
Ghosts 8
Only
The Hand That Feeds
Head Like a Hole

Echoplex
Meet Your Master
God Given
Hurt

left cleveland around 11, drove a bit before turning around and going back to get bliss's cell phone from the hotel room, then off again to michigan. that drive is so boring. ohio is boring. i'm a hater haha. my aunt had sent alternate driving directions to avoid massive amounts of construction on I-75 which was very helpful. found the hotel easy then went to the venue. wow it was hot out. close to 100 and sitting in the sun waiting to get in. it was better that it took us so long to get out of cleveland cuz that meant less time outside. amira and rolf showed up and found us, good to see them again. we got let inside the lobby to sit inside the AC and wait to get on the floor, which i think was around 6:30.

opener tonight was A Place To Bury Strangers, which at first sounded like they had potential. but then again they went into really long songs that all sounded the same to me. on top of that they had this massively unnecessary strobe light action going on for the last 15 minutes of their set. it was so bad the majority of us up front were looking down or covering our eyes. it made everyone nauseous and gave me a wicked headache. i almost left the crowd cuz i felt like crap but i stayed and eventually it went away.

tonight's set, aside from different ghosts songs, was mostly the same....the frail into the wretched, the good soldier, vessel, no reptile. still, robin on the wretched is unbelievable. robin is my new love, even tho he beaned me right above the eye with a water bottle during head like a hole. i thought it might have given me a black eye but i appear fine so far. during the first ghosts song played, josh just sat on the drum riser, i guess he had nothing to do. trent threw a tambourine during head down, and robin got a huge kick out of seeing the front row fight for it had a huge grin on his face as he watched, it was amusing. trent talked about how great it always was to play detroit when he was starting out, and how it's still always a good crowd. introduced the band, thanked them and the crew. first time i've heard that i think. another good show. it seems they're getting better and better, or i'm just getting used to the slip songs live because i'm not as bored as i was during the beginning of the toronto show. but i think the visuals are more impressive from farther back so i'm glad we had seats at mohegan. you can see them fine from up front but i think you pay too much attention to the people on stage when you are close than to the things going on around and behind them, as when you're farther back.

setlist from ETS
999,999
1,000,000
Letting You
Discipline
March of the Pigs
Head Down
The Frail / The Wretched
Closer
Gave Up
The Warning
Vessel
1 Ghosts I
21 Ghosts III
19 Ghosts III
Ghosts Piggy
The Greater Good
Pinion/Wish
Terrible Lie
Survivalism
The Big Comedown
31 Ghosts IV
Only
THTF
HLAH

Echoplex
Trent Speaks
God Given
The Good Soldier
Hurt
In This Twilight

i really enjoy watching robin play, i love the way he moves, and after 38 shows with the previous line up he is something new for me to look at.

we were ultra disgusting again after the show. the crowd wasn't unusually bad but an unreal amount of people around us got pulled (there were alot of short people near us). i think adr2 stopped counting at 7 or something, and they all seemed to be behind her and thus using her as a ladder to get out of the pit. security was really good though - OH YEAH while in line, security came by and made everyone sign these ridiculous waivers, so we couldn't sue them if we get hurt. if you don't sign one, you don't get allowed on the floor. it also said you get kicked out for certain behaviors which they actually seemed to stand by. people were giving bliss trouble and they went over and warned them they'd be tossed. saw it happen a few times. they were real good with giving everyone water and taking care of crowd surfers. so A+ on that but the waiver was still pretty silly, and it was a joke among everyone. anyway...leaving the show it was storming out, rain, yes. stood getting "cleansed" in the rain after, we were soaked anyway. happened that amira and rolf parked right behind us. said our goodbyes and headed to my fam's house.

tonight was the nin show at the Q in cleveland. i won't go into how i hate cleveland but it still stands. pat and i followed adr2 and bliss to the hotel, checked in and went off to the venue. right after we got there, sarah aka enten tora showed up. got let into the venue at quarter to 6 and went for our usual spot, right of center in front of robin, 1 back from rail. someone adr2 knew, but bliss and i couldn't remember was in front of us as well as one of the girls who was at the birthday dinner at hard rock in berlin was directly in front of me. she didn't acknowledge me or show any hint that she knew who i was, so neither did i (i didn't particularly like her to begin with) hah. she was a good cushion during the show :) the crowd wasn't too bad, the usual lots of pushing, arms getting stuck places and bruised. i somehow got cut on my leg, not badly but oddly. it was so so hot though, everyone was drenched in sweat and disgusting. the girls in front of us were short so no problem getting air, but that air wasn't exactly fresh haha. got drenched by a few of robin's water bottles but it didn't help. still gross and hot. the last time we were that gross was prob toronto club shows when the air was condensing on the ceiling and dripping back down on us.

the opener was someone called Nicholas Megalis, a local guy because none of the 4 openers this leg could apparently play this show. the first thought we all had was "male fronted dresden dolls"...he played piano, was sorta spazzy, and had a drummer. he wasn't bad. certainly better and more entertaining than deerhunter.

the show was great as usual. the frail into closer again, plus head down. i'm not sure which ghost song we got after the first one, i didn't recognize it at all. for some reason they didn't play the hand that feeds. but, during the encore we got reptile instead of the good soldier. gah!! reptile!! with robin!! killer. still my fav nin song, i was so happy to hear him play it. it didn't disappoint. trent talked alot during the encore, introducing the band, talking about getting his start in cleveland, his family in attendance so he tried not to say the f-word but fucked it up, thanked them for conceiving him and making him who he turned out to be. ali acknowledged the audience TWICE...when trent introduced him and when leaving after in this twilight. trent's voice sounded much better, singing and talking, so that is good. i don't think we're in danger of a detroit cancellation.

setlist from ETS
999,999
1,000,000
Letting You
Discipline
March of the Pigs
Head Down
The Frail
Closer
Gave Up
Warning
Vessel
5 Ghosts I
25 Ghosts III
19 Ghosts III
Ghosts Piggy
The Greater Good
Pinion/Wish
Terrible Lie
Survivalism
The Big Come Down
Ghosts 31
Only
Head Like a Hole

Echoplex
Reptile
God Given
Hurt
In This Twilight

Thursday brought driving out to Connecticut and Mohegan Sun Casino for the nin show. The venue was all seats, so we didn't need to be there early for anything. Left Buffalo around 9:30, got in almost exactly 7 hours later and found the hotel. Chilled a bit and headed to the casino around 6:30. We had attempted to miss deerhunter, but got there too early and had to suffer again. The most entertaining part of that was a clearly drunken guy in the lower bowl dancing and dancing away to them. It was more interesting than watching the band. Anyway...adr and I were row M which ended up being 11 from the stage, dead center. Adr2 and Bliss were further back but center.

Then this giant guy sat down directly in front of me, 2 rows ahead. I dubbed him Hagrid and even tho we were still sitting I knew once nin came on I wouldn't be able to see anything. And I was right. 999999 started, everyone stood up, and Hagrid was directly blocking my view of center stage - aka trent. To make it even better, the guy and girl right in front of us traded spots so the girl could see, so then i had 2 giants in front of me. Completely seriously, for the first 5 songs I didn't even see a smidgen of trent. So I resorted to watching Robin, oh the horror :) As the show went on, gaps of space between giant heads opened and I was able to see, plus Hagrid left a few times and sat down, so it ended up being ok.

The show itself...started the same, but the frail was followed by the wretched as it should be! frail into closer was just weird. that meant they left out head down, fine by me. In front of the screen, we got the great destroyer instead of vessel - and it didn't kill me! the ultra lame vocal flourish wasn't that bad live, and as I like the rest of the song before and after those 3 seconds, it was cool to see. the light show during the "break down" 2nd half of the song was awesome...I had seen some clips on youtube from the european festivals last year, but way better in person. They also switched out ghosts 6 for ghosts 5. The rest of the set was the same. Somehow, and it's always hard to articulate why, but this show was better than Toronto. Toronto felt mellow, and despite Mohegan all being seats, it didn't feel the same. There was no crowd action, hardly anyone even moving, but still didn't feel mellow. Robin was dead on all night, especially the wretched. Dear god, I feel bad for people who've only seen that song with Aaron playing. It is so different with Robin and sounds amazing. His guitar on Ghosts 31, killer again. I need to listen to that track on the album to compare. I also need to see Robin play reptile. I've seen it on the dvd, and always considered that the best live version of reptile, but need to hear it in person. Robin also got mad at someone off stage during head like a hole, kept giving whoever it was the finger, and he stalked off the stage at the end of the song. Amusing. Oh...the surveillance cameras during survivalism...there are venue cameras, but the mens room view is not live...it was the same guys doing the same thing as toronto, which is probably a good thing haha.

The sorta bad part...you (or at least we) could clearly tell Trent's voice was having issues. Even during a normal show, by the time he gets to the hand that feeds, he'll drop the high notes down. He started dropping high notes very very early in the set, even during Wish which doesn't even really have high notes. Then he talked to the crowd during the encore, told us he'd be at Denny's down the street later, and clearly his voice was almost gone. I had a bad bad feeling that the Worcester show would get canceled but didn't say it to anyone. All I said after the show was that Trent better not talk to anyone til 8pm friday. Well...got up Friday morning and drove to Worcester, parked, stopped at CVS then walked to the venue only to find it strangely fan-less. Then we saw the sign on the door - show canceled, postponed until November 9th. Nothing else to do but drive home, and here we are.

Setlist from someone on ETS who grabbed it after the show, so we know it's right.

999,999

1,000,000
Letting You
Discipline
March of the Pigs
The Frail
The Wretched
Closer
Gave Up

The Warning
The Great Destroyer

Ghosts 1
Ghosts 5
Ghosts 19
Ghosts Piggy (ah this explains the different version)

The Greater Good

(Pinion not on the set list but played)
Wish
Terrible Lie
Survivalism
Ghosts 31
Only
The Hand That Feeds
Head Like A Hole

ENCORE
Echoplex
God Given
The Good Soldier
Hurt
In This Twilight

headed up to toronto with eric, leaving here around 10. initial plan was to get to the venue around noon, wait out for the day. but the more i thought about it the more i didn't want to do that, and he didn't either but was going to do whatever i had in mind. so we got up there noonish and instead went downtown to the stores, got lunch at the eaton center and walked around queen street. so we didn't end up at air canada center until 3, shortly after adr2 and bliss had gotten there. now that the spiral is over, the nin.com line is run very strictly - as in, you have to have a presale ticket or you can't use the nin.com line - no bringing in a guest who has a normal ticket. eric had a presale ticket, the rest of us didn't, so he sat with us in the "loser line" (as i dubbed it) which turned out to be the best thing possible - it started down pouring around 5, and the "loser line" was under a roof where the nin.com line wasn't haha. so what they got to go in the venue early, they were soaking wet. there was also hardly anyone in line even at 3pm, the crazy queuers were all in the nin.com line, so we were all set.

oddly, we didn't see anyone we knew from other tours. i looked through the nin.com line when people were waiting for the box office to open and no one was familiar. and S and V - i miss you being there!

so we hung out side for 3 hrs or so with adr2, bliss and some younger kids who were behind us who were friendly and entertaining until doors. not being in the mood at all for the tour, not wanting to deal with a toronto crowd, eric and i hung out along the side barrier, robin's side, 5 or 6 people back, with one of the kids from outside. close enough to see everything perfectly, room to breathe, etc. the crowd didn't end up being as brutal as past toronto shows (maybe because the nature of the show having alot of instrumentals and in general songs from yz that you can't really mosh to)

deerhunter opened. what the hell. i can't stand trent's taste in music. they weren't bad, they were just horribly boring. the music was boring, they were nothing to look at on stage, and i ended up sitting on the floor to try to nap. i figured hey if i could fall asleep to death from above 1979 at madison square garden, i could probably do it there to deerhunter. god, just boring.

nin came on around 9pm, opening with 999,999 into 1,000,000 which came across really well and was pretty good. followed that with more slip songs, i think letting you, head down and discipline. get the new stuff over at the beginning. i'll find a setlist later, but then went into older stuff, march of the pigs, the frail, closer....

i have to admit that in the beginning, up through probably the end of closer i was actually sorta bored. i don't want to be one of "those" fans, but i really don't want to hear the new stuff. i don't know if it's having it all at once in the beginning, or the songs themselves or the light show (sparse for those songs compared to the rest of the set), but they were sorta boring. the slip songs came across better live than the album but it still doesn't make me like them anymore (i already liked 1000000 alot). i don't remember what came after closer, but the show picked up in interest level (for me at least) and they got into year zero and ghosts. the stage set up this time has 2 half circle light screens that move up and down, and a wall of rotating stage lights behind the band. without being able to really describe it, holy crap, the light show is killer. the way the screens are used, the images projected...it's amazing. they went into the warning and vessel (!!!) in front of the foremost half circle, with everyone except josh at the very front of the stage. why? because during those 2 songs they completely changed the stage set up behind them, adding a giant xylophone, different drum kit with a timpani, plastic water bottle (ha) and huge chimes for josh, an upright bass played by justin whateverhislastnameis, robin and ali on the far side with electronics, guitar, and robin played some sort of clarinet looking instrument at some point. holy shit. a mini orchestra on a nine inch nails stage. trent plays a fucking xylophone! dear lord, very unexpected and so very cool. they played a few songs from ghosts before the music for the greater good started - an interlude of sorts while they cleared all the above off the stage again. trent does the whispered lyrics live tho, with another cool screen/light effect. i think from there it went into wish. always a highlight, even having seen it 39 times now haha. survivalism was done with a wall of video screens behind the band, surveillance like the video but real time images of parts of the venue - the crowd, the band, a hallway, even the mens bathroom.

the photoblog having ruined the setlist for me, i knew what was coming at some point during the show, tho a few i did forget were being played - in this twilight for one - and not all the songs i've seen on the blog were played (not supposed to say which ones cuz adr2 doesn't know yet hah). we got to the hand that feeds and head like a hole and....no hurt...i know they're still playing hurt...maybe they decided not to. and they had left out songs i knew they were playing...what happened...they're doing encores again! the guys came back on, starting with echoplex (which purely because of josh's job during the song, was not bad and didn't make me want to stab myself) going into more from year zero, and hurt duh (played differently again - trent doesn't play piano, he's accompanied by robin on guitar, with josh coming in on choruses - apparently the fragility version, but i didn't notice it being the same), which quite nicely went into in this twilight as the last song. one by one starting with robin the band left the stage (taking yet another page from the book of u2), and it overall was just a really nice end to the show.

so after a slow start to the show, it really picked up and i'm very happy and excited again to see more shows. maybe being off to the side and not in the "thick of things", or maybe because of the mini orchestra, the whole feeling of the concert is very different. it's not like "how loud and how much can we pummel you" feeling, like the self destruct days, it feels actually sorta mellow and chill, even if they are still playing harder faster songs like wish and gave up. highlights were getting to hear "vessel" and see how they make it work live, and "god given". the 2 yz songs at the top of my list that i wanted to see, even if i already knew i'd be seeing them haha. "god given" was sooo great. so dance-y, robin does the whispered lines after the chorus which was very hot haha. can't wait to see it again. the songs chosen from ghosts, whatever #s they were, were ones that i remember really liking, and robin's guitar on one later in the set is killer. and i have to say. i fucking love robin. LOVE. i'm sorry to S and V and the aaron lovers, but...ROBIN!!!!!!!! the only moment where i missed aaron and his style was head like a hole. robin sounded phenomenal, and a multi-instrumentalist for the instrumentals. he has his own new intro for "only" which was pretty cool, the others said it sounded like something else, but i didn't notice. for me, robin is just much better...love. i didn't pay much attention to justin because as usual i couldn't see him much. saw his afro but not him haha. ali was still hidden most of the time, and very shy - he didn't acknowledge the crowd like the others as they left the stage, he just left. i still love josh, and he gets to play a timpani for christs sake, how cool! and trent...doesn't need to even be mentioned :)

i do wish he'd include last and ruiner like the european shows though :). maybe the sets change, i didn't want to look before hand. we'll find out i guess :)

from an ets thread, it looks accurate

SETLIST:
999,999
1,000,000
Letting You
Discipline
March of the Pigs
Head Down
The Frail
Closer
Gave Up
Corona Radiata (partial) didn't notice at all ha
The Warning
Vessel
5 Ghosts I
6 Ghosts I
19 Ghosts III
Piggy oh yeah piggy, played with the xylophone and instruments from the ghosts songs - it had a sorta jazzy lounge type feel to it, made it more interesting
The Greater Good
Pinion
Wish
Terrible Lie
Survivalism
The Big Come Down robin's guitar failed for first half of the song, he threw it off stage and it really wasn't until close to the solo that he got one working
31 Ghosts IV the killer guitar one
Only
The Hand That Feeds
Head Like A Hole

ENCORE:
Echoplex josh!
God Given
The Good Soldier
Hurt
In This Twilight

SPEECH:
After "God Given", Trent said "I know this is the cliché thing to say onstage, but are you guys having a good time? This is pretty much the start of the tour. We sat in a dark room for four months trying to think of what people might like to hear [...what works and what's shit...] and it's nights like tonight and crowds like this that make it fun for us to play." Something like that, anyway.

sorta funny, he says a very similar thing at rochester spring 05 toronto summer 06 "it's nights like tonight and it's crowds like you guys that make this a fucking pleasure", and no, he doesn't always say stuff like this at every show. there have been plenty of shows where he hasn't addressed the crowd at all...it seems he always does mention something like this in toronto though.

i feel like my thoughts on the show are all over the place. i'm finding it really really hard to describe properly. it's really not the typical nin show that i got used to the last 3 years. but it's still alot of the same songs, so i'm not really sure how the feeling of it changed so much. i'm not sure a radio fan would enjoy it - tho he plays the "greatest hits" still - as they may not have any experience with ghosts, or even the slip and would be sorta confused at why there's suddenly an upright bass and a xylophone on stage.

and now i'm going to take a moment to sound like maynard james keenan at at least one apc/tool show i was at. he doesn't allow cameras in venues anymore, sings either at the drum kit, or with apc, with his back to the crowd. he doesn't want people taking pictures, and as he put it "put the cameras down and just experience the show"....SO so many people around us had their cameras out, above their heads, for almost all the show. look, you have a crap digital point and shoot, from 50 feet away with heads and arms in the way, using a flash, your photos are going to look terrible as it was clear from the LCD screen...just put it down and enjoy the show. it got really really irritating to me after awhile to have to look around people's cameras constantly (i'm not exaggerating) in order to see. give it up.

I forgot I had this thing.

Well we embark on a new NIN tour in August, so I think i'll start using this again :)