A sea of black takes over Glasgow as NIN performs the Industrial gospel of Trent Reznor
Trent Reznor is at the pinnacle of his genre. Trent Reznor is Nine Inch Nails and Nine Inch Nails (NIN) command the utmost respect in the world of industrial music.
Tonight NIN crash their way into the O2 Academy in Glasgow and, as of 6 pm, the queue of black-clad fans is already heaving in anticipation of the 9 pm kick-off. Such is the reputation of Mr Reznor and his live shows there is a wide range of ages in the queue of the front of stage hopefuls; the music reaches out to fans old and new.
The hall fills nicely as the support act takes to the stage; at least that appears to be what is happening. The amount of smoke on stage is beyond ridiculous and makes it almost impossible to make out anything but silhouettes.
The opening act are Yves Tumor and judging by the welcome they are known to a goodly number in the audience. It seems a strange choice of guest act as the music and delivery are let’s say… different to what one would expect from a NIN support act. The photographers in the pit mainly gave up attempting to shoot the band after the first song due to the smoke and accompanying lack of light on stage.
Yves Tumor finished their set to decent acclaim from the crowd.
The scene was now set for the main act…
As the house lights dimmed and the smoke machines went into overdrive (again) the anticipation was about to become reality… hold onto your hats Glasgow!!
From the very first second of the gig it became apparent that volume was the soup of the day on the NIN menu. It wasn’t so much hold on to your hats as hold onto your face!! It was LOUD!! Loud, fast, frantic, smoky, bright and industrial madness.
The back catalogue of NIN is such that one can never predict the set list; how would tonight pan out in that regard? PCN Magazine thought they would offer up that piece of the review to the fans and get their informed opinions and you can read one of those a bit further down the page.
From where PCN Magazine was standing the gig was energetic; the fans sang and chanted every word; every song was met with rapturous ovation and the O2 was rammed full of happy sweaty fans come the end of the show. All in all, Trent Reznor and his merry band must have been happy with their night’s work and PCN Magazine concurs.
From the fans…
Brian Terry is a well known figure in the Glasgow industrial/EBM/Goth/electronic scenes and a long time fan of Nine Inch Nails. PCN Magazine spoke to him to get his thoughts.
“After being in Glasgow rehearsing for a few days they (NIN) have dug out some old and rarely played songs and the setlist showed that. I have a friend who met Robin Fink many years ago; Fink told him that the band (re)learn around 80 tracks that they can choose from on tour. Robin Fink is a long-serving member of Nine Inch Nails.
Tonight… They came out as strong as always with ‘The Beginning of the End’ and then punched us in the face with ‘Wish’. It was a strong set list with some songs not played since 2009 and one song, ‘Everything’ making it’s live debut.
There were no new tracks but we didn’t come here for that, it was a good solid NIN show; something for the real fans, something for the passing fans; and ‘Everything’ for the die-hards who discuss these things on social media… If you weren’t there you missed out!!
I’ve seen them nine-time and this was a great show”
PCN Magazine would like to thank Brian for his informed opinions and, on casually speaking to other fans, his review reflects the vast majority of those lucky enough to be present.
