Industrial-strength Nails
Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails has a new look but the same voice
Jeanne Fronda, Staff
Photo by Joel Trenaman.
Trent Reznor once referred to his onstage performance as “pantomime.” How fitting then that the mastermind behind industrial-rock group Nine Inch Nails once dabbled in acting, having performed in high school theatre productions including the play The Music Man. But at no point during Nine Inch Nails’ performance at the MTS Centre on Nov. 14 did Reznor appear to be a false musician.
On a stage shrouded with a translucent white curtain, Reznor opened the set with “Love is Not Enough” from the Nine Inch Nails’ latest CD, With Teeth. Fans cheered as they were welcomed to a dramatic display of the five band members’ silhouettes standing behind the veil. The curtain dropped and the group dove straight into another song from With Teeth, “You Know What You Are?” One glance at Reznor and it was clear that during the six-year gap between 1999’s The Fragile and 2005’s With Teeth, the performer wasn’t just absorbed with making music — Mr. Self Destruct was also cultivating a new image.
Reznor’s dyed black hair was now shaved down to almost a buzz cut and he donned a sleeveless black top to flaunt his well-developed deltoids and biceps. (He had one costume change, as he later slipped into a dark T-shirt to match his shiny, pleather-like black pants.) But even with the new garb and the simple coif, the 40-year-old belted out songs as though he was still in his prime and made sure his appearance was not some weak dress rehearsal.
Playing such classics as “Terrible Lie” from Pretty Hate Machine (1989) and the highly sexual “Closer” from Nine Inch Nails’ most popular full-length release, The Downward Spiral (1994), Reznor sang confidently — and, at times, breathy — and never peppered his lyrics with cheap references to Winnipeg.
None of the performances misfired: Reznor was energetic and multi-instrumental, playing guitar and keyboard. The frontman jumped around, hurled microphones and at one moment sprayed the audience with water from a bottle. The singer’s characteristic Christ-like pose of spreading his arms out to his sides seemed like a necessity, as the stance predictably surfaced during several of the songs.
Although the band’s Winnipeg debut featured many tracks from With Teeth, songs from the highly successful Broken EP (1992), such as “Suck,” “Gave Up” and “Wish,” also made the set list. During the sing-speak laden “Burn” from the Natural Born Killers soundtrack, the stage was aglow with an illuminated backdrop of blue flames as the frontman sang, “I’m gonna burn this whole world down.” It was no surprise that Reznor virtually ignored songs from The Fragile (1999), which is perceived as the ultimate Nine Inch Nails flop.
The crown of the show was the ballad “Hurt,” which turned into a blaring chorus that had audience members alternating between screaming the lyrics in unison with Reznor and roaring during the singer’s pauses.
The stage set-up was well-crafted and featured multi-coloured lights and columns that suggested an urban skyline. During the middle of the two-hour show, the white curtain was hoisted back up so that images — many disturbing, violent or beautiful — could be projected onto it. The band performed behind the drapery for songs such as the drum-infused “Eraser.”
As Reznor isn’t one to feign adulation for a city in which he’s never performed, no pretentious encore or phony curtain call bows appeared. However, Nine Inch Nails closed the show with a record-worthy rendition of the anthemic “Head Like A Hole” from 1989’s Pretty Hate Machine.
So, yes, there were fog machines, projected images, a dramatic curtain and a glimmer of sparkly couture, but a Nine Inch Nails show is no longer about theatrics or cornstarch-flecked black clothes — it’s about Reznor, his voice, his guitar and his keyboard. The Music Man? Indeed.
