NIN

John and I went to see Nine Inch Nails on Monday night. I'm still in shock and awe.

The opening act was called Death From Above 1979 - and they were quite odd. Think The Sex Pistols meet Primus.

The second band was Queens of the Stone Age. They're terrific. The lead singer has such a cool voice, and he's really good on the guitar. Think The Sex Pistols meet The Doors.

Now, NIN is one of my favorite all time bands. Actually.. it's Trent Reznor. He sounded brilliant. I've never heard his voice sound so good, and his performance was so unbelievable.

I'm going to just say for the record here that there is no other singer on the planet that comes anywhere near to Trent Reznor in talent. Big words eh? Because it's not just about the vocal quality. It's about the art of the performance as well. It's about the mood and the visual, and his body (buff like mad btw) and the way he presents all of his music. The imagery is staggering, and you can get a small little taste of that in the pic that I took with my cell phone during the show.

Trent was there to make a point about his vision of the world, and you could not help but be angered and awed by the whole thing. Yes, it is nihilistic, and it is honest.

I'm usually good at describing visual things, but I really can't do it justice. You have to see it and be blown away. They had this mesh-like curtain in the front of the stage that went from the floor up to the lights. From the mixing console they had a projector and projected images onto the curtain. It was both beautiful and disgusting.

During one long instrumental passage the images began with scenes of animals attacking other animals, hunting prey, insects, lions, etc. Then it changed into nothing but images of war - uncensored, and it was bizarre how the musicians were backlit behind the curtain and their shadows were projected on the curtain from the back side. It's hard to describe.. really.. but it was an intensity of style that you cannot imagine. I was in awe the entire time.

Inter-cut during the images of violence were brief shots of a ballroom, and men in tuxedos dancing with women in white dresses. They all looked the same, and they all turned in circles the same way. Back and forth the images of war and dancing were juxtaposed.. until the end when a close up shot of a dancing couple showed George and Laura Bush. I about fell out of my chair. A huge chorus of boos and cheers went up in the arena, and initially I was flabbergasted by the intensity of the cheers. Even in Texas I doubt there would be anybody at a NIN concert who likes Bush or war. I think the cheer was for the point that Trent was making.

Trent was clearly drawing the analogy between the violence of the animal kingdom to that of human beings, hell bent on killing each other. Clearly he was making a political statement, much the way Black Sabbath did with War Pigs. Only, instead of it just being song lyrics, it was the entire audio/visual/lyrical statement. And at the end.. and get this... the projection on the curtain shifted to scenes from Planet of the Apes.

I don't expect "conservatives" will be terribly welcome at a Nine Inch Nails concert, just the same as I wouldn't go to one of these pro-war hillbilly (ahem) country music concerts. But, again I always go back to the differences between liberals and conservatives, and that contrast is quite evident. Just look at that picture I took (Trent is standing at the front in silhouette), and that was just a brief instant in one of the most phenomenal visual experiences you will ever see. Compare that to a Garth Brooks show, or something along those lines. That is the difference between liberal minds and conservative minds.

And all of what I described didn't mention the music, because his music stands on it's own as the epitomy of industrial rock. They sounded great, and everything fit together perfectly.

I've always said that if I had my choice of having any job in the world, I wanted to be a professional hockey player in the NHL. Can I be Trent Reznor instead?

God money's not looking for the cure
God money's not concerned with the sick amongst the pure
God money let's go dancing on the backs of the bruised
God money's not one to choose

Head like a hole
Black as your soul
I'd rather die than give you control
Head like a hole
Black as your soul
I'd rather die than give you control

Bow down before the one you serve
You're going to get what you deserve