May 31st, 2009 by ollie

Well, it came and went. Dammit I can’t believe its over already. Yes I know, seems like I’m always going to these NIN concerts the last 3 years, hey I missed seeing them live for about 10 years beforehand so nyah! Anyways, this time I was accompanied by my lovely wife for a night out with Mr Reznor on his final tour (supposedly, I hope not for long). First we made a pit stop at 5 Guys for a burger in Oak Park, mmmmm good stuff. After navigating the rush hour traffic on the Ike, we made it to the beautiful downtown Charter One Pavilion. Not a bad place, fairly small and right on the lakefront with a fantastic vantage of the city. We had seats that were fairly decent (no more mosh pits for me thanks) off stage left. For this last tour, Nails went without the elaborate staging (nothing could ever top Lights In The Sky Tour from last year anyway). It was simply lit, white lights, smoke and strobes, the energy was provided solely by the music. Holy crap, they rocked out the house, with a setlist that was surprising and satisfying. This was a show for the hardcore fans, playing stuff that has been unheard live since the early nineties. Check out this list:
Somewhat Damaged
Terrible Lie
Heresy
March of the Pigs
Piggy (regular)
Metal
The Becoming
I’m Afraid of Americans
Burn
Gave Up
La Mer
The Fragile
Gone, Still
The Way Out is Through
Wish
Survivalism
Mr. Self Destruct
Suck
The Day the World Went Away
Hurt
The Hand that Feeds
Head like a Hole
I was kinda hoping for the Now I’m Nothing opener which I have never heard myself but I cannot complain with this list. For a final farewell, this was awesome.