Tag Archives: Nine Inch Nails

today was nin in hamilton, my last show of this year as far as i know. sarah and her friend got into town last night, and we headed up with phill around noon. border was slow, got there shortly after adr2 and bliss around 2. only about 20 people in line in front of us, so we got rail once we got in. justin’s side this time because they love him now. not so much. will be back on robin’s side at all future shows haha.

anyway…weather turned out to be decent, no rain til after we got let inside to wait. trent’s security dude, who goes by J.T came out and i got to thank him for the tambourine in atlantic city. he said no problem, and confirmed the story…he said 4 big dudes were fighting for it so he took it and figured he’d give it to someone he’d seen before. so there we have it. he seemed to be in a good mood talking to us crazies more than he normally does. once inside copps security made everyone sit down on the floor. sweet! we were allowed to come and go to bathrooms and food etc, but were not allowed to stand up til boris came on.

boris is from japan, and they were ok. it wasn’t what i was expecting. i keep getting openers confused after i preview them when they are announced, and i thought they were an electronic type of band more like ladytron. but not at all. i got a little bored at points but they were alright. the drummer kept making me think of tommy lee, lots of hair, really skinny white guy with shirt open and ribs showing, headband mic on etc. no titty cam haha. seems like they played 45 min, more than usual for openers.

nin went on at 8:40, played til almost 11. it was the typical arena set from august. closer has a new light/screen feature….trent sings into a camera between josh and ali and it is played on the big screen behind him. very bono. i actually don’t like it at all. i’d much rather have any of the previous versions of closer, like the platform above josh, or the screen during summer 06. or even just the strobes at the edge of the stage. i dunno, it just didn’t do anything for me. i don’t have a whole lot to say about the show, since it really was the same as the shows in august.

999,999
1,000,000
letting you
discipline
march of the pigs
head down
the frail
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
the good soldier
hurt
in this twilight

no god given makes me very sad 🙁 especially for my last show. outside we ran into mitch, the kid eric and i talked to a bunch at the toronto show, and this girl who was at philly in august and ac last week (turns out she’s from rochester). while we were all sitting down inside, the girl and guy in front of me and bliss started…blood play? she poked the tops of both his hands with a safety pin so he was bleeding. and bliss and i are like this is SO not cool. he’s bleeding and soon we’re all going to be smashed together w.t.f. he wasn’t gushing and she had kleenex or something, and it stopped but still. i don’t know that you don’t have AIDS wtf are you thinking!? it was gross.

people are all excited about justin cuz he well…moves around and rocks out. and i don’t see what the big deal is. i think everyone just got so used to jeordie who just stood there and didn’t do anything, that now that there is a regular bassist, who moves like a normal bassist does ppl are surprised and into him. he’s very very good, but i just have no interest in being in front of him and paying attention to him. i still spent most of the show watching trent of course, and the rest looking at robin. so it just makes sense to me to stay on robin’s side. and i’m sorry cassie but ali is boring. he’s cute but he doesn’t do anything lol. josh was on tonight, incredible drums at the end of piggy. ghosts 31 was really really great too. there are new visuals for that as well, swirly smoke rings, looks nice. i took 2 good crowd surfer hits where i was ok at the time, but knew i’d be hurting later. i was still fine when we sat down on the way out, but once i sat in the car holy shit. whole right side of head and neck hurts so bad. i joked that i feel like tim connolly hahah. (and found out when i turned my phone on that the sabres got slaughtered tonight). ribs/torso seem fine, my knee will have a wicked bruise, but i think i have whiplash or something now haha.

that’s really all i seem to have to say. the drive home seemed faster than the drive there, even tho the bridge was slow both ways. the american border guard said he wished he could have gone to the show haha. no hassles either way, just lots of cars waiting to cross.

i think kitty is stressed out from the baby shower thurs where he hid behind the dryer the entire time, and 2 visitors for 2 nights. he’s being a little weird. he’ll be ok after tomorrow.

wednesday i left for atlantic city around 11:30. weather was great, sunny, smooth sailing. i had intended to go to asbury park first, before heading to atlantic city but i forgot how early the sun sets in november – 5pm and it was dark and i still wasn’t in NJ. the drive got worse and worse, so did the weather. started raining when i finally reached nj, traffic up the ass, rain causing accidents. since it was dark i decided to skip asbury. so i had to alter my driving directions which wasn’t hard, but that meant i ended up taking a really retarded long route to AC…all in all the drive took 9 fucking hours. i got to Bally’s at quarter to 9, the weather at that point was a hurricane and i thought my car was going to roll from the wind. then i faced a huge check in line, because apparently it was a conference weekend, which explained why the hotels were all expensive too. finally checked in, stashed my stuff, and promtply lost 100$ on pai gow. then to bed.

the show was at the house of blues, in showboat casino. headed over there around 11:30 and there were only 20 or so people hanging out near the house of blues music hall entrance. with a nice sign that said we weren’t allowed to line up until 4. so people were wandering in and out, i had an awful hot dog for lunch, and won $50 on pai gow. i went back up stairs where security said we couldn’t hang out even tho we weren’t in line, just sitting around randomly. eventually he said he didn’t know why we couldn’t stay there, because we weren’t causing any trouble so he left and we all stayed. i got bored sitting by myself and figured i’d go eat again before lining up, so i went to the house of blues restaurant and sat at the bar. when i left, i saw josh sitting by himself getting dinner. for a very split second i thought about going over to tell him we’d miss him when he left the tour, but he was there for dinner and i didn’t want to bother him. i decided to walk around and see what the weather was like outside, since in the morning it was still crap. walking toward the main entrance i saw a big afro and realized justin was outside on the phone. i didn’t go outside with the intention to talk to him, so i didn’t approach him. i was just standing there and i suddenly realized that trent was getting out of a cab directly in front of me. holy shit. i had my phone out texting adr2 and cassie about justin, and i thought i should take a picture, only my hands were shaking and i didn’t know how to use my phone anymore LOL. i was trying really hard to pretend i didn’t notice him, and i think he was trying pretty hard to pretend he didn’t see me. i was going to say hi but then this big blond guy i never saw before got out of the cab too, definitely looked at me and my nin sweat shirt, and i decided not to say anything. rob sheridan got out after the blond guy, looked at me, glimmer of recognition so i smiled at him…rock stars taking cabs, and fitting 3 grown men in the back seat. the casino couldn’t even send one of their cars to pick them up?!? wtf. so the 3 of them went in, and i followed (inside, not followed them, i was done checking the weather) and they disappeared quickly. i went back up stairs to HOB and everyone was gone. security was back and said we all got kicked out and had to wait til 4 to come back. so back downstairs to find where everyone was loitering (because now we were interfering with casino business instead of just hiding upstairs where no players were walking around), and decided to take a walk again. got IDed going onto the casino floor lol. so i’m walking and someone is walking toward me…really looks like robin, but he was wearing a funny hat…almost an elf or robin hood hat where you expect a big feather to be sticking out. so i’m staring at him…it’s robin…no it’s not…yes it is. no it’s not. he’s staring at me while i’m deciding that it’s definitely robin, so i say hi. so i’ve now seen everyone except Ali LOL

4pm comes and we all go back upstairs, and line up. i never got a “number” from riot’s crew so i just got in line with these people i remember being in line at the last philly show, since they got there around the same time as i did. then security comes and asks where our tickets are. well we can’t pick them up til 5…well you can’t be in line if you don’t have a ticket. so once again we are not allowed to line up and go back to sitting around, at least we can stay upstairs. we also can’t get our tickets til much later now, i think it ended up being around 6:30 before “replacement brandi” came out with our tickets. FINALLY into line, doors were at 8pm.

get into the venue, at rail, in front of robin. when adr2 and bliss are not with me i get the most retarded people around me. this girl who was not waiting out all day suddenly shows up between me and this other girl, and introduces herself, asks our names. and grabs onto the rail. and asks us to move and we say no. so she decides to elbow the fuck out of us and gets on rail. wtf. she introduces herself again, asks my name. she’s annoying as hell dancing to the vamp music, yelling random things, she must be on drugs. squirming around to get more rail space, while i hold onto the barrier brace. the people on her other side must have ended up moving cuz i sure didn’t and she eventually got full body on the rail. introduced herself again, asked my name. WTF! then during nin’s set she was constantly yelling “michael” at the stage…yes we all know trent’s first name is michael, but clearly he’s 40however old and doesn’t go by michael, why would he respond if he could even hear you to begin with. stfu!

so health was the opener. oh dear god. they were awful. and so loud, i forgot my earplugs and was instantly deaf. i just have no words, they were just terrible. loud noise, maybe one part that could possibly be a song, but just terrible. people started booing. i don’t boo but i have no problem looking bored and in pain. a half hour couldn’t come fast enough. in the meantime i was so cold. just absolutely freezing, there was refrigerator air blowing right on me. every time the crowd pushed a little bit, i wished they’d keep pushing because the people were warm. i knew that once the show started i’d want to be cold, but it was so so bad. i was shivering and it was giving me a headache.

nin came on around 10:15 and opened with “love is not enough” with a drum program intro that was new, and made me not recognize what it was. robin playing it sounded great, i just started smiling. followed by “terrible lie” it was looking like one of the with teeth shows, and it pretty much was, with 4 slip songs. none of the songs were in even remotely the same approximate place as other shows, so it made it interesting, but there were no real surprises. the main one…while FINALLY in line…peter murphy walked by. hmm that’s odd. so of course we all speculated that maybe he was here to play a song with nin. this girl from russia, acid polly, was hoping it wasn’t “reptile” because while she liked peter murphy she didn’t think his voice fit the song. so mid set, there is some activity on stage, and a guy walks out with a sheet of paper and puts it on the stage. it’s peter murphy. and the song is “reptile” LOL he didn’t quite know the words so he had a cheat sheet, but it went really well. i agree that his voice doesn’t suit the song (just like i don’t think bowie’s voice suited it back in 1995 *sacreligious*) but it was still really really cool. his mannerisms for the song were awesome, alot of homoerotic peter/trent during the choruses, and in the end it was pretty great. acid polly was at rail next to me and at the end she was like, well that wasn’t so bad haha.

so the show goes on, and midway through “gave up” i’m not paying attention to what’s going on in front of me, watching the stage, and trent’s head of security, who i think is named John, walks up to me touches my arm, and puts a tambourine in my hand. LOL so for no apparent reason i have another tambourine. cassie helped come up with a few theories as to why…trent or rob told him to, because i didn’t bug them when they were getting out of the cab. or robin…at one point in the show he pointed at me, assuming he remembered me from earlier. or i’m leaning to it was just “John”, that he saw i was having a good time – which is his 3rd rule of the show when he is going through the rules before doors – and decided to “reward me”. he was standing in front of me for the first half of the show, so it’s possible. at the time when he gave it to me he wasn’t though, he came from the other side of the stage with it. so there’s the story, not as exciting as trent throwing it right to me, but it’s cool 🙂

trent was very happy through the show, smiling alot, laughing at things. he smiled about something at robin after robin’s whispering part of “god given”, and after peter murphy left the stage something made him smile. he gave a little speech which he admitted was so he could catch his breath after “closer”…he said there were superfans in the crowd, and that he discovered the internet where people bitch about every little thing…leading to him saying how he’s been fucking up the lyrics to closer for so many years he doesn’t remember what they are supposed to be, and asks if any of us know what the middle part lyrics really are. he threw the mic into the crowd and a kid tells him it’s “through all the forests, above the trees”, so trent repeats it and says he’ll try to remember it for next time. they go into “discipline” and in the mid “quiet” part trent starts that closer part, which actually fit pretty well. he introduced the band towards the end, and announced it was robin’s birthday the next day. he thanked peter murphy and said that he was probably hanging upside down somewhere LOL. in the end he announced that shows like that were pretty cool and that they should do more of them YES PLEASE.

they played 2 hours, no encore.
Pinion
Love Is Not Enough
Terrible Lie
1,000,000
Letting You
March of the Pigs
Piggy
The Frail
The Wretched
The Collector
Survivalism
Reptile ( with peter murphy)
Closer
Discipline
The Beginning of The End (i thought of S and V because once again, when josh started, it still sounded like My Sharona)
Ghosts 31
Wish
Head Down
Gave Up
The Line Begins To Blur
Only
God Given
Down In It
Hurt
Starfuckers Inc.
The Hand That Feeds
Head Like A Hole

hmm..in the ets thread from the show there is: “There was some epic fighting over a tambourine which security ended up confiscating.” which makes me wonder if that’s what “John” gave me…it was the opposite side of the stage, and he threw it during “head down” which was before “gave up”…hmmm indeed. ok that’s the story i’m going with now 🙂

the show was good. not the best ever. they sounded great, the venue has great sound, and trent’s voice was on. it was “stripped down” as they advertised in the sense that they had absolutely no production elements from any of the recent tours…just standard house of blues lighting. but when i saw “stripped down” i was sort of expecting acoustic, or semi acoustic, which it very much wasn’t. we got no surprise songs, which is also sorta disappointing, but then again i’m spoiled. i got to see all these great “rare” songs over in europe, and i want to see them again here (i still don’t understand why they don’t play them EVER in the states). i will take a productionless club show any day, because that lack of production allows them to change the setlist up…i think all 9 shows in europe had different setlists (at least in song order if not in songs), and all 5 club shows in 05 that adr2 and i went to had different setlists…all the production, while cool, locks them into a certain number of songs. i like the production, it’s been great this tour, really really fantastic, but clubs are pretty fucking great too. doing a mix where they play a few arenas, and a club here and there (like the rolling stones did a few years ago) would be really cool. even in the same city…like toronto…air canada one night, kool haus another. the show was not all that rough, it really rarely is when you’re not dead center, but i walked away with some bruised ribs and the usual bruised hip bones. no big deal. that’s what makes it fun!!

I’m finally in a nin crowd picture….

in front of robin, green shirt. i don’t know who’s arm is next to me because i wasn’t wearing any bracelets but it so looks like my arm lol. you can see the huge security to the right of me in the photo, about to stand on the barrier. he blocked my view most of the show, jerk. and then “john” is behind the short security guard against the stage. i really hope his name is actually john.

left the show protecting my tambourine, had no where to hide it like last time, and no friends to act as body guards (when i was getting my sweatshirt from coat check, holding the tambourine, this kid says “you took a tambourine to a nin show?”…wtf were you AT ALL paying attention? so i said, no they gave it to me and he just looks so confused, so he asks if i played it at all…wtf. no, i did not, i was too busy trying to make sure no one at rail saw john give it to me so they couldn’t plan to steal it later hahah.) sat down and called adr2 to update on the show, and called cassie from my car in the ramp where it was quiet. driving back to bally’s i stopped at 7-11 for food, and then missed the turn for bally’s ramp…turned around and on the way back this car is driving funny, and pulls over to the curb at a weird angle, and i pass him. then i realize…there is a girl walking up to the car. and i look in the mirror again and she’s gone. i just saw someone pick up a prostitute. that’s a first. i’ve seen prostitutes and escorts, but always on “dates” and not getting picked up off the corner LOL. it was just like TV LOL

so i left AC at 10:30 with my mission to check out asbury park. weather was crap for a 3rd day, a light mist. i get to asbury and it’s awful. immediately going toward the beach i see the half demolished old Metropolitian Hotel… 🙁 the cool entrance is gone, and only a small part remains. keep driving and i see the carousel house and casino are still standing, which is good because i had heard that they were gone too. the palace is just a lot now, and there are horrible new build condos right next to the lot. i park at the carousel house and realize…the door is open. omg it’s being used! the medusas (the wind women haha) which leighanne had said were removed for safe keeping are all back, and the doors are all green gates, one open. there were some tables inside and it seemed like it was being used to sell fall stuff – mums and pumpkins etc, and being cleaned out. i took a few pics inside, which has white walls now, and has been fixed up it seems. a guy went in and said hi, but i didn’t bother him by asking him about it. then to the casino…holy shit, it’s open too. sorta…it’s actually half gone. the section attached to the carousel house, which said CASINO on it, has been saved and re opened so you can continue you’re way on the boardwalk through the building…there are big I-beams bracing it, and some of the original decorations are still there…but the rest of the building, that continued on toward the beach and was most in danger of falling down is now gone. they only saved the facade (inside the walkway), and the outside is covered in metal. sorta sad, but still really good that they saved and are using some of it! it looked like the power plant was being worked on too, but it looked the same as years ago when lei and i went. i walked down the boardwalk in the rain, which i don’t think has new builds, but they were redone and house a number of cafes and stores – high end home decor/furniture stores…because people go to the beach and buy furniture?!? i just don’t get it. there were some useful places like a glass blowing place, pottery place, water/summer gear etc. i just don’t get the furniture and expensive clothing stores on a beach. i started getting worried that Madame Marie’s was gone but i finally found it, tho she’s retired or dead..her granddaughter now does the psychic readings. kept going towards the convention center, which looks good, and back to the car. the wonder bar is on ocean ave, and it is painted institutional green, with a bumper car and tillie painted on it in memory of the palace. it was cool to see tillie still survives in asbury. it’s a real good reproduction too. beyond that is a construction area for high end condos…only it was just a skeleton of a first floor and didn’t seem to have been worked on in a while, perhaps it’ll end up like the one they finally imploded a few years ago. maybe it was the weather but i just find asbury to be the saddest place on earth. it had such a vibrant history, so many historic places that have been lost, the bruce springsteen connection…and now this silly modern attempt to revitalize it. i hope it works, but it’s ruined the charm of the place. ah well.

started for back home which was a better, quicker ride this time, the 7 or so hours that it was supposed to be from asbury to home. i don’t think it was the same way lei and i went last time though. i did find the Land of Make Belief again, where we tried to sell the sign in the dark fog hahaha.

long post, but sorry, not cutting it 😛

not photoshopped. from st louis show, during the great destroyer. someone who filmed it (link in the comments) thinks it’s just a random image in the video, not a crash. i don’t think that’s it as you can clearly see it in the video, and i haven’t seen it during a show, nor is it in my video from philly. plus the imagery isn’t really random images flashing on screen, like say u2 zootv words during the fly, it’s mostly static and color. but it does seem weird that trent the mac lover is using windows, unless that’s the only operating system that will work his screens in such a way….

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….

Pics

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

Pics

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.

i desperately need to find a drug store tomorrow for aloe and sunblock. gah so burned. don’t tell my mom 🙂 going to attempt to find the Mutter Museum tomorrow cuz i last minute remembered it was in philly. i figure i’ll drive around and find the historic tourist sites after. i forget that philly was the home of the constitution and has stuff related to see haha. i’m trying to avoid eastern state penn only because i’ve been there twice, and i purposely did not bring the SLR so i wouldn’t be tempted to go back but…it may rain tomorrow which might have made for interesting moody photos. and it’s supposed to rain friday and if so i won’t be sitting out at the venue, i’ll just deal with being far back in the crowd and being dry.

sunday brought exploring detroit with david. we were out and about for 9 hours lol. sites included an old ballroom, catholic school, factory we ran into a guard at, another ex auto plant, tiger stadium demo, and a high rise. 300 and some pics later…

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

got out of the venue super fast, no one was in the lot we parked in and no one in general is in toledo so there was no traffic. got a quick start back home, getting back around 3:30. cassie can’t get a flight anywhere on the east coast it seems for the nj show wed so i’ll be going alone now and hopefully running into the girl i met today who was looking for a ticket. i have no hotel or anything booked so i technically don’t have to leave for nj til wed, but i’ll prob leave whenever i get up tomorrow, get directions and hotel settled, etc. til then SLEEP

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 nauseus 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.