econoline!!

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tonight was econoline crush at lee’s palace in toronto with heather, joe and mary. it had been too too long, 6 years we figured out, since the last time we saw them play before they “broke up”. so much fun, as their shows always were. trevor is such a great frontman, and he has the most crowd interaction of any band i’ve ever seen. he looked very happy, having a great time. there was a meet and greet after the show, and i think it’s pretty incredible how he remembers us from so long ago, and always treats us really great. he had a little rant during the show, about how bands get screwed by record companies, and managers, and promoters, etc etc etc, and it reminded me of what trent had been talking about recently in australia. it was amusing. trevor also said there’d be a new album in the fall. exciting hehe. on the way home we wondered what it might sound like, hoping it goes back to the more edgy roots of the earlier albums instead of the pop-y sound of “Brand new history”. we’ll see. finally bought the purge cd, it was only 10$ and you can’t find it anywhere. had something to sign at the m&g.

setlist was pretty great. lots of affliction songs, which sounded great. the new guitarist uses a bow on the guitar for “nowhere now”. the songs sounded a bit different compared to how ziggy would play them. and the guitarist looked really familiar – but we decided he reminded us of the original singer from drowning pool, and the singer of smash mouth. one bad thing….the set list was taped to the wall so we saw it as soon as we got there…and the closing song was razorblades and bandaids. YES!!! except, AGAIN, just like the shows 6 years ago, for whatever reason they didn’t play it. grrrrrrrrrrr. i was gonna yell at trevor about it, but then when we were talking he was just too cute, and friendly for me to yell hehe. i’ll have to do it on myspace. right after the show started this kid jumps in front of us…k we were at the front, but there’s no gap for a barrier, there’s just the stage…and it’s tall. so we had stepped back to see better, and he jumps in front of us. whatever. except he was a fucking spaz, totally going nuts. this was not normal “rocking out”…i was seriously defending myself from a black eye or getting teeth knocked out. and had he done it, he would have lost a ball or two. on top of that he smelled…that “havent washed my hair in a month” greasy smell. barf. eventually he left for a beer and we didn’t let him back in front of us. then waiting to talk to trevor, he cuts in front of us… and i yelled YOU CUT IN FRONT OF US DURING THE SHOW AND YOU’RE DOING IT AGAIN WHAT THE FUCK! but he wasn’t paying attention to me. grrr.

Nowhere Now
Surefire (though i have no memory of hearing it, maybe they skipped it?)
Home
Cruel World
Sparkle and Shine
Make It Right
Hollowman
You Don’t Know What It’s Like
The Devil You Know
All That You Are
Burnt
Wicked
TDM
Blunt
Razorblades and Bandaids

hopefully the first of many more to come.

(this new DVR commercial on tv has all these local buffalo celebs talking about what they watch on tv…including rob ray saying that he hates hockey hahahahahhahah)

Posted in: Concerts, Econoline Crush \ Tagged: ,

lacuna coil

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tonight was the lacuna coil headlining show in toronto with heather. “the hottest chicks in metal” tour (seriously) it was stolen babies, in this moment, the gathering, and LC. as i approached the canadian border my check engine light went on. shit! i hurry and pull off the highway and call dad. hahah. checked the oil but was paranoid about driving to toronto and back and the car dying. so i found an auto parts store to see if they’d check it for me, but they wouldn’t, they sent me to firestone. they claimed they’d need 3 hrs to do it…wtf. autozone plugs the reader into the car and it takes all of 30 seconds. the guy didn’t seem to think it was a problem though, and said to go ahead to toronto. so i did. by this point i’m running a good 45 min late. oh well. picked up heather and got to the venue – the opera house. i had forgotten i had been there before, for the u2 elevation cover band zoo tv recreation thing ages ago. i like the place. we went in while stolen babies was on. very interesting. lead singer is a girl who looks like faruiza balk and plays the accordion, and the bassist also plays the upright bass as well as electric. the 3 songs we saw were entertaining, and for some reason they made me think of dresden dolls tho the music was totally different. i think it was the bassist reminded me of brian. adr2 would have liked him hehe. in this moment followed, they were interesting as well. no real opinion on the music, it was alright. then the gathering…now i have heard about them for a long time now, so i was sorta looking forward to seeing them but…wtf. they looked nothing like i was expecting – like they just walked in off the street, no real “show” style or presence. they sounded nothing at all like i expected…i expected metal. they were so not metal. they kept smiling….wtf. there is no smiling in metal!! haha. and they were boring. heather thought so too. it was just weird. and it seemed like they played FOREVER even though it was only about 40 minutes. the songs were way too long, you thought they were over, and then they’d keep going – sorta like the new tool album hah. anyway.

lacuna coil….much much better than last month with stone sour. they played about an hr 15, and had a good mix of old and new. the new stuff sounded better than the show at dome theatre, and they played “in visible light” which i was totally surprised to hear. i dont know, i thought the orchestration in the song would prevent them from playing it live. so that was awesome. they also did “my wings” from in a reverie, the oldest song in the set, very cool. closed the main show with “enjoy the silence” and did a 2 song encore – “heaven’s a lie” and “our truth”. it’s very hard not to watch christina the whole time hah. she’s so on “my list” hahahhahhah. the band sounded good, much less like korn than the last show and the album. don’t really know what was different about it, but…definitely a way better show.

very happy the car thing didn’t prevent me from going to the show, because they said this was their last tour through north america until the next album – whenever that is. so anyone who wants to see them and hasn’t yet, it’s your last chance for a while (ahemdavid).

and the sabres won 🙂 prepare for the comeback!

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back to work

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back to work and things are as if i never left. other than a few minor personnel changes…as soon as i walked in the players were back on my nerves again. i need another job that pays me tons to do very little haha.

saturday was the jagermiester music tour with shadows fall, lacuna coil and stone sour at dome theater in the falls. it was sort of funny, eric was excited for shadows fall and was a bit disappointed, and i was excited for lacuna coil and was a bit disappointed. we went up in the balcony and away from retarded little kids, which was nice, except it was wicked hot up there. of course as lacuna coil comes on i get way too hot and dizzy 😛 anyway. they were good, just they got to play 7 songs and 6 were from the new album. which isn’t their best. which sounds like fieldy joined the band. they need a solo show so they can play for longer and play old stuff that was good. that is all. hopefully they do come around on a solo tour soon. stone sour was entertaining, corey knows how to work a crowd. the floor looked ridiculous, and i’m too old to be in the pit for bands i don’t even really know/like hahaha. really, nin only as far as getting killed at shows. so it was fun, nice to see eric again.

and i’m back to my “going to bed at 7am and waking up at 3” ways again. i had to do the toke schedule yesterday and it’s all messed up because we all have weird start times, and extra days off, and it was a hassle. but i am getting paid an extra 6 hours a week to do this stuff, so i can’t really complain. i get my hair cut tomorrow FINALLY and work 6-2.

back to working on my pics from the trip. oh, which reminds me. everyone who already knew, or asks about meeting trent – the first question they ask is if i slept with him. um yes. i jumped him right there in front of all those people and no one seemed to mind 😛

Posted in: Concerts, Lacuna Coil \ Tagged: ,

you kant…always get what you want – Berlin shows

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Berlin shows 1&2

Getting to the venue the first day was ridiculous and I don’t even want to get into it. So frustrated and pissed and got there “late” and just…terrible. The show was awesome. PoPo opened instead of Ladytron and they were…interesting. Far more entertaining to watch, but it all seemed somewhat chaotic and off to me. The 2nd show they seemed much more organized and smooth and I liked it better.

Pretty standard set for this leg, with Big Comedown, and the new songs. Was next to Vanessa at the rail in front of Aaron. Didn’t get messed with too much so that was good. Unfortunately during Burn we had a crowd of photographers in front of us. Great show though I can’t really say why and what made it stand out really. It made me really not want to go back home. Trent confirmed the 2nd new album and said they’d be back in Europe again soon, so… that’s nice. Hehe.

After the show a bunch of us went to Hard Rock to celebrate Mandy’s birthday. About 10 minutes after we get there “The Hand That Feeds” video comes on. And we’re all totally retarded staring at it intently as if we’ve never seen it before, and rockin out, as if we hadn’t just heard he song in the show haha.

2nd show I scalped a ticket, and queued all day. It was…interesting. Sue and Kim and I got accosted by this guy on a bike. We were talking and he just appears and in German asks us what kind of music NIN was. So we talk about it, and then he starts speaking basically perfect english – about how we’re Americans without guns. Which led to “hey I didn’t vote for Bush.” And suddenly he’s off for about a half our about how Bush and his cronies planned and carried out 9-11 themselves, how he has all this proof that he collected on the internet and he starts pulling out cds and giving them to us, then asking for a few euro because he was trying to sell them. He just goes on and on about all this governmental conspiracy stuff. Now the strange(r) thing about it was that so much of what he was saying fit into the Year Zero concept. And once we finally got rid of him we started talking about how much of a coincidence it was, and that maybe that was planned to happen. Instead of USBs found in venue bathrooms this guy was part of the Year Zero ARG and maybe these cds he gave us – 3 different ones – are the next step in the game, leading to a new website or song. It just seemed too weird. So I took mine down to the internet cafe and took a look. No it was really just crazy conspiracy theory stuff. However one CD that Kim took was called “Final Solution to A Hitler”…final solution being a song that NIN played sometimes in the summer…and then we’re at the rail before the show, and they play final solution over the speakers…Maybe it is something afterall. Probably not, but just too many coincidences. At least now I have a rather unique souvenir hahaha.

I made the decision to try to change my flight home and stay on the tour through Vienna. Didn’t seem like it was going to work out but I tried, and tried more after the show with no luck. And I didn’t get to hear The Fragile or We’re in This Together…you kant…always get want you want.

The show…was weird. I didn’t notice it being all that bad – the sound to me was fine and normal. However they were having technical difficulties with the lights. They wouldn’t come on at the right time, or not come on at all. The first verse of Something I Can Never Have was in darkness, with Trent eventually getting a flashlight and shining it on his face until the lights came on hahah. After Closer, which was oddly cut short – the end piano notes just stopped – Trent said he had spent the day driving around the city and that it was beautiful, and that he came to the show ready to kick ass and beat us all into submission. But that they were having technical difficulties and they were all pissed, and they were going to take a minute to regroup and then beat us all into submission. Well…it didn’t really happen. The lights continued to be sort of late in coming on, so they weren’t matching up to the music, etc. I know that it’s annoying, but things could have been worse hahah. Set was pretty standard, no Last, but got the frail/the wretched and la mer/into the void which I was glad to see again before I left.

The shows have been so much fun, queuing included, and I really don’t want it to end. The experience has been so less stressful and much more mellow than the experience in the US. I definitely will be back for more shows in Europe. I had much more fun and everyone was in a better mood than in the summer. I am very very glad that I came and not just for having met Trent. It’s for having met everyone else, and spending more time with S and V and just…being a part of something. It feels like it was all sort of special – for some reason. Which is awesome 🙂

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Happy Birthday To Aaron

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Amsterdam show today. So irritated. I was going to get up early to go to the Van Gogh museum. But the wind/weather sounded terrible and I really wanted to sleep so I did, til around noon. That still gave me plenty of time to check out the museum then go to the venue. Except I got lost and it took me and hour and a half to find the damn venue. By that time it was like 2:30 and I wouldn’t have enough time to go and get back to the venue by 4ish incase we were let in for anything. So I stayed at the venue and froze with everyone. There were many more Americans there now, including this guy who I don’t remember his name, but I recognize him from someplace – most likely Cabazon we decided. Him and his wife were cool, from Houston and talked alot while we froze. Brandy brought our tickets and said there would be a sound check. Except that when she came back at 4 to prepare, Trent radioed that he changed his mind. Moody bitch hehe. lovetrent. So we got to freeze some more outside instead.

The venue was the Paradiso which was an old church. Very cool inside and super small. Something like 1200 people. The stage was so small that there was about 4 feet between Ali and Josh’s risers, add Trent’s table and piano, and that left about 2 feet for Trent to move from the front of the stage to the back. Just so small! Given the smallness I didn’t get rail, was right behind Sue. Then some people showed up who I could tell were going to annoy the shit out of me, so I decided to go up and sit front row of the balcony. I could actually see the whole show this time, it was neat.

Nothing super special. Pilgramage, Mr Self Destruct, Last, Heresy, The Beginning is the End, March of the Pigs, Piggy, Closer, Line Begins To Blur, Burn, Wish, Help Me I Am In Hell, Eraser, Reptile, Survivalism, No You Don’t, Suck, Hurt, Hand that Feeds, Head Like A Hole. Something like that, I think I’m missing a few. I was glad to get Line Begins To Blur – I missed that song muchly. I love it live, it’s so pretty. Trent at one point decided to give credit to his band, introducing each one, then with Aaron mentioning it was his birthday. People started to sing, so Trent threw the mic out into the crowd to sing to Aaron. It was cute. Someone threw some kind of stuffed animal at him haha.

So starting in Cologne, while queing the incorrect song lyrics keep coming up in conversation. And I think Trent has heard us joking about “smash up my jelly beans” as a line from Gave Up and he decided to stop playing it. jk of course. But he left it out again today.

2 shows left to get The Fragile and We’re In This Together. Well…2 if I can find a ticket to Berlin2.

We leave for Berlin at almost 8pm tomorrow so I’m going to attempt to get to Van Gogh. I actually can’t wait to leave this city. I think it’s way overrated, unless you’re a pot head. In that case, game on.

Oh and “The Beginning is the End” when it begins is just drums, and it sounds like “My Sharona”

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Brussels 2

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How can the 2nd Brussels show really compare? haha

Today it snowed. Lucky for us, S, V, Sue and I were in a coffee shop for most of it. Sue got blamed for bringing the snow from Canada though.

Nothing special for us today, and how could anyone expect anything else from the band. We almost had another Hurt fiasco but it was kept under control and Trent didn’t seem to get pissed. But maybe next time he plays Brussels he’ll decide that the town shouldn’t get to hear that song if they’re going to be disrespectful. I may think it’s boring and I may be tired of seeing it, but still…it’s a great song, and everyone should shut up during it haha.

Setlist was something like: Mr Self Destruct, Sin, Terrible Lie, March of the Pigs, Something I Can Never Have, The Beginning is the End, Closer, Burn, Wish, Help Me I Am In Hell, Eraser..um..No You Don’t, Survivalism, Only, Suck, Reptile (yay), You Know What You Are, Hurt, The Hand That Feeds, Head Like A Hole…so a bit different and mixed up. No Gave Up…I didn’t miss it but I’d rather it over Suck. I don’t have alot else to say about it. The massive post yesterday took it all out of me. 🙂

I realized that I need to see so many shows because when in front I spend probably 1/3rd of the time with my eyes closed. 🙂 And I think that every now and then I do need to watch from farther back just so I can see it all.

My wishlist for the remaining 3 shows: The Fragile, We’re In This Together and The Becoming at least one more time. And any time he wants to throw in something from total left field, like Physical or And All That Could Have Been, that’d be fine too.

Hell I’m happy with anything.
 

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Full Circle

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First a little story.

Some of you know how I was led into my NIN fandom and some of you don’t. I don’t like talking about it, not because it is bad, but because it’s strange. Long story short, I had an odd dream that revolved around Julie, an old friend and ex-babysitter who was a heroin addict. The dream wouldn’t leave me alone, it led to me pulling out The Downward Spiral and listening to it for the first time in years. That was 1999. I don’t think I’ve seen her since around then or shortly after she got out of jail/rehab in 2000.

We left Gent for Brussels this morning. I had set the alarm for 8:30 and it woke me up out of this dream I was having. In the dream there were these weird storms, with lots of lightning flashing everywhere, and I was at work at the old small Tops grocery store on Nash Road. The storms ended and the power came back on in the store and we let customers in again. Who walks in, Julie. She sees me and comes over so happy to see me after all these years, and hugs me, and tells the friends that she was with how much she always liked me and how happy she was that I was there.

I thought it was strange I dreamed about her when I haven’t seen or thought about her in a long time.

We caught the 10am train to Brussels, found the hotel, and I wandered through the rain to the venue at 11:30. Rain – the good weather couldn’t last forever. Thankfully it stopped and most of the rest of the day was rain free. There were 3 people ahead of me, and Sue arrived shortly after I did. Brandy came out a bit later and said something would be happening later. Good news of course. We figured Year Zero listening party, with maybe waffels this time haha. S and V joined and the time passed away. We were moved over to the back stage entrance where the Spiral entrance was to be (odd), waited there and the band arrived and walked by. Later John came out to say we’d be going in for a few songs and the band would come out and sign one thing each.

33 shows later, I met Trent Reznor. I finally got a fucking meet and greet.

Now this completely blows my mind. At one point in the morning I realized how odd it was that I dreamed about Julie, and it reminded me that a dream about her is what started all of this 8 years ago. I just CANNOT get over this. It makes absolutely no sense to me. I commented to Sue about it, without going into details, because it was just so weird that she suddenly appeared in a dream. At the end of all this, I still cannot begin to wrap my mind into this odd phenomenon. That’s what I’m calling it haha.

But I met Trent Reznor. And I didn’t throw up, or cry, or stumble over my words, or trip over my own feet, or any other equally embarassing possibility. I should start from the beginning though. I’m trying to remain calm haha.

We went in as the band began playing The Frail. They followed with The Wretched, La Mer, Into the Void, Please, and Wish. It’s been awhile since I remember hearing Please, it was nice. Todd, Trent’s mic kid, was giving us all chocolates. They had something in them, and after I asked if it was liquor, he was like “maaaaybe”, so I asked if he was trying to get us all drunk haha. He gave me some other chocolate after that had chili pepper in it, it was weird. Anyway. They finished up and left, Ali staying on stage to mess around with his equipment. We were instructed to all stand against the barrier and then down along the wall and the band members would come out to talk to everyone. First out was Jeordie. To be perfectly honest I had no idea what to say to him. I really know nothing about him except past bands, and just…nothing. So I just was polite and asked how he was doing, and had him sign my big ticket (we had 2, spiral and venue ticket). Apparently he was in a better mood today than he usually is during meet and greets. Josh followed, and you could tell he was still stuffed up and sick. I asked if he was feeling better, he asked where I was from and said Buffalo – the one place they played all around but never in. He didn’t believe that they hadn’t played Buffalo, so I went through “Rochester, Erie, Toronto 5 times” He said they’d have to do it next time. I love Josh. That is all. Aaron followed. He’s so short. Really nice though, asked my name. I told him that 2 years ago in Reno he walked by Adr2 and I carrying a pizza and we had no clue who he was. He replied, “And you still don’t know who I am.” I said, “After the show, we looked at eachother and said, he fucking walked by us with a pizza.” One of the crew guys standing there said he liked that story. Ali didn’t end up coming down, apparently he’s really shy.

Then Trent. I watched the soundcheck songs at the rail, but everyone smooshed in for the M&G and so I moved down to the end of the line. I paced around waiting, and strangely I wasn’t nervous at all. He spent a decent amount of time with everyone, talking and taking pictures. The girl in front of me asked me to use her phone to take a picture of them, and then left. Me and Trent, face to face. And I still wasn’t nervous. He introduced himself (ha!) and shook my hand. I said “Finally” haha. Gave him my Spiral ticket to sign. I said, “I don’t have a camera but could I have a hug?” And with absolutely no hesitation he hugged me, and said, “A hug is just as good as a picture.” And it wasn’t some stupid halfass hug, it was a real one. And he smelled good. He was just so nice, and smily with people. So I let go and no one had to pry me off or anything haha. I still wasn’t nervous. I thanked him for everything and for the last 2 years being so great.

Sue and I had talked about M&Gs earlier in the day, and I had gotten nervous and wanted to cry just talking about it. But I was perfectly fine when it happened. I walked back outside, and she was like, “Are you ok?” I am/was sooo ok. Then they noticed how bad I was shaking and pointed it out. Shit. But I realized when I handed my ticket to Trent, I wasn’t shaking, and didn’t look stupid. It was just after that I was shaking and just could.not.stop. I called Adr2 cuz she’s the only phone number I have, and she had to hide at work while I told her everything. I almost cried at that point but I didn’t. I just kept shaking. Sue and I went to the bar to get a drink so I’d stop shaking haha. At at that point there was a gathering of NIN fans in the bar and I was able to find a ticket for tomorrow’s show. Yay.

So we waited to be let back in for the show. And at this point what else do I say? At rail slightly to the right of Trent. The setlist was much like London 1, but we got Dead Souls and Big Come Down. It was good and strange. Things seemed to be going very well, and Trent seemed pleased with the crowd. The whole place sang the “doesn’t it make you feel better, the pigs have won tonight…” part of March of the Pigs and he just watched, and smiled. Things went well until Hurt, when we all thought we were going to have a “Grand Rapids moment” and Trent was going to walk off. Halfway through the song, someone yelled something, someone else yelled something back, everyone’s going shhhh and Trent just stopped mid verse and stood there. As if he was thinking whether he should throw the keyboard over and end the show or not. In the end he didn’t, but I swear we all held our breath waiting for it to be the end of the show. Sadly, after he started again and for the remaining few songs he was totally gone and out of it. Just going through the motions. And it was so strange to see, just a complete change in him from before that moment to after. I don’t think we ever saw that from him before, even at the shows he was most pissed off at. You could just feel it, that he just turned himself off. (Reminded me of myself haha) Thankfully I guess, only 2 songs follow Hurt.

The venue was small, and great, and sounded awesome. No ringing ears in the slightest, and even the preshow music sounded clear and good. Apparently the venue in Amsterdam is an old church….

And I got a drum stick. I didn’t quite know that I had it. I saw it get thrown at the crowd, and I didn’t see it coming towards me, I actually was watching where the other one was going, but didn’t try to catch either. Then I look down and somehow the drum stick was in my arms. LOL. And no one else had noticed either, so no fighting. Go me I guess.

Got some fries and beer with S and V and Sue and Kim after and headed back to the hotel. David asked, now that you met him, what’s next? Meeting Trent again hahahahha. I have to remembr to tell him about how perfect the Terminal is as a set for a Year Zero movie/video and thank him for the tambourine.

Pardon me for a moment. OMFG i fucking met trent fucking reznor after all this time and all the missed chances before and i got a fucking hug and he smelled so good and i didn’t throw up on his shoes and he was so cute, and omg!!!!!!!!!!!111111111!!! Thank you. I’m finished now. 🙂

Oh who am I kidding, this will get me through at least the next few days hahahahahahahha. omfg. nothing can stop me now…
 

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Nine Inch Nails Cologne

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Wednesday brought the NIN show in Cologne. Having no idea where it was, we took a cab to the venue – across the river, in a very industrial area. The venue itself appears to have been some sort of industrial structure or warehouse at one point. And as has become expected on our trip so far, there was construction. It follows us. We got there around 1 and Sue was the only one there. S & V had gone for coffee and still hours later there were only about 8 of us in the Spiral. By doors at 6:15 there was MAYBE 25 Spiral kids. Needless to say, we all got on the rail. Directly in front of Trent. It felt like Rochester but missing a few (a lot of) key players :). The day actually went pretty fast, and there was much laughter about misheard song lyrics, the Russian “I will let you die”, Sue’s friend thinking “Down In It” was “I was in a bucket, now I’m down in it.” college roommate Danielle thinking “Terrible Lie” was “Turn off the lights”. There were others I now forget, but we had a good laugh. We also discussed Trent offending every country he goes to, and Germans throwing sausages at them last time they were here. We sat in the sun to stay warm, since pretty much wherever we were, that was the Spiral line. It was sorta amusing that when Brandy came out to give us tickets she was holding about 35 envelopes instead of the amount she had in London where she just gave them to the box office to hand out. Good for us though. It was pretty chill and relaxed all day. We went into the actual Spiral line when other people started to show up and they seemed pissed that we passed them all and went to the front of the line. Um hello, you saw us sitting in the sun across the street, we’ve been here all day. Whatever. It was sort of funny, S acted as a translator for the rest of us, and when doors opened security asked us to step forward…but in German…and none of us moved. Ha ha we had no clue until S told us to move haha.

The show itself. It was mostly the same set list as London 1 – opening with “Somewhat Damaged” followed by “Last”. At that point I heard Aaron talk for the first time ever during a show. He said, “What are you guys fucking bored?” I guess the rest of the place behind me wasn’t into it. It seemed to get better though, because Trent insinuated during his funny story that we redeemed his opinion of Germans. His funny story to come later after Adr2 and Bliss get my postcard. I don’t want to ruin it for them haha. I’ve already told them half the stuff I’ve written to them haha.

In the set they added new song “The Beginning is the End” – it has tambourine – I’m happy. Having only heard it twice I don’t quite know it enough to feel like I can participate haha. Heresy, Ruiner, Burn, The Day The World Went Away, Survivalism, Suck, and the regulars. Trent’s voice didn’t seem to bother him until the end, around Hurt. He dropped notes down during The Hand That Feeds, as he sometimes does if he’s not well. And this time Josh was sick – one of the reason’s for Trent’s funny story, to give Josh a rest. But Josh was still spectacular. Trent almost fell off the stage during Piggy on his way down. And I don’t quite understand why he goes into the audience because it seems like he really doesn’t enjoy it. He wasn’t near us, so I could watch him this time (I didn’t have a face full of Trent stomach, not that I’m complaining), and he seems to almost cringe and just keep his eyes shut the whole time. It wasn’t too rough, only a few crowd surfers, and I wasn’t completely smashed. Ended up with a few nice pains though because of how I was forced to stand. Wearing a belt hurts at the moment haha.

Still waiting to get “The Fragile” and “We’re In This Together”…I think those are the only other songs being recently played that I haven’t heard yet. Of course, London 4 got “The Fragile”. They probably got it today in Dortmund too, or will in Tilburg :P. I decided to go to the 2nd Brussels show if I can find a ticket (not worried), and the 2nd Berlin show if I see everything I want to see in the city on the off days. Kim said she’d look on the Spiral for me, since we had no/expensive internet in Cologne. We’ll see. The 2nd Amsterdam show is when we are traveling to Berlin so that’s out.

Posted in: Concerts, Nine Inch Nails \ Tagged: , , ,

Meeting Old Friends and NIN London #3

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Morning

Got up early to finally meet up with Kevin at Paddington Station, before going to meet Glen and his family at St Pauls. It was sorta weird to finally meet him as well, cuz like I said it should have happened 10 years ago. We had coffee at the station, then headed to St Pauls, got more drinks, and sat on the steps to wait for Glen at noon. Caught up on everything since we were last in touch (aside from last week haha). Glen and his wife Anna and his 2 kids arrived. Cute cute kids, Syd a budding photographer haha. We walked over the Millennium Bridge to Tate Modern. One of their exhibits at the moment are big slides that run from different levels down to the bottom. We all took a ride down, it was the shortest one, but wow super dizzy at the bottom. Syd loved it and went down a few times. The kids needed some food, so Kevin and I started looking around. It was one of those moments where I don’t get art…and when I think I need to stick some branches into some plaster and make up some long pretentious bull about what it represents and how awesome it, and I am and get someone to buy it for 1000s of dollars. One of the art works was a railing attached to the wall. Wtf. But then we did also get to see Dali and Picasso and some Monet, art that was actually something special and different. It was actually someone creating something from nothing, not going to Home Depot, buying a piece of railing, and calling it art. The 2ndfloor had an exhibit you needed a ticket for but part was free, by Gilbert and George, very political pieces, lots of color and text, and generally cool looking work. We went to find Glen and family, and Syd went on the slides again, then we started to walk back toward St Pauls. I wanted to get to Brixton around 3, and Kevin had to get to work.

Afternoon

So we departed and I headed to Brixton. Alex and David were already there and told me to get my tickets right away because Brandy had been out to say something was going to happen. Well…that didn’t work out in the end. Brandy ended up coming out around 5 or so to tell everyone that nothing was going to happen, Trent changed his mind, and we could all go get food etc.

I was in a bad mood, feeling literally sick to my stomach, and claustrophobic. Once in we were in the usual place but I decided I wasn’t going to be able to handle it today. I was getting hostile and feeling like I was going to snap at someone so I headed back a bit. There were rails in the middle of the floor every so often so I headed to stay near one of them. Well everyone I ended up being around was ridiculously annoying in one way or another. If it wasn’t couples who needed a room, it was the idiot who kept glaring at me when I’d push him, after moshers pushed him into me. Dude. Push them back into the pit retard. I finally left that area too and ended up behind the sound board…dealing with these drunk kids who were irritating. I stayed there though because there wasn’t much choice left haha.

3 shows, 3 different setlists. They began playing The Downward Spiral all the way through until The Becoming, in order, but skipping Ruiner. After The Becoming came Last which sounded way better today for some reason – not sure if it was because I was far back and the acoustics were better or if it was just better. From TDS we also got Eraser, Reptile (yay) and Hurt (boo). I thought it would have been neat if they did just play TDS all the way through. What else did we hear today…Wish, Gave Up, Help Me I Am In Hell, La Mer/Into the Void, No You Don’t, Only, The Hand That Feeds, Survivalism, Dead Souls, Head Like A Hole….Trent talked a bit more, and it seemed as if his voice wasn’t bothering him as much. But by the end of the show, the closing Hurt, Hand that Feeds and HLAH it seemed to be bothering him again.

Awesome show of course, despite my crap crowd experience and being hostile and irritated. I must say the merch bootleggers in the UK are way better than the US. Because of the people I’m with I didn’t find it appropriate to yell “I don’t even like nine inch nails” when they would ask if I wanted a shirt. They just wouldn’t get it and would think I had tourrettes or something. But I thought it to myself. And actually I’ve bought 2 items…a black and red stripe girl shirt with the NIN logo, and a pretty nice zip up hoodie that has the logo and “performance 2007” embroidered on it. It’s also amusing to watch the coppers carrying arm loads of confiscated bootleg shirts haha.

I’m on the verge of convincing Adr2 to meet us in Brussels or Amsterdam. 🙂 Somehow things don’t feel exactly right without her next to me, and I find it hard to get as excited by myself. So much of the tour has been shared with her, that it’s just weird. I need someone I can just look at, and know what we’re thinking about, regarding some idiot near us, or a super hot Trent moment. Tho Alex did a good job in sharing hot Trent moments. And he’s straight hahaha.

So the first leg of the journey is over. We depart for Dusseldorf/Cologne tomorrow morning. The non English speaking leg begins. I won’t be nervous until we land and everyone’s speaking something else. Though that’s not that much different from work – just a different language that I don’t know being spoken.
(I remembered another Bono Trent moment – in the preshow music Trent’s now playing Lou Reed’s “Sattelite of Love” haha Maybe next Trent will come out in gold lame and devil horns haha)

London Photos

Posted in: Concerts, International Vacations, Nine Inch Nails, Vacations \ Tagged: , , ,