Reunited Nine Inch Nails rip Nashville with explosive dance rock

Something curious occurred while waiting for Nine Inch Nails to go on last night: a giant curtain went up to obscure the view of the set being built. For a tour where anticipations were already sky high, having the set building process be totally secret just fueled the fire even more so.

Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails is one of rock's most passionate frontmen.

The buildup proved to be worth it. Trent Reznor and crew muscled his way through a dynamic, sweat soaked performance when Nine Inch Nails's Tension 2013 tour made its stop at Nashville's Bridgestone Arena. Thrashing guitars merged seamlessly with cutting edge dance beats to create an explosive layer of energy that rippled through the building. Yet almost as intriguing was the stage setup crews had worked so busily on behind that curtain. The overhead lighting rig had nine sets of lights with nine bulbs arranged in rows of three apiece. These could be adjusted into various positions around the stage. Sometimes they might be directly over Trent's head, sometimes in a semi-circle position around the back of the stage.

This made possible for plenty of dynamic effects. When Trent wanted to be super illuminated it was possible, when he wanted himself and the rest of the band to be shaded in darker hues that could happen, and when he wanted only himself to be visible this could happen too. But that was only half of it. A metal grate would come down over the front of the stage, directly in front of the band, and onto this grate they would project lights and images. They did this for a series of Hesitation Marks songs, and it worked to great effect.

However, there is much more to being a great live band than pretty lights. You need great energy and fan hallowed songs, and NiN brought it. Their opening five song run, which included recent material such as "Copy of A" and "1,000,000," as well as old school tunes such as "Piggy" and "Terrible Lie" had the crowd raging and screaming along  Meanwhile, "Even Deeper" and "Somewhat Damaged" from The Fragile show off their capability to be a great rock band without a plethora of electronics involved. Even if you don't know the words, it's hard not to get carried away by the undertow.

Joshua Eustis injects some brass sound into the mix.

The material from the new album, Hesitation Marks strikes a dramatic change of pace from the band's well known hits. At times the juxtaposition seems strange, especially when surveying the more subdued Hesitation Marks material against their older, higher energy songs. So it's no surprise that many of those songs are cloistered into their own part of the setlist, taking place during the middle part of the show. To make up for the lack of energy, Reznor and art director Rob Sheridan coordinated a good chunk of the more intricate light shows to coincide with Hesitation Marks material. Its most effective pieces were "Copy of A," which sounded right at home in the opening set of songs, and "Disappointed," which featured Robin Finck going apeshit on a violin while being bathed in dreamy, psychedelic red and blue lights. It's the type of setup that George Harrison could totally respect.

They closed the main set with a devastating run of three high energy songs: "Wish," from their high octane Broken EP, "The Hand that Feeds," and finally "Head Like a Hole," on which Trent just let the crowd sing the chorus all by themselves. That run was the most sweat soaked I have been at a show in a long time. After a ravishing finish to the main set, the band returned with "The Day the World Went Away," the perfect low energy song to recuperate after what came before, but still anthemic and rare enough to be encore worthy. The drug fueled, mellow na na nas at the end come across like the anti-Hey Jude.

Later on during the encore, a dreary forest was projected onto the back screen. The deep blue and green shades set a subdued tone, while backup singers Lisa Fischer and Sharlotte Gibson got a chance to show off their own pipes a bit. It all ended with Finck strumming an acoustic guitar while the band closed it out with defining statement piece "Hurt." Projections similar to what had been seen by Godspeed You! Black Emperor flashed across the screen, but the fancy light and technology shows were done for the evening. In closing, Nine Inch Nails demonstrated what all great bands must: the power to captivate you with nothing more than the power of their imagination.

Large scale projections were a big part of NiN's repertoire.

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Trent Reznor struggles with his sense of restraint on Hesitation Marks

It's been four years since Nine Inch Nails vanished from the limelight, and the band that returns bears considerable differences to the one we saw before. Frontman Trent Reznor has gone through an undeniable maturation process since the initial disbanding of the band, which includes the birth of two sons. Has becoming a family man mellowed out the former rage filled industrial/goth rocker? Hard to say, but one thing's clear: Hesitation Mark, is a significant departure from the band's previous offerings.

Whereas 2005's With Teeth, and 2007's Year Zero, in particular, leaned heavily on familiar formula of contrasting downbeat verses with powerhouse choruses, Hesitation Marks is a much more all-around subdued affair, working its magic in much quieter and subtle ways. There are nods to the band's industrial influences here and there, and even some experimental tracks introducing elements never before heard in Nine Inch Nails's music. And of course, Trent still finds time for his trademark sense of angst and pessimism. He's just found new, more grown up ways to do it now.

"Disappointed" is the keynote example of this. Whereas in his youth Trent might have opened up with a volley of screaming guitars and a torrent of anguish, here the damage is done by fuzz covered vocals, coupled with an anxious tremolo riff to create a suffocating sense of despair. Nor does he offer any sliver lining from the lyrics, as Trent spells out how nothing ever seems to go right: "Do you ever want to just get outta here/ So disappointed; just disappear."

The two advance singles win the award for best in show. "Came Back Haunted" is the most obvious homage to The Downward Spiral glory days, complete with a lurching mechanical keyboard riff that sounds as threatening as it does infectious. "Copy of A," meanwhile, is a case study in how to slowly build over the course of a song, letting all the effects simmer in the background until reaching a big finish complete with overlapping vocals and plenty of buzzyworthy keyboard effects.

Also of note are a couple of experimentations Reznor has whipped up. Those weary of the dreary old Nine Inch Nails should be most interested to hear "Everything," a new wave tinged piece drawing inspiration from The Cure, with 80s-esque backing vocals and Adrian Belew's chugging guitar. This song is the biggest departure in the band's career, and easily one of the most upbeat songs in their catalog.

"All Time Low," on the other hand, takes its cues from Trent's buddy Josh Homme. Reznor made a guest appearance on Queens of the Stone Age's newest album ...Like Clockwork, in June. Perhaps not coincidentally, that album bore a song called "Smooth Sailing," a significant departure for that band which sounded much more like a Nine Inch Nails song than the sludge rock they had been known for. Perhaps also not coincidentally, "All Time Low" is the closest that any Nine Inch Nails tune has come to sounding like a Queens of the Stone Age song. The funky guitar licks that back the verses and chorus sound like it could have fit in seamlessly on ...Like Clockwork. However, it does morph into its own piece as it advances, finishing with a spaced out, starry eyed twinkling coda.

There's no question that Reznor deserves credit for changing up a formula that had been Nine Inch Nails's go to game plan throughout the 2000s. Yet in spite of all that, Hesitation Marks is an album that sorely misses that big punch and can't seem to recover from it. Everything is so restrained, mellow, and withdrawn that it all becomes monotonous well before the end of the album's one hour run time. There's a few songs here and there with somewhat big, punchy choruses (Various Methods of Escape, I Would For You) that also benefit from sleek, high tech production, but it still can't seem to shake the fact that Trent feels too afraid to let his hair down. It's reminiscent of what Bjork did with Vespertine -- releasing a downtempo, after hours record as a followup to a pair of albums on which kicking her heels up was never an issue.

Average pop rocker "Satellite" and wandering, dreary mope fest "Find My Way" presses that point and lets the album down as well as any song here. There is some variety to be found, and some musical ideas worth exploring, but Hesitation Marks can't seem to break past an inherent sense of self restraint that keeps these songs from developing into than they ultimately became. The return of Nine Inch Nails in any capacity is always a welcome development, but Hesitation Marks is merely an admirable effort rather than the home run many of us were hoping for.

Score: 77/100
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