Music Review/Rant: Nine Inch Nails at Brixton Academy, March 10th & 11th 2007

It's hard to work out what would actually make Trent Reznor happy.

Buxom or starved groupies, insanely devoted – we're talking NIN logo tattoos, getting kicked in the head so they can be down front at the barrier, flocking by the handful, living the life all gothically attired or otherwise - obviously that doesn't give him any noticeable jollies; and fair one, it is all a bit dull for anyone over 35.

A meritocratic universe whereby talent reaps its own reward, and places those most skilled at the top of their game? Nope, he's there already. But it still hasn't turned his frown upside-down.

And "God money's not looking for the cure" – obviously not the cure to whinging about your success, because when that is the stock-in-trade of your act, it'd be a bit of a shot in the foot after all.

(And if God Money WAS looking for The Cure, well, Trent's dropped the goth stylings from his Robin Finck days, so tough luck God.)

Rhyming

Maybe Trent wants a universe where God asks him to spout rhyming lyrics, a bit like in Bill and Ted where the eternal teenagers (and Keanu Reeves was certainly no teenager when that was filmed) mouth dumb lyrics and get kudos from A Higher Power?

That seems to be the gist of his "protest" song, The Hand That Feeds, a song as shallow and catchy as anything Duran Duran ever did.

God does seem to be a bit of an obsession with NIN, which is odd really given that America as a whole is obsessed with various forms of that same being and its worship, from "my country right or wrong/one nation under god" to suicide bombers, real and imagined, and it's this that Trent and co are claiming to be individual against.

So what does Trent want, given that sex, god, money (and God Money) and everything else are targets for his inexorable rhyming?

Incidentally, if I've given you the impression thus far that I despise NIN, think again – I am writing this with a crick in my neck due to the headbanging and jumping about I got up to throughout their entire sonic fairytale of disconnection and debasement.

Their sell-out shows at the Kentish Town Forum in 1994 literally changed my life, and had a serious influence on the subsequent choices I made musically (both as a performer and buyer) and stand out in my memory as being breathtakingly powerful and skilled.

Self-Abuse

But to see this in 2007, the exact same act of self-expression, self-abuse and soul-baring that I saw in '94, is painful and since I can't help but have an opinion, frankly it all makes me think that someone is resisting his own personal growth.

NIN is, and always has been, Trent Reznor – he looks a bit like Roy Castle with his new haircut, but his talent, integrity and devotion are undeniable.

He still has the sexiest voice in music, and that's quite an acheivement. It's just a pity he's still where he was lyrically, music-wise and performance-wise 13 years ago.

The only thing that's changed onstage, is that the stockings have been replaced by jeans and the rubber gloves and panstick are noticeably absent – cutely, and no doubt entirely coincidentally, echoing the emancipation of housewives from c.1950 – 1980.

So while I'm no closer to knowing what might cheer him up (did I hear "random arseholes on the internet not writing uninformed shit"? – nope, must've bee the floors creaking, the wind in the trees) I can and will hope that he finds it and uses it to creatively fire his genius, and move NIN on a bit from where it's at right now.

Betrayal

It may be that audience expectations have held it there more than anything – I recall an interview where Trent said he could live without ever playing Head Like A Hole again – and it's often the case that when artists draw the line on their pasts, and make a statement about that, their long-term fans experience it as a betrayal.

But something's got to give here for me to continue to respect NIN, and that something may have to come at a seismic level because this project has always seemed like it was ripped out of one man's heart bleeding, and any changes to that output will probably not be superficial matters of style, instrumentation and clothing.

I have loved the NIN we've come to know, right up to tonight - and I really, truly, hope I don't ever have to see it all again.
(written 2am, 12/03/07)