From the Santa Cruz Sentinel:
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Nine Inch Nails illuminated the Civic with arena-sized light and sound
By Sarah Quelland
SENTINEL STAFF WRITER
Nine Inch Nails mastermind Trent Reznor didn't speak much over the course of the band's 90-minute, 20-plus song set at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium on Tuesday night, but he did pause to tell the sold-out crowd that it was witnessing the group's first official night with new drummer Josh Freese, a professional studio and touring player most famous for his work with the Vandals and A Perfect Circle. His drumming style added a new dimension to NIN's material that was most pronounced on "Something I Can Never Have" and "Star******s, Inc."
Touring since March in support of "With Teeth," the months on the road only seem to have invigorated the band, and the power of its live show has grown since the early stages of the tour. While the band generally plays much larger venues like the Oakland Arena, where it performed just last month, the 2,000-capacity Civic Auditorium was selected as part of a handful of special smaller venue dates that included San Luis Obispo and Reno, Nev.
Using simple but effective lighting as the only prop, the band first appeared backlit by yellow lights that split like the sun's rays shining out from the stage and into the crowd. The sound was tremendous — at times reverberating from floor to ceiling — but clean and clear, and the songs were given the live treatment, deviating from and expanding on the original recordings.
The band opened with the instrumental "Pinion" and quickly launched into new songs "Love Is Not Enough" and "You Know What You Are?" before jumping back in time to "Terrible Lie," from 1989's industrial-pop landmark "Pretty Hate Machine."
Dressed in black, frontman Reznor looked meaty with his dark hair cropped close to his scalp. But despite his muscular build, he expressed his vulnerability as fearlessly as his rage, and he made his oldest wounds sound as fresh and raw as they did more than 15 years ago.
Bathed in violet light, he ran his hands over his head and crossed his arms protectively across his chest during the wistful "Something I Can Never Have," while Freese's intuitive drumming enhanced the palpable lament and desperate desire in the song. At times, Reznor's voice was barely more than a whisper and each breath he took was audibly betrayed by the mic until the song's powerful climax.
Coming from a bright foggy blue stage, the forbidding notes of instrumental "The Frail" loomed dark and ominous as they fell into "The Wretched," both from 1999's "The Fragile." Later red lights heated up a sped-up version of NIN's unintentional mid-'90s club hit, "Closer."
Whether illuminating or obscuring the band, the lighting played a key role in the show. Filtering through the shadows, its eerie glow was a constant presence that made the stage seem vast and the musicians larger than life.
Throughout the night, the band played a sound mix of old and new material including selections from "Broken" ("Gave Up," "Suck"), "The Downward Spiral" ("March of the Pigs," "Eraser") and soundtrack exclusives like "Burn" ("Natural Born Killers") and "Deep" ("Tomb Raider").
After "Wish," which had fists pumping, an animated Reznor yelled "Heck yes! Thank you very much!" He seemed in similarly bright spirits during the conversational, confessional new song "Only," which serves as a sort of vague companion piece to 1989's "Down In It."
Perhaps the most-anticipated song of the night was "Hurt," a wrenching song full of pain and loneliness made famous twice over since the late Johnny Cash's revered rendition of the song. A single spotlight shone down on a solitary Reznor who was lit from beneath, leaving his face dark and his form just a mourning silhouette on the stage. Lighters flickered and the crowd sang along getting louder and stronger with every verse.
Again, as he had repeatedly throughout the night, Reznor graciously thanked the crowd. "Thank you for coming out to see us tonight," he said warmly.
Drenched in sweat and nearing the end of the show, still he showed no signs of slowing down. A raging "The Hand that Feeds" and a scathing "Star******s, Inc." stoked the energy levels before the night closed with "Head Like a Hole."
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