Nine Inch Nails @ Sonisphere 09

Succeeding Limp Bizkit\'s performance at Sonisphere (although I hate to admit it) was not going to be easy for Nine Inch Nails - but considering it was going to be their last european performance before they shrink away from supposed existence promised a mind-blowing experience. Sauntering onto the stage with doses of professionalism and confidence, many first time listeners mistook this for arrogance and began to jeer, whereas the long-time fans recognized this as Trent Reznors humble approach to stage performance, letting his wild stage presence do the talking.

NIN have always been known for their customized stage sets and their show at Sonisphere was no exception, a custom rig of lights was set up with personalized strobe-light skills which only emphazised the fucked-up-ness of songs like \'The Wretched\'. NIN\'s set was extremely weird, playing most pieces from The Fragile and Pretty Hate Machine, probably due to it being their last European show but nonetheless being one of the most eclectic, atmospheric and energetic performances I have ever seen - Reznor and his extremely weird companions prance about the stage with fervour and zeal, Reznor especially connecting with the songs his wrote with a cerain cartharcism that you can really empathize with, making every note ripped out of Reznors mouth and guitar that more meaningful. NIN only played a 30-minute set which was possibly one of the most dissapointing things of my life (other than wasting £135 to see Linkin Park), as their set list did not include many of the more up-beat songs from new and old albums such as \'Closer\' or \'Only\'. I hope Reznor feels satisfied, as their last show went out with a bang, not a whimper.

Long live NIN.

David Robson