My Trent...

Last night was the long awaited night. It was the night when I drove to Cleveland, nearly got killed by several semis along the way, and then sat through two mediocre/bad opening bands before seeing Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails play over twenty songs for my enjoyment and viewing pleasure. Not only is he amazingly talented (you don't walk away going, "Wow... the guys back in the studio really deserve all the credit for his last album" (he is the guy back in the studio really, if you think about how the music is made with quite a few electronic elements and how he plays everything on the recordings, but that's besides the point)), but he also has a hilarious temper.

During a series of three songs, curtains came down around the stage and they were projecting a slideshow onto the front. The songs were the slow ones off With Teeth--"The Line Begins to Blur," "Right Where It Belongs," and "Beside You in Time." But during "Right Where It Belongs," the slideshow cut out. It was no more. And when the song ended, Trent said, "As you can tell, there was a nice video element there, but someone fucked up and it ended." [The crowd laughed.] "I do apologize for that. But don't worry. I'm going to kick his ass after the show." [Crowd cheered.] "Can one of the fucking dumbasses in the back tell me if it's working again or if we're just moving on?" [Crowd cheered even more. Trent looked at one of the tour employees.] "You smile now, but wait until after the show." So someone got his ass kicked. But to rationalize Trent's temper, let's allow him some perfectionism after twenty years in show biz and let's allow him some anger when his clearly political slideshow, which was well thought-out and perfect for the songs, doesn't work.

Other than the dumbasses sitting behind us (who spilled several beers all over, threw lit cigarette butts into the crowd in front of us, and broke the two chairs next to me because they decided it would be a good idea to push against them with their feet as hard as possble--not to mention the drunken singing), it was a highly enjoyable experience. My ear drums hate me. And my entire body is going to hate me when I actually let it sink in that I've accomplished nothing for school this weekend and thus need to not sleep this week. Oh well.

Moral of the story? Trent Reznor is great.