Open Letter to Trent Reznor
I saw your show at Barclays Center last night…
Dear Mr. Reznor,
I don’t know how to say this to you, but, knock it off. You’re a 48 year-old man and I don’t think I can handle much more of this kind of behavior. Before I break down exactly what I thought about your performance, let me start with a little background on why I’m so angry.
Last month I released my novel Gripped to some fantastic reviews. I‘ve given some readings throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn (all of which were awesome, except the one). I get the whole “performer” thing.
That being said, I’m pretty sure I’ve never performed. My readings are usually anywhere between 10-20 minutes and you had more energy, power, draw, and stamina than should be possible during a 2+ hour show.
I’ll be honest with you. The first 25 seconds scared me. I don’t know if it was just nerves or getting comfortable on stage, or the sound guy, or what, but for the first 25 seconds I didn’t think Nine Inch Nails could cut it, live. Those 25 seconds were the only seconds of the show that I thought like that.
Let’s chat about the light show, if you want to call it that. At one point, I was positive that someone slipped a psychedelic in my $5 water (let’s not talk about how ridiculous a $5 bottled water that has to be poured into a plastic cup is). The only show I’ve seen that even comes close to what you gave us was a Tool show I saw back in 2001.
When a massive cage came down over the entire band after you jumped into the crowd, I really thought the Barclays Center was saying to themselves, “dammit Trent, we said stay on the stage.” I was pleasantly surprised when it turned into a 3D, multi-colored, mindtripingly good light show. At one point NIN looked like it was floating out above the crowd.
What about the music, you ask? Well, you wrote Head Like a Hole in 1988. Let that sink in.
That was 25 years ago.
Seriously, man.
If the crowd wasn’t blown away by the performance by this point, this song sent them so far over the edge that they couldn’t possibly turn around. Honestly, you nailed every song, but this one murdered. A lot of performers can’t hit the notes live. You are not one of those performers.
And then, for the encore you thanked US? Saying how happy you were to be there. Saying, “I don’t want to be too happy, this next song is from one of the saddest albums.” Not only did you kill it on stage, but you’re a nice guy? Who do you think you are?!?!?
You closed the show with Hurt. If we hadn’t already exhausted everything we had during Head Like a Hole, this one gave us our Zen moment for the evening.
Now, I see that you’re playing again tonight at the Prudential Center in Newark? Where do you get off, sir?!?
All joking aside, this was one of the best shows I’ve ever seen and if I had the money, I’d jump at the chance to see NIN again tonight and any other night.
Thanks for listening and letting us listen,
Jason Donnelly, author of Gripped: Your Personality is What’s Holding You Back
