12.3.08: curtain call
File this one under lost opportunities.I'm very proud of the show we've put together for this tour and have been working hard the last few months to find a way to capture it. I had an amazing situation lined up that would have allowed me to film the show in 3D with James Cameron's team for a theatrical release as well as DVD / BluRay, etc. We had an extra date added to the tour that we were going to give away all the tickets for and have a filming party / thank you show.
I made two critical mistakes. One was to approach a certain record company that owns some of the song rights about producing / funding. The second was to allow said company to fuck around as usual for months before saying um... no. We then achieved the impossible by finding alternate production / funding but the timetable is too rushed to get it filmed comfortably with the remaining time left on the tour. This tour and a lot of the personnel involved finish at the end of this leg, so we can't push filming into Jan / Feb.
Deep breath...
This was an amazing tour and production - certainly the best thing I've ever been involved with and likely the final tour for NIN on this scale. Thank you to those who came out to see it and forgive me for having a Kanye West moment, but this was FOR SURE the best show of the year and any bullshit end-of-the-year poll you may read in the next few weeks that says otherwise simply has it wrong. Those of you who saw it know I'm right.
The shows we have announced in 2009 and any more that may be announced will be a completely different approach with some different personnel and will likely be the last for the foreseeable future.
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-For those who didn't read the entire quote from Trent "All-That-Is-Man" Reznor, please at least read everything following the phrase "Deep Breath"
For those of us who were lucky enough to get to see the Lights in the Sky tour, I think I can speak for all of us when I say "Wow...". I don't think I've ever seen anything as insane, as cool, as jawdropping in a live show as I have whenever Trent takes the stage. I saw the show at Lollapalooza on August 3rd, 2008 this year while Kanye performed on the other stage, the main stage. So many people went to see Kanye in what I feel is a snub to Trent Reznor and everything that he worked for. From what I heard, Kanye sucked or at least wasn't as good as he thinks he is, and to that I issue a giant, "I told you so" for picking the right show, the NIN show.
What is the goal of this post exactly?
I want to honor Nine Inch Nails for everything they've done. I want to give Trent Reznor credit for jump starting my deep love and admiration for all things music. I love music, it's essentially my life and I can't get enough for it. I've always loved music but I've never had such an admiration until I got into the wonderfull world of Nine Inch Nails. Tool was always a bit too edgy and spacey for me to latch on to, Incubus was great but more of a post understanding type of thing. Nine Inch Nails was too me learning how to ride a bike, I never forgot it, never will forget it, and will forever continue to do it.
Trent Reznor writes with such a pain, such a deeper feeling that it translates so well into his music. Anyone understanding of these feelings know how much music means to Trent, and it means a lot to me too. It may be sadder music, it may be labled "emo", lable it what you want, there is NOTHING like it. No one can compete with the pasion he writes...
"Shame on us, doomed from the start. May God have mercy on our dirty little hearts. Shame on us, for all we have done. And all we ever were, were zeroes and one's." Zero-Sum...sums it up.
"What if everything around you isn't quiet as it seems. What if all the world you used to know is an elaborate dream. And if you look at your reflection, is it all you wanted to be? What if you could look right through the cracks, would you find yourself? Find yourself afraid to see...." Right Where It Belongs...A song about self reflection, a song that provokes thought. Are you happy where you are?
"Head like a hole, black as your soul. I'd rather die, than give you control. Bow down before the one you serve...you're going to get what you desrve." Head Like A Hole
Angry protest, what I listen to when I workout. Have something to prove? The lyrics are here.
Remember Johnny Cash? He covered Nine Inch Nails...
"What have I become, my sweetest friend. Everyone I know, goes away in the end. And you can have it all...my empire of dirt...I will let you down...I will make you hurt." I remember when seeing said Lights In The Sky tour, he played this as his second to last song. He told the crowd that 17 years ago he didn't think he would ever be alive today playing that song in front of the audience. I'm pretty sure tears came to Trent's eyes. I call this poetry, the lyrics this man makes justifies him to me as a modern virtuoso.
I end with Hurt, possibly the best work of modern music our generation will ever experience. Yes, I said it. No one is ever going to come close to a song with as much passion and pain as Hurt.
The man who brought us otu of the sellout stage, the post grunge, the hair metal, the unbearable teenie pop years...Trent Reznor has withstood time. The man is lyrically a genious, musically a genious, and spiritually a genious. I give him so much thanks, so much praise for all the inspiration him and Nine Inch Nails have given me throughout the years.
Here's your moment of silence Trent, here's your day. December 3rd, when you released this message, will be my NIN day. It's personal to me, I think it's worth having.
So to close out this post...I say, here is to you Trent. For everything you have given your audience, your loyal fans. I owe you man, I owe you for the inspiration, ideas, thoughts, the ponderings, some of your ideas make me who I am. Being human means we all take different ideals and virtues from everything that influences us and combine them into something that is inherently our own. Mr. Reznor...you will always be a big part of that, you are the foundation of my musical admiration. You love your fans and your fans love you. Thank you, and from wherever you go now, I sincerely hope the best for you.
Nine Inch Nails...out
Trent...out
all great things come in three's right...?
Cmas......out.
Thanks Trent
