Nailed it
By Scott Tady, Times Entertainment Editor
Published: Thursday, June 11, 2009 1:54 PM EDT
BURGETTSTOWN — Trent Reznor insists Nine Inch Nails is on its farewell tour.
But at least one notable fan at the band’s P-G Pavilion show Wednesday remains skeptical.
“I doubt it,” said 98-year-old Bill Clark, when asked if his grandson, the Mercer, Pa.-raised Reznor, was planning to fold the pioneering industrial-rock band.
“I don’t think so. I haven’t heard him say that,” Clark added with the same proud smile he had displayed — often while standing and clapping — from about 20 rows back, center stage, throughout Nine Inch Nails’ searing 1-hour-45-minute set.
The Reznor family took up a whole row, joining a crowd of about 10,000 for an engaging show that was like a mini-Lollapalooza, headlined by Jane’s Addiction.
First up was Street Sweeper Social Club, a fusion of rock and hip-hop led by Tom Morello, one of the greatest guitarists of the post-classic-rock era.
Morello fired off those stinging, expressive riffs like in his days with Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave. His crisp, tight and potent playing came in handy when filling in for the shotgun and cash register sounds as the band covered M.I.A.’s “Paper Planes,”
Morello’s new vocal foil is hip-hop artist Boots Riley, who delivered his rhymes clearly and had a likeable stage presence, repeatedly reminding the audience that Street Sweeper Social Club truly is a club that encourages fans to join its socio-political crusading. “The wealth don’t trickle down,” Riley sang in the opening line of the band’s first song, with Morello later urging the crowd to join their mission “to feed the hungry, fight the power and rock out.” He then welcomed on stage new recruits, three of the four members of Pittsburgh’s politically-minded punk band Anti-Flag, who chipped in on the exuberant final song from SSSC’s debut album due out Tuesday.
Next on stage was Nine Inch Nails, with Reznor in his customary black attire, working out his angst with an emotional performance superior to the band’s 2006 Burgettstown concert with Bauhaus.
He dipped back to 1997, and his collaboration with David Bowie, for the mid-set standout, “I’m Afraid of Americans.” Reznor’s voice sounded huskier than normal, but that wasn’t detriment, as it actually leant gravity to his ultra-serious songs.
Reznor thanked the crowd and remarked that this was “the last time,” they’d see Nine Inch Nails as the band closed powerfully with radio hits “Head Like a Hole” and “Hurt,” the Reznor-penned song that gave Johnny Cash a late-career surge.
Nine Inch Nails and Jane’s Addiction have taken turns as headliners on this tour, and with such strong personalities at play, you’ve got to wonder if that’s caused friction, or at least awkwardness.
“Pretend it’s dark out,” Reznor said without a smile prior to his band playing a cut from 1999’s “The Fragile,” adding how that song would sound so much better cloaked by nightfall.
Following such an intense set by Nine Inch Nails, which had the bigger share of fans, Jane’s Addiction took awhile to fully rev up the crowd.
“See, the night wasn’t going our way, so we stole it,” Jane’s Addiction singer Perry Farrell remarked in a voice somewhere between flighty and boastful before his band tore into their smash 1990 hit “Been Caught Stealing.”
Jane’s Addiction gave the show a welcome dose of sexiness, flanked by two large artistic images of a naked woman, while guitarist Dave Navarro —you know, Carmen Electra’s ex- — waited just two songs before ditching his shirt, a move followed a few songs later by the trim and taut Farrell.
Farrell said it was a good night for baby-making music. “It feels like it’s moving slow, like the ocean,” he said in his charmingly loopy voice.
His band also finished strong with a four-song encore topped off by “Jane Says,” with its steel drum zest.
Scott Tady can be reached online at
stady@timesonline.com