I Need Your Discipline

Nine Inch Nails @ Izod Center, 8/27/2008
999,999 / 1,000,000 / Letting You / Discipline / March of the Pigs / Head Down / The Frail / Reptile / Closer (with a bit of The Only Time) / Gave Up / The Warning / Vessel / 5 Ghosts I / 17 Ghosts II / 19 Ghosts III / Piggy / The Greater Good / Pinion / Wish / Terrible Lie / Survivalism / The Big Come Down / 31 Ghosts IV / Only / The Hand That Feeds / Head Like A Hole // Echoplex / God Given / The Good Soldier / Hurt / In This Twilight (with Zero Sum outro)

This concert was astonishing. I went in expecting it to rock, and to look cool, but they went much further than that. The performance was a balance of precision and passion; the lighting design was sophisticated and, at times, unlike anything else I’ve ever seen. It’s impossible to come away from this show without feeling this incredible awe for Trent Reznor and his level of craft. The band could’ve shown up and rocked out with standard lighting, and we’d all go home extremely happy, but he is compelled to go well beyond simple expectations, and likely bleed an enormous amount of his own money to stage an event that is itself a remarkable and complicated work of art. Reznor has nothing to prove; the motivation is entirely driven by his own pride and eagerness to blow the minds of his loyal fan base. I’ve seen a lot of incredible shows by great musicians, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything where the artist seemed to care as much about every conceivable detail. It’s enough to make me wonder why it seems that so few people work anywhere near as hard as this Reznor.

Nine Inch Nails “Discipline” – So, yes, “Discipline” is the keyword for this show. Ironically, the song itself is about craving some form of enforced control, but I suppose that’s not at all removed from the psychology that yields this sort of perfectionist work ethic. Taken as a whole, the NIN discography is mainly concerned with a struggle between focus and control vs. decay and apathy, and that conflict is dramatized from without as much as within. In some cases, outside control is a fascist nightmare, but in the case of “Discipline,” it’s more about desiring the structure imposed by people who actually care about your well-being. It’s a little vague — it could be about work, or about staying sober, or it could just be sexual, but it’s benign. It comes from the same place as “Closer,” i.e. “I am a mess, but you make me better.” The groove is sexy, with a taut disco beat and a lean yet muscular sound that neatly echoes the lyrical sentiment. It’s an obvious hit; I can’t help but imagine that everyone who worked with Reznor at Interscope over the past several years heard the song and wanted to punch him in the face for giving it away for free. (Click here to get The Slip for free from NIN’s official site.)

Nine Inch Nails “God Given” – Though half of The Slip was played in this show, the emphasis was placed on material from Year Zero. I enjoy The Slip well enough, but I’m a Year Zero fan, in part because it is the record in which Reznor focuses on my favorite aspects of his music: groove and electronic texture. It’s very impressive to watch his band nail these sounds in live performance; it’s the sort of thing that makes me wonder why more bands aren’t fully integrating these electronic elements without sacrificing the rawness of a standard guitar-centric rock performance. There’s no either/or in NIN’s live show — the band are fully capable of nailing whatever arrangement and aesthetic demanded of them, whether it’s a broken video game review, ersatz disco, metal, or the delicate acoustic textures of the Ghosts interlude midway through the concert. (I’m sure the roadies are thrilled to move around Trent’s enormous vibraphone every night.) (Click here to buy Year Zero from Amazon.)