One tiny piece of paper...

"...only you, and a select few others,
contain the secret of the show."

Nine Inch Nails - one more time...

The band I can't get enough of live in concert is packing it in (touring wise) and are on the last leg of their Wave Goodbye tour. But just this week Trent had this to say on the nin.com site:

"Getting right to the point, we're going to play a handful of shows in NYC, Chicago and LA starting August 22nd. They will be informal affairs in medium to small venues with longer set-lists, possible special guests, cool openers and other surprises. Upon reflection, the NIN/JA tour felt like we had to rush through sets due to a limited allotted set length and many shows were in daylight - it just didn't feel right to end NIN that way. An offer to headline a festival (being announced soon) set the idea in motion to play some FUN shows to end this up with. If we can get it together we'll film these shows, too."

The festival in question that NIN will be headlining is Toronto's Virgin Festival in August. He even confirmed it via Twitter yesterday:

Yes, I will be at the show which will be sometime in late August I'm presumming as the date & complete line-up has not been announced yet. Can't wait for NIN concert #7 for me.

NIN|JA 2009 concert...

Finally getting around to posting some shots from last week's Nine Inch Nails, Jane's Addiction & Street Sweeper Social Club concert at Toronto's Molson's Amphitheatre. What a great show. NIN & JA together was a treat in itself but to add Tom Morello's (guitarist of Rage Against The Machine) new band Street Sweeper Social Club - and to be totally blown away by how good they were - made the night perfect.

This is billed as NIN's Wave Goodbye tour as Trent has stated publically that he wants to stop touring for at least a decade if not permanently. It was the 6th time I've seen NIN live, the 5th time my daughter has, and the 3rd time my youngest son has. One big happy NIN family....

So here are some shots using my new (used) Nikon D70 and 210mm lens. Still getting to know the camera but I like these shots. Bands are in order of appearance on stage....

Click on images for larger picture.

Street Sweeper Social Club



Tom Morello using the guitar cord to make noises as only he can and playing with his teeth ala Hendrix....








Nine Inch Nails










Jane's Addiction






My favourite shot of the night....

All photos taken by me.

Asshat of the Month = Billy Bob Thornton...

Listened to Billy Bob Thornton being interviewed yesterday on CBC's Q with Jian Ghomeshi. Seems BBT was there with his band the Boxmasters to promote their new CD. Jian's producers were apparently told not to ask any questions about BBT's acting, writing, Hollywood shite - only music. Jian made a contextual reference to BBT's history/acting, etc. in his introduction - but asked no Hollywood related questions - and BBT acted liked a spoiled, fucked-up, retarted, rich kid.



What a dick. Here's a tip Billy Bob - the ONLY reason your shit-ass band was on a high quality show like Q (with the very professional Ghomeshi) is because of your acting/Hollywood background. Suck it up Princess.

Cudos to Jian for handling the ignorant dickhead so well.

Now everyone go out and steal Billy Bob Thornton's band the Boxmasters music. Steal it all. And then delete the shit.

Good riddance ASSHAT!!!

Note: BBT does have a website related to his musical endeavors but it sucks like his ego so I didn't bother putting a link to it.

NINJA2009 tickets in hand...

NINJA2009 - Amazing summer amphitheatre tour featuring the 2 groups that kick started alternative rock in the late 80's and early 90s; Nine Inch Nails & Jane's Addiction (original members) along with the new band from RATM's Tom Morello; Street Sweeper.

Can't wait for June 2nd down at the Molson Amphitheatre. Seeing NIN again is worth it by itself but to have Jane's Addiction on the bill is incredible. I remember getting JA's first album 'Nothing's Shocking' - and yes by album I mean as in vinyl. I wore that disc out. Several of them. Never got a chance to see them live and now the original members have reunited to tour with NIN....

Last year it was NIN with RATM at Lollapalooza and this year NIN with JA....

Life is good....

400GB of raw HD Lights In The Sky NIN concert footage...

Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails once again gives a big fuck-you to his former record company. Seems that Trent & co. wanted to film and release a blue ray/dvd of their most recent Lights In The Sky tour that was nothing short of a musical/visual masterpiece every night - I know first hand having seen 3 shows on this tour. But his former record company holds the rights to some of the songs and wouldn't give him permission to use them, effectively killing the project.

So Trent relaxed the security at 3 shows towards the end of the tour and allowed fans (and his own film crew) to film all they wanted. He has now released via torrent files over 400GB of raw HD footage of the 3 complete shows pre-organized in Final Cut Pro sequences for fans to edit and assemble into their own blue ray/dvd discs. From a band of this stature this kind of fan respect and interaction is unheard of in the record industry. Makes me very happy to be a NIN fan....

Here is the blurb from Trent on nin.com:

The internet is full of surprises these days.
I was contacted by a mysterious, shadowy group of subversives who SOMEHOW managed to film a substantial amount (over 400 GB!) of raw, unedited HD footage from three separate complete shows of our Lights in the Sky tour. Security must have been lacking at these shows because the quality of the footage is excellent.

If any of you could find a LINK to that footage I'll bet some enterprising fans could assemble something pretty cool.

Oh yeah, you didn't hear this from me.

Wow, now I need to go out and buy an external 1TB drive to hold the files...

Huge thanks to Trent & co..

Ghosts I-IV Amazon's 2008 best selling album...

Nice to see that even though Nine Inch Nails released all 4 Ghosts albums under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike license, meaning NIN fans (and non-NIN fans) could legally share & download free versions of the album, Ghosts I-IV actually went on to become the best-selling album of 2008 on Amazon's MP3 store. 

Also good to see fans paying for quality independent releases.... Personally I opted for the Deluxe $75.00 box set (CDs, DVD, BlueRay disc & artwork) bought directly from nin.com. Also nice to note that the Limited Edition $300.00 box set (CDs, DVD, Blue Ray disc, vinyl & artwork) sold out in 24 hours.

NIN again...

Forgot to mention here that last Friday night in Hamilton at Copps Coliseum, for the 3rd time on their  "Lights In The Sky" North American tour, I saw Nine Inch Nails live. Took my daughter, her girl friend and my youngest son. It was a spectacular show. Huge crowd that was totally into the band. And the band was really on. NIN is such a great band to see live. 2+ hours of pure intensity. 

So this marks the 5th time I've seen them live, the 4th time my daughter has seen them and the 2nd time my son has seen them. 

We're one big happy NIN family....

Nine Inch Nails in Toronto...

Two days ago.... Here I was back in Toronto with less than 3 hours sleep as our buses from Chicago & Detroit were somewhat late and crowded but never mind all that - NIN was playing at the Air Canada Centre Tuesday night and I was taking my youngest son for his 12th birthday. No camera with me this time as I wanted to just watch, listen and totally enjoy the show.

The show was much that same set list as at Lollapalooza but with the addition of the song God Given, which just rocked the place. My son was completely blown away but the sounds, lights and just sheer magnitude of the performance. He repeatedly told me that it was "sick". We were on the floor about 50-60 feet from the stage. I watched him sing and clap along and throw his fist in the air. I love being able to share these kind of moments with my kids.... Not to mention helping foster what I consider to be excellent taste in music....

Personally, I'd go see NIN on every stop of thier tour if I could. Since the early 90's I just haven't been able to get enough of the band. This show was my 4th time seeing them live. Their music just touches something deep inside me and allows me to believe that everything will be alright....

Highlights of the night for me were Letting You, Piggies, Gave Up, the Ghosts material and In This Twilight. Songs from every NIN cd were played and the band was really into the show.

Thanks NIN!!!

Lollapalooza day 3...

This was a slow day for us as we really only wanted to see Saul Williams and Nine Inch Nails in the evening. First up was Saul Williams in the afternoon.


Saul Williams.


Saul Williams.

Saul is a spoken word/poet/metal guy whose latest album was produced by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails. While watching Saul play a smoking set I noticed that 20 feet away from me to my right, behind a fence, was Trent himself. I waved and smiled and he smiled and nodded back to me. I snapped a few pix. My daughter and I were both pleased at that little encounter....


Trent Reznor.


Trent Reznor.

Nine Inch Nails, my favourite group since about 1992, put on a spectacular show. Musically and visually is was nothing short of stunning. Just before the show started I somewhat reluctantly agreed to let my daughter disappear in the throngs on NIN fans as she really wanted to get up close. After the show we met at the pre-arranged meeting spot and man, she looked like a drowned rat. She was beaming happy though as she made it to front row.


Nine Inch Nails.


Nine Inch Nails.


Nine Inch Nails.


Nine Inch Nails.


Nine Inch Nails.


Nine Inch Nails.

Over all it was one fantastic trip. Several times my daughter told me it was the best weekend of her life. As a parent I guess you can't get much better than that. And then after a good night's sleep at the hotel we headed out to the bus terminal for our trip back to Toronto. And I was already getting psyched up for seeing NIN at the next show on their tour in Toronto at the Air Canada Centre with my just turned 12 year old son. It's his first time to see NIN and his birthday present. The Toronto show will be my 4th time catching NIN live and each time it gets better. More on the Toronto show in another post....

After both my daughter and I having such a great time it left us wondering who's going to be on the stages for next year's Lollapalooza....

Photos taken by me in Chicago.

Lollapalooza day 2...

This is the day we were waiting for. Rage Against The Machine tonight!! Long time favourite band of mine and my daughter's. The band only plays one or two festivals a year now so getting an opportunity to see them is pretty rare. And they were the main reason we traveled to Chicago. The fact that Nine Inch Nails was playing there as well was just the icing on the cake....

Before heading to the park though we stopped by another Chicago park - Millennium Park, to the see The Bean - also know by it's official name Cloud Gate.


Cloud Gate - "The Bean"

We spent most of the afternoon checking out different bands. My daughter went to see an emo band she likes - Brand New while I went to see an incredible Canadian talent Serena Ryder. I managed to be front row against the stage and got lots of photos and videos of her playing. She played a 45 minute set and she rocked!!


Serena Ryder.

Another band I saw but didn't take any pix of was a New Jersey based group called Steel Train. They were really, really good. Sounded like an updated Bruce Sprinsteen on steroids. Great set.


Waiting for Rage Against The Machine.

Rage Against The Machine was without a doubt the most intense, crowed, wild show I have ever attended. Lollapalooza boasted a complete sell out this year - first time in its' history. 75,000 per day. Well, on Saturday night more than 50,000 of those people went to see Rage. It was pretty scary at one point as all movement was at the mercy of the crowd. The band even stopped the show midway through the 3rd song, People Of The Sun, imploring people to move back 10 steps as people were passing out and getting injured up front. There were 2 or 3 more stoppages during the set as the crowd was fucking nuts for these guys. Even the head of security for the whole event came on stage to talk to the band and audience. He said if we didn't move back and stop pushing they would have no choice but to end the show.

Below is a crowd shot of Rage courtesy of the Lollapalooza web site. I added a small red x to the left of the sound tent to show where my daughter and I were in the crowd.


Official Lollapalooza Photo by Dave Mead.


Rage Against The Machine.


Rage Against The Machine.

In the end it was all good and my daughter and I were both just over the moon that we finally got to see Rage in concert. After the show the crowd spilled out on the streets of Chicago taking over completely. It was amazing. And in the most crowed subway car I've ever been in the entire car spontaneously broke out singing a bunch of old R&B songs. It was a total blast....


RATM fans taking over the streets of Chicago.

Photos taken by me in Chicago unless otherwise noted.

Chicago, Lollapalooza day 1...

Got to Chicago way early, 4:00am, as the bus changed routes last minute and didn't stop at a couple Cities. Hung around the bus terminal until places were open and then went out and explored downtown Chicago. Had a great breakfast at Lou Mitchell's - advertising the world's best coffee - I don't know about that but it was damn good. Then wandered around some more and went up the Sears Tower to the 103rd floor observation deck. Took lots of photos and just enjoyed exploring somewhere new to us. Man, Chicago is one big ass city....






Sculpture inside the Sears Tower honouring Engineers who designed the building.

After checking into our hotel and catching a shower and a nap we headed back into town and to Lollapalooza. Grant Park is great place. Huge park nearly 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) from end to end. In the afternoon we caught a bit of the Racontours but quite honestly, we found them to be boring. We walked around the park just checking the place out and people watching. Radiohead was playing in the evening so we chilled out on the grass and listened & watched the show. Great light show they put on. Fairly mellow almost ambient music.






The Racontours.

Met some funny drunk guys from Quebec and instantly got into a Leafs versus Canadiens hockey discussion - much to the chagrin of the two American girls with the guys. It was all good though. We were all laughing and found that we were all there mainly to see Rage Against The Machine on the next night. Must be a Canadian thing as we met another couple from Toronto in the Rage crowd who came just for Rage as well. Good musical taste north of the border I guess....




Radiohead.

Photos taken by me in Chicago.

Lollapalooza bound...

Just getting ready to head out to catch the Greyhound bus to Chicago and Lollapalooza 2008. Looking forward to seeing Radiohead, Rage Against The Machine and my favourite Nine Inch Nails. Lots more to see I'm sure once we get there. 130+ bands, 7 stages, 3 days.... 

Lets just hope we don't get decapitated on the bus ride there.... 

How many drummers does it take to change a lightbulb?...

Interesting article from the BBC about a study that found rock n' roll drummers "requires the stamina of a Premiership footballer...."

Seems footballers (soccer for North Americans) play approximately 40 to 50 games over 12 months and rock drummers can play over 100 concerts 90 minutes in length over the course of a tour. Rock drummers heart rates, averaging 140-150 bpm during a concert (and peaking at 190 bpm), and the amount of calories burned per show, 400-600 are very impressive considering all the hype around sex, drugs and rock n' roll....

Not to mention the plethora of drummer jokes out there...

Return To Forever...

Saw reunited 70's jazz fusion greats Return To Forever last night. Last time the band played together was 25 years ago. You'd never know it. They played phenomenally. 2+ hours of instrumental music performed by four incredibly great musicians. The band seemed like they were really having fun on stage - lots of smiles and the crowd was 100% into the music. There must have been 5 spontaneous standing ovations during the show. Superhuman is all I can say about the chops of Misters Corea, Clarke, Di Meola & White. Rumours of a possible new album to come as well. What an all around fun night.

Best quote of the night from drummer Lenny White. When talking to the crowd about the importance of instrumental music in our disposable music industry times:

"In an era of boy bands, we're a man band."