Nine Inch Nails at Red Rocks

The easiest, most comprehensive way to describe a Nine Inch Nails concert is the word “Aesthetic,” as in it was a completely aesthetic experience.  Another way might be “Multisensory,” but everyone I talked to in the parking lot thoroughly explained to me that the proper terminology is always “Aesthetic.”  And then they told me not to ruin their aesthetic experience by asking so many questions.

Nine Inch Nails is the Grammy winning industrial-dance group best known for popularizing their genre and jump-starting the careers of bands like Marilyn Manson while reinvigorating careers like Johnny Cash.  Along with the conceptual artistry of their music, Nine Inch Nails true genius is their stage show which involves hundreds of lighting patterns and digital projections over lowered screens, creating a futuristic silhouette for the band. There is something truly beautiful about the snowy static of a television screen opening up to Trent Reznor and his Moog.  I can imagine LSD is a popular choice for this kind of show.

Nine Inch Nails apparently also has a dress code which requires you to dress like its 1996.  This is perhaps best illustrated by the sea of black shirts and black pants in the audience.  What year is it anyways?  Who wears all black anymore?  Needless to say, I didn’t receive the memo and arrived full-fledged in my “I’m not really depressed” clothes with a grey t-shirt, blue jeans, and hoodie.  Though to most adults and religious fanatics a crowd like this may represent aggression, the truth is all the fans that I met were unbelievably welcoming and polite, more impressed that I had joined them for one of their favorite past-times than whether or not I was dressed like them (the guy in the truck next to us was also blasting Tool, which onlookers seemed to like.  Now that I think about it, they may have been more impressed with that.)

Nine Inch Nails themselves were courteous and polite; almost humbled that the crowd would ever consider finding their way up into the mountains for an evening of Poe-inspired dance music.  This was something I didn’t really expect and was really impressed by Trent Reznor’s appreciation for our attentdance.  “We love this venue.  This is one of our favorite places to play and we are grateful that you would join us here tonight.”

Reznor is ripped for a 43-year-old and he looks like he would almost be more comfortable lifting weights and doing cortisone then he would be performing on stage.  The brain-child behind Nine Inch Nails, his lyrics range mostly from darker introspection of our meaningless humanity to conceptual themes about an American theocracy, back to more meaningless humanity, and then fucking like animals and the spiritual enlightenment that creates.   He rarely delves elsewhere. But regardless, I can think of very few people that could make a song with lyrics like “God is dead and no one cares, if there is a hell I’ll see you there” so danceable.  Yet this is the irony of Nine Inch Nails.  I can feel unbelievably out of place in this scene but when it comes down to it, I can still love the experience as much as anyone in their element.  Aesthetics and imagery aside, maybe I shouldn’t be so surprised that depressed Goth kids like to dance too.