Getting to the venue the first day was ridiculous and I don't even want to get
into it. So frustrated and pissed and got there “late” and just...terrible.
The show was awesome. PoPo opened instead of Ladytron and they were...interesting.
Far more entertaining to watch, but it all seemed somewhat chaotic and off to
me. The 2nd show they seemed much more organized and smooth and I liked it better.
Pretty standard set for this leg, with Big Comedown, and the new songs. Was
next to Vanessa at the rail in front of Aaron. Didn't get messed with too much
so that was good. Unfortunately during Burn we had a crowd of photographers
in front of us. Great show though I can't really say why and what made it stand
out really. It made me really not want to go back home. Trent confirmed the
2nd new album and said they'd be back in Europe again soon, so... that's nice.
Hehe.
After the show a bunch of us went to Hard Rock to celebrate Mandy's birthday.
About 10 minutes after we get there “The Hand That Feeds” video comes
on. And we're all totally retarded staring at it intently as if we've never
seen it before, and rockin out, as if we hadn't just heard he song in the show
haha.
2nd show I scalped a ticket, and queued all day. It was...interesting. Sue and
Kim and I got accosted by this guy on a bike. We were talking and he just appears
and in German asks us what kind of music NIN was. So we talk about it, and then
he starts speaking basically perfect english – about how we're Americans
without guns. Which led to “hey I didn't vote for Bush.” And suddenly
he's off for about a half our about how Bush and his cronies planned and carried
out 9-11 themselves, how he has all this proof that he collected on the internet
and he starts pulling out cds and giving them to us, then asking for a few euro
because he was trying to sell them. He just goes on and on about all this governmental
conspiracy stuff. Now the strange(r) thing about it was that so much of what
he was saying fit into the Year Zero concept. And once we finally got rid of
him we started talking about how much of a coincidence it was, and that maybe
that was planned to happen. Instead of USBs found in venue bathrooms this guy
was part of the Year Zero ARG and maybe these cds he gave us – 3 different
ones – are the next step in the game, leading to a new website or song.
It just seemed too weird. So I took mine down to the internet cafe and took
a look. No it was really just crazy conspiracy theory stuff. However one CD
that Kim took was called “Final Solution to A Hitler”...final solution
being a song that NIN played sometimes in the summer...and then we're at the
rail before the show, and they play final solution over the speakers...Maybe
it is something afterall. Probably not, but just too many coincidences. At least
now I have a rather unique souvenir hahaha.
I made the decision to try to change my flight home and stay on the tour through
Vienna. Didn't seem like it was going to work out but I tried, and tried more
after the show with no luck. And I didn't get to hear The Fragile or We're in
This Together...you kant...always get want you want.
The show...was weird. I didn't notice it being all that bad – the sound
to me was fine and normal. However they were having technical difficulties with
the lights. They wouldn't come on at the right time, or not come on at all.
The first verse of Something I Can Never Have was in darkness, with Trent eventually
getting a flashlight and shining it on his face until the lights came on hahah.
After Closer, which was oddly cut short – the end piano notes just stopped
– Trent said he had spent the day driving around the city and that it was
beautiful, and that he came to the show ready to kick ass and beat us all into
submission. But that they were having technical difficulties and they were all
pissed, and they were going to take a minute to regroup and then beat us all
into submission. Well...it didn't really happen. The lights continued to be
sort of late in coming on, so they weren't matching up to the music, etc. I
know that it's annoying, but things could have been worse hahah. Set was pretty
standard, no Last, but got the frail/the wretched and la mer/into the void which
I was glad to see again before I left.
The shows have been so much fun, queuing included, and I really don't want it
to end. The experience has been so less stressful and much more mellow than
the experience in the US. I definitely will be back for more shows in Europe.
I had much more fun and everyone was in a better mood than in the summer. I
am very very glad that I came and not just for having met Trent. It's for having
met everyone else, and spending more time with S and V and just...being a part
of something. It feels like it was all sort of special – for some reason.
Which is awesome :)