Nine Inch Nails Brought Industrial Madness as the “Peel It Back” Tour Returns to Arizona

In the vibrant Westgate district, fans painted Glendale black as they swarmed to witness the unparalleled electric mastery of Nine Inch Nails. The 21-song setlist invoked pure, raw energy from the crowd, bringing out all the dancers and headbangers. Nine Inch Nails hands down has one of the most passionate fan bases, and it was felt & seen all throughout the night. Despite having just performed in Arizona on the first leg of the “Peel It Back” tour about a year prior, Desert Diamond Arena was still a packed house.

Electronic musician, Boys Noize, kicked off the show with a brazen set of originals and remixes, including “Enjoy The Silence”- Depeche Mode, and Nine Inch Nails’ very own, “Down In It”. Though I was really hoping for a miracle to hear NIN play “Down In It” themselves, I still got to hear it in some capacity, and I was pretty stoked about that. Boys Noize is absolutely no stranger to the music world, but I definitely think he has reached a new audience since joining the “Peel It Back” tour. As I spoke with other fans before the show began, it was about 50/50 on who was familiar with Boys Noize, and who wasn’t. His set had the crowd dancing and vibing, warming us up for what was coming next. There was almost an instant switch between the artists’ sets, and as the b-stage prepared to host our headliner, the energy undeniably shot through the roof. All of the built up anticipation among the crowd coursed through the venue, and it was a feeling like none other. Some fans were even able to catch an extra glimpse of the NIN members as they walked from backstage. As they began their set, the thunderous roar fell silent, and everyone was immediately immersed.

Trent and Atticus opened up the show with “(You Made It Feel Like) Home”, a track from their original score for the movie Bones and All. As we’ve seen in recent years, Trent and Atticus are continuing to lean more & more into their work as composers, and I love that they are bringing that side of their artistry into their live shows as well. Between the two stages, NIN brought different, yet complimentary vibes to the show. While the b-stage began with a more tender sound, they ramped up the energy with “Piggy” before moving onto the main stage, and bringing an explosive performance of “Wish”.

With an opening drum solo by the wicked talented Josh Freese, pure chaos was unleashed, and there was not a single person on the floor standing still. There was no time to catch your breath as they transitioned from “Wish” to “March of the Pigs”, adding even more fuel to the fiery crowd, and closing out with “Gave Up”. Every moment on the main stage was extremely riveting, not only due in part to the otherworldly musical sorcery of Nine Inch Nails, but also the captivating stage visuals and lighting scheme that intensified the overall atmosphere. Guitarist Robin Finck was also strong on back up vocals, which I feel undoubtedly enhanced the sound throughout the show.

Shifting back over to the b-stage, Nine Inch Nails was joined by Boys Noize for 4 songs, including “Closer”, and “As Alive as You Need Me to Be” off of the Tron: Ares soundtrack, which was by far one of my favorite songs to hear live that night. It’s an incredibly fun dance track, as are all of the songs that were played during this b-stage set. It’s clear that Trent & Atticus have taken quite a liking to working with Boys Noize, as he has not only accompanied them on both legs of the “Peel It Back” tour, but he has also contributed remixes of the Challengers score, and was featured on Tron Ares: Divergence. Their collaborations so far have been brilliant, and I’m extremely intrigued to see what they bring to the table for their upcoming performance as Nine Inch Noize at Coachella later this month.

As they switched stages for the final time of the night, NIN brought out all the bangers to wrap up the show. Throughout the tour, their cover of David Bowie’s “I’m Afraid of Americans” has been prominent on the setlist, however, Arizona was lucky enough to experience the song last year and in exchange, we got to hear “Burn”, which was only played in select cities. Of course “Head Like a Hole” and “The Hand That Feeds” were saved until the end, but the show officially came to its conclusion with “Hurt”. For such a beautiful & melancholic song (and the final song mind you), you would think the crowd’s full attention would be on the stage, but just a few feet away from where I was, a fight broke out causing Trent to pause the show until security was able to resolve the situation. Of course it would be Arizona to cause Trent to go dad-mode, with his hand on his hip and everything. Luckily, they started again from the beginning, and gave Glendale an incredibly powerful performance.

There were talks of this being the final Nine Inch Nails tour after a comment was made by Trent Reznor during their show in Tulsa, Oklahoma on February 27th. “I don’t know if we’re gonna be touring anymore after this, but I’m proud of the show that we’re doing right now,” Trent stated. Needless to say, this sent the internet into a frenzy, and reasonably so, as it doesn’t seem so farfetched that this could be a consideration. Trent and Atticus are continuing to evolve as composers, and with Tron: Ares being the first score to be released under the Nine Inch Nails name, it could hint to a new direction for the band’s career. They were set to host and perform the Future Ruins festival alongside many other talented composers, but it was unfortunately canceled due to "logistical challenges and complications”. I hope to see them give this festival another try, as I think it would be such an incredible and unique experience. In addition, it’s no secret that Josh Freese has quite the extensive resume, and despite whatever the future of Nine Inch Nails holds, he will surely have a project waiting for him, or another band welcoming him with open arms. Though after much speculation, Trent shut down the rumors during the final show of the tour in Sacramento with the following statement,

"And to be clear, I think I said something the other day that then got misconstrued into something that is not intentionally necessarily true. What I said was, this is the last show of this tour, and we don't have any shows booked, and we don't have any plans to book any shows any time in the future so far. That doesn't mean we may not tour again. We may tour again. It won't be next month, it won't be this year. I never said we were intentionally stopping, and I never meant that. But, to be truthful, we didn't tour for a while before this tour because, frankly, I didn't know if we could do it well, and if it still mattered, and if we really feel like we had something to say. And the combination of this band, and this crew, and a lot of hard work, and we put on a show that I'm really fucking proud of. I thank you for coming and attending. I appreciate it. It makes us all feel like we have a fucking purpose. And what we're going to do is work on some new music and make some new shit. And if we feel inspired and if we feel we can beat this, we’ll see again.”

So fear not, Nine Inch Nails isn’t going anywhere. It seems that they have quite a bit in store for us, and I can’t wait to see what comes next. Watching as they stepped off the stage was a bittersweet moment, and hopefully we’ll see them tour again sooner than later.