05/31/2005

Last Friday, the 27th, was the NIN show at The Marquee in Phoenix AZ. I went out there on monday the 23rd and Hoagie picked me up from the airport. JetBlue was a GREAT way to fly.. my girlfriend brought me to JFK Airport, and I checked right in. no problems. every seat on the plane is soft cushioned leather. nice and roomy, and each seat has a small LCD TV with 35 channels of DirecTV for free.... now not only was it free, but they were one of the cheaper flights. they were 30 to 60 dollars less than all the others AND they were direct, while the others were mostly transfers at some point. Ill definately look in to Jet Blue first from now on... so anyway, Hoagie picks me up and we hang out for the week.. on Thursday, Blank-Disk drove in from New Mexico where hes stationed in the air force. the 3 of us had a good time and all headed out to the concert on friday night. the show was excellent as always. Trent had a different line up of tunes, but did a few of the same key tunes that he just has to do.. like Closer and Head Like a Hole... unlike the last show though, he also did The Wretched, which is a big favorite of mine, and aWitha_Teetha from the new CD. he also, just like in the NY show, had a segment between songs that he would have us believe there was some technical problems. after jumping up and down on a guitar and mic that werent working he informed everyone that he needed to take a minute to go fire some imcompitence.... now this is either a running joke that hes doing at all the shows, or good help really is that difficult to find... either way it was a fun time and a good show. we all had a blast, though I sorta missed my girlfriend and the others that I went with last time.. but hopefully we can all hit one a show on the next round of stops... one of the cool things Trent has done on this last tour is in the middle section of closer, he breaks in to down in it... and then it goes back to closer.. its pretty cool. Trent went in to the crowd this time too for a couple minutes..

05/16/2005

Last night was the NIN show in NYC at the Hammerstein Ballroom. What a crazy show. I had gotten a total of 10 tickets for the group we had planning to go. myself and 5 friends headed down towards westchester to meet my girlfriend, her sister, and their uncle (guy I work with) so that we could all take the train from there to grand central terminal. but then My girlfriend and her sister had some things to do and were required to come later and meet us, and their uncle got held back as well. we the 6 of us went down on the train and we waited online for quite some time. we started standing on line around 3:00PM.. found my cousin who wasnt all that far ahead of us.. (if she was farther up, she may have got us in place behind her).. around 5:30 the guy I work with shows up, and at 6:30 the doors opened. we go in, get searched, (barely) and once inside we were up close.. maybe 10 feet from the stage (5 feet was where security was, and the other 5 was 5 rows of people in front of us).. we wait.. still no sign of my girlfriend or her sister... we had 2 balcony tickets out of the 10 (rest were floor) and my 2 friends that took those found themselves some nice seats up there. the opening act comes on.. The Dresden Dolls. an interesting act.. I had only heard 1 track by them before on a DVD that was given to me at the listening party a couple months back.. they did some original tunes and some covers. the most interesting thing about all their music is that is all piano and drumbs. and its really rather well done... so they finish and we watch the stage crew finish up all the stuff for NIN.. and then it happens. Pinion starts to play.. and people go ape shit. then Trent appears... and the ape shits go ape shit.... and then Trent sings.. and.. well.. Ive never actually fully participated in a REAL mosh pit before.. and I didnt know if I would this time either.. but I didnt have a choice.. to say we were packed together like sardines would be an understatement. it was just this swaying mass of people and you went where it went. Im on one side of the place and then the other.. then Im up so far I can almost touch the railing and then Im 20 feet away. were all drenched with sweat.. Trents throwing water out on us, so were wet from that... floors getting slippery... it was the worst in the begining of the show and had already lessened up by the second tune.. but I had enough.. you cant see a thing, and youre getting shoved around so much that you come close to falling over constantly. at one point, this giant group of people around me actually did go down and I was right in the center of that falling mass.. so Im on the floor.. one by one people around me get picked up, and finally I get an arm helping me up. so we wait out that tune and the one after and it started to get a little less severe. we made our back to the center of the room and found my grilfriend and her sister... guy I work with found his way over to one of the sides in the back and the other few stayed in a less active but still busy area.. so now Im in the center of the room and actually can see A LOT better. perfect view of Trent. I got a bunch of videos and pictures that Ill post at some point.. I enjoied the show more back there.. I dont think Id bother going up so far again unless I was really wanting to be close and I had absolutely nothing in my pockets, lol. but at least I can say I was up in there for a while... probably one of the most fun parts of the night was watching my friend Dan (Brokenreality) up on that balcony, enjoying the SHIT out of the show... hes as big a NIN Fan as I am, but has never been to a show... (he hates when I mention the last one I was at... with Trent singing and Manson and all that happy stuff at MSG in 2000, hehe).. but yeah.. he was going NUTS up there.. and I was so happy he had a good time.. that guy deserves it... and best yet, it was his birthday yesterday... but what a great show.. Trent did all the key tunes.. Closer, Gave Up, Head like a hole, Starfuckers... speaking of that... in reference to the show at MSG.. it was starfuckers that they were singing when they stopped in the middle and Manson came out.. this time,.. they get to that point, the lights go out, people start cheering, and then you just see Trent shaking his head NO with a little smile on his face... and continues on. lol. so the show ends people are going crazy.. I buy some shirts.. (4) and then wait outside for everyone to assemble.. as we get ready to walk away, some girl offers to sell us a backstage pass. I was tempted but skeptacle... but still tempted.. then I saw Dan get his eyes on it and we helped him buy it.. he went around back with his girl as we all headed back to Grand Central... we get there right as the 11:54 train leaves, so we wait for the 12:54... right then Dans girl calls and says they are getting in a cab headed for GCT. they caught up with us and informed us that they wouldnt let her in, but he got backstage.. however, no one was there except the touring drumber. he got the drumbers autograph and there was nothing more to do, so we all ended up heading back together. what a great night... On the 23rd Im flying out to Arizona to stay with Hoagie a few days, Blankdisk is coming too, and were gonna see NIN on the 27th. I hope the tickets that Hoagie got are in a nice seated area where I can stand up and have my space around me be empty. lol..