Last week Nine Inch Nails and Soundgarden kicked off their tour together and stopped by the south Chicago suburb of Tinley Park for a show the audience will remember for the rest of their lives. Both bands are celebrating 20 years of one of their most iconic albums: The Downward Spiral for NIN and Superunknown for Soundgarden. Despite being on the older end of the spectrum on the current touring circuit they both rocked harder than most of the young guys out on the scene right now, proving why still going strong after all these years.
Unfortunately I can’t see the same fate happening for the supporting DJ who opened for the two legendary bands. Oneohtrix Point Never was added to the bill by Trent Reznor after the originally booked supporting act Death Grips ended their time as a band and effectively cancelled all their scheduled live dates. To give perspective on the DJ’s set, about 15 minutes into his 24-minute set a fellow behind us in the crowd asked “Is he just sound checking?” Even the most dedicated of NIN fans sitting around seemed confused by their idol Trent Reznor’s choice. Luckily the confusion was short lived and Soundgarden took the stage next.Soundgarden opened with their Badmotorfinger hit of ‘Searching With My Good Eye Closed’ as a black curtain dropped from in front of the stage. Their set started heavy and never let up. Although from the look of the crowd it seemed the majority were there for Nine Inch nails, everyone was up dancing and rocking the whole time Soundgarden was on the stage. Their set was short but had songs spanning their entire career from the song ‘Beyond the Wheel’ from Ultramega OK to ‘Rowing’ from King Animal. Chris Cornell’s voice still sounds flawless despite just having his 50th birthday. Both Ben Shepherd and Kim Thayil were in excellent form as well flanking Cornell on either side. Even though Matt Chamberlin is replacing Matt Cameron on this tour his drumming was still phenomenal especially during ‘Jesus Christ Pose.’ That song alone made the entire show worth it. At the end of the set the band all left the stage one by one after ‘Beyond The Wheel’ leaving only Kim Thayil shredding at the end and the only casualties being Ben Shepherd’s stack he brought down and my melted face.
Nine Inch Nails started with only Trent Reznor on stage against a stark white background playing ‘Copy of A’ and slowly the rest of the band gathered on stage as the song hit its climax. Immediately, I knew this was going to be a fantastic show between the unique band entrance and the very NIN-esque set up. Although their set seems to be pretty standard across the board for this tour I can see why the stick with what they play. It flows great and the songs get the audience pumped at the right times. Playing new tracks like ‘Copy of A’ and ‘Came Back Haunted’ from Hesitation Marks near the beginning gets the newer fans hooked from the start as they drift further back into their catalog along the way. One of the highlights of their set would be ‘Closer’ even though that song live isn’t something you discuss in polite conversation. The only thing more impressive than their set up and light show though would be them churning out the hits at the end of the set including ‘Only’, ‘The Hand That Feeds, and ‘Head Like A Hole’ back to back and draining the audience of every last bit of adrenaline we had in us. Luckily their single encore song was of course their most famous song ‘Hurt’ that induced a very emotional sing a long in the crowd. It was a quiet, mellow ending to a night that was filled with head banging and riffs straight from the depths of hell to rock your ass off.
Seeing both of these bands in one night was quite the “once in a lifetime opportunity” that will stick with everyone who goes to a show on this tour. Both bands are so unique but the unifying factor of rock ‘n’ roll just made this show otherworldly.
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