"Wave Goodbye" Concert
Tonight was a good night. One of my favorite bands, Nine Inch Nails, performed their last New York show at Terminal 5. It was awesome. Read on to find out why.I coordinated getting tickets with my friends because Ticketmaster introduced this new paperless system that had no physical tickets. It sucks because it limited the sale to two tickets per person. But it is a good system because it keeps tickets out of the hands of scalpers. So in order to get into the concert, all of us had to arrive, swiped out credit cards, and then we get in. We arrived at the venue two hours before the concert started. Let me tell you, that was not early enough. As you can see on the map here,
we had to wait on a substantial line. The "A" pin was where we queued up and the "B" pin is the door to Terminal 5. Which was not so bad because we had to wait for the last member of our group anyway. Unfortunately, by the time we got to door, she had not yet arrived. So we waited a bit longer while our last member raced across town.Note: If you are a guy and are attending a concert with some female friends, never ever show up with a bag. If you do, you turn into a damn pack mule.When we got in, it was pretty cool. As far as I understand, Terminal 5 was a club a while back. After it was renovated to be a music venue, they kept a few bits from the old place. The most striking feature they kept was a full service bar on each level. The pit, first balcony, and second balcony all had their own bars. So you were never too far away from refreshment.They also had a food bar that featured a local vendor every week. This was a good thing because I had not yet had dinner. This specific food vendor was peddling hand-made empanadas. But these empanadas had very strange fillings. The fillings that were available included spinach with feta, marinara sauce with mozzarella, ground beef with cheddar, and shredded chicken in a buffalo wing sauce. I opted for each of the last two. They tasted great even though they were probably not too healthy.The opening band was Mew. Now I have to be honest, I did not know Mew too well. Actually, I still don't. I only have one of their songs and that is because it came with a free song sampler from iTunes. But as I was munching on my spanish-inspired cuisine, they were not too shabby. I think they could do better with their live audio. But their music is solid and has an intangible quality that separates it from the factory-assembled alternative rock that saturates our radio waves.After Mew finished up, I finished up my meal, took a quick bathroom break, and took my place behind the sound booth in the pit. There was a pretty long intermission while Mew broke down and NIN set up. But as the lights dimmed and "Pinion" came to, everyone in the house forgot the delay. Now what I want to do for this next part of the post is explain how the performance went. The reality is that my barely coherent author-power cannot paint a deserving and accurate picture of Nine Inch Nails' last concert in New York City. Instead, I will just tell you the set list. I also found a few decent pictures from Dave Pecoraro on Flickr. Check them out. I'll meet you back after the set list.
Pinion / Somewhat DamagedWishLastSinMarch of the PigsSomething I Can Never HavePiggy (Nothing Can Stop Me Now)MetalTerrible LieHead DownBurnGave UpLa MerThe FrailThe WretchedNon-EntityGone, StillLights in the SkyThe Downward Spiral1,000,000SurvivalismThe Good SoldierDead SoulsHurtTo be completely honest, I thought ending with "Hurt" would have been great. But no; they did not leave it at that. After a 30 second break backstage, NIN came back on. The crowd erupted, the ground shook, and is was time for more music. Here is what they did for the encore.SuckDown In ItThe Hand That FeedsHead Like a HoleNow this made sense. Ending on such an energetic and bombastic song like "Head Like a Hole" is the perfect ending to an amazing concert. This concert would have been in my top 5 live performances. But there was more.They dimmed the lights in the entire building to black. Then a faint green light shines on stage. Something seemed to obstruct it. NIN starts playing one of their classics, "Reptile" but it is not Trent Reznor's voice. As more lights slowly come on, I see a man wrapped in black suspended upside-down above the band; and he is singing the song. Some people in the audience recognize this man's voice. I am not one of them. He hangs there for the entire song; singing every word, hitting every note. After the song is done, Trent helps this guest musician off of the suspension rig. The man takes off his mask.Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Peter Murphy.The definition of performance, the institute of goth, the living legend of rock thanks Trent for this opportunity and the fans for their support. Mr. Murphy then leads NIN for a few more songs.ReptileStrange Kind of Love / Bela Lugosi's DeadFinal SolutionTrent and Peter give their appreciation to the band; Trent then tells the audience that you may not see NIN for a while, but they will still make music; crowd erupts once again; house lights come up and it is over.Because of the extra encores, I had to run to get to my train. Only problem was that I was almost ten blocks away from the closest subway station that had to take me another 25 blocks. To say the least it did not go well. I ran and ran until I contemplated forcing myself to vomit just so I would be lighter. I decided against it and ran some more.I got to the subway station with 15 minutes to go until my train left. Fifteen minutes is sufficient to ride 25 blocks and run to my train. However, the 1 train decided to be a complete asshole and take its sweet time. The 1 train left the station with five minutes before my train left. I was not going to make it.I should probably explain why it is so important for me to catch my train. As outlined in a previous post, I live far away from NYC and my train line is very slow. The train I was trying to make arrives at my origin station before 2:00 AM. 2:00 AM is when the parking pass for my car expires. You would not want to come back from a fantastic concert to find your car towed or booted; neither would I.New Jersey Transit amazes me sometimes. The train I ended up taking is scheduled to arrive at my station at 2:20 AM. But when we got there, it was 1:58! They made up some serious time en route. So you know what I did? As soon as those aluminum doors opened, I bolted for my car and got the hell out before the meter maid got on her scooter.So overall, good night.