Nine Inch Nails and Jane's Addiction - wow!

Wow, what a show! My husband and I caught Nine Inch Nails and Jane's Addiction at the Shoreline Amphitheater on Friday night. Thanks to the resident purchase program at Shoreline, we got great seats - we were surrounded by people with band passes. Perfectly center, front section.. okay at the back of that section, but fantastic all the same!

Street Sweeper Social Club opened - very reminiscent of Rage Against the Machine, which I understand there is some membership overlap. Very cool, very interesting opening band.

I was very surprised when the next band was Nine Inch Nails - I guess since Jane's Addiction had broken up so long ago, I expected them to be the opener.  All the same, Trent and the rest of the band were AMAZING.  It has been way too long since I've listened to my NIN albums. I had forgotten how I just get swept up in the lyrics and can't help but dance.  My desire to enter a mosh pit was nearly overwhelming, as was my desire to write code. Odd that the two emotions were so intertwined. ;-)  I was happy that they did Head Like a Hole and Hey Pig. It's also cool knowing that Trent Reznor is one of the nicest guys in rock and roll. I got to meet some people sitting around us that knew him, and an old friend of mine from Chicago, Stella Katsoudas,  had recorded some music with him in the past (while I got to hear the tracks, they were never officially released by a label).

During the NIN set, I noticed a familiar face rockin' out one row up and a few seats to the right - Matt, a man I used to work with in my first job at Sun. Something like 20,000 people in that amphitheater and I run into someone I know. Small world!

Jane's Addiction surprised me by doing nearly completely revamped versions of most of their songs - many I didn't even recognize until I'd catch myself singing along to the words! Musically they were completely new songs. Much harder, more intense - a surprisingly excellent follow-up to NIN.  Perry Farrell also promised to not let one jerk ruin the show for everyone, which I can only guess was in reference to his old propensity to leave stage if someone threw something up onto the stage. As I had my first Jane's concert ruined by a jerk who threw a show at Perry, I was relieved to know he had learned more patience in the last 15 years. They seemed to have the classic line-up as well.

Jane's Addiction closed with a fantastic classic rendition of "Jane Says", complete with the steel drums and acoustic guitars.  The show started on time (7PM) and the bands made quick time of changing equipment. NIN and Jane's played hard and long - with the show going solidly til 11:30PM.  It is such a relief to actually get my money's worth from a concert where the bands are working together like well oiled machines - no screwing around, no stopping and starting of songs. Just good music, played well and played with passion.  Of course, someone should've told Perry that we weren't in San Francisco ;-)

Other than Matt, did any of the rest of you catch them this time around?