Nine Inch Nails ripped through amazing set at the Irvine Meadows (or as it is currently known as Verizon Wireless Amphitheater) on May 20, 2009. This is one of the last tours for them. Nine Inch Nails have been playing extremely rare tracks and Trent Reznor stated on his site that this will be the last tour. Whatever the case may be, this tour is one of the last of its kind.
Trent Reznor announced that he was planning on disappearing Nine Inch Nails after this tour. He has been touring and recording for the last couple of years non stop from the album “With Teeth” to his last “The Slip”. Having seen him every time he came around since the “With Teeth” album, I can say that this night was both nostalgic and unique at the same time. He dubbed this tour “Wave Goodbye” with the dates 1989 – 2009 on the concert merchandise (i.e. posters, shirts, hoodies, etc..), yet another sign that he’s ending the band for awhile after this year. Stripping his light show down and his band
Trent decided to play rare songs as a treat for fans on this tour. You can check out how unpredictable his sets are by going here. This helped build an aura of mysteriousness as to what he was going to play next, since no two shows had the same setlist. And how fitting that the first song they played this evening, “Now I’m Nothing” is where the name of this tour draws from. An ultra rare song that was written around Lollapalooza ’91 era and not played live since then. It was never officially released (although it can be found on the torrent dvd version of The Closure), the song ends with the words “wave goodbye”. It was always followed by the song “Terrible Lie” and true to his history that’s exactly what he did (Note: the drum pattern is similar to “Terrible Lie” as well).
They played songs off of The Downward Spiral that are rarely performed live such as “Heresy”, “Reptile”, “The Becoming”, and “Mr. Self Destruct”. “Heresy” a song about how religion is used to manipulate people was slightly altered live. Ending with the words
“Will you die for this? Will you kill for this?”
“The Becoming” with it’s unique guitar riff sounded monstrous live and one that I have always wanted to hear live. “Mr. Self Destruct” began with a drum pattern that would flash in sync with the lights. It began slowly and built into this masterpiece. Music like this and songs like Jane’s Addictions “Three Days” paint a picture and draw you in, rather than hand it to you in a plate like 99% of music these days.
In case you haven’t heard, Pepsi just released a soda called “Throwback” where they use Natural Sugar instead of High-Fructose Corn Syrup. The “Natural Sugar” is composed of part sugar cane and beet sugar. The other difference between this and a regular Pepsi is that there is no citric acid here to preserve the shelf life of the soda (Pepsi is experimenting with this soda for 8 weeks supposedly). Is High Fructose Corn Syrup bad? Well there are critics on both sides. The ones that say that it’s not bad simply have found studies where it does not directly cause obesity and not intrinsically bad for you. However, opponents have tested this in rats who were forced to mimic most U.S. types of employment. That is they were forced to be more sedentary than normal and were allowed to consume as much as they pleased. The study found that the rats were consuming more and began to have signs of type 2 diabetes. Basically, the rats sense of fullness was inhibited. What it really comes down to is preference in taste.
Seeing them at the Forum reassured me they have the greatest stage/lighting of any band I’ve ever seen (except for maybe the Flaming Lips). Trent has acquired a history of great material and is one of the few artists who is inline with the current market Jane’s Addiction on the other hand are already having issues just barely a few months on tour. However, this is the first time since Lollapalooza ’91 that the original line-up have been on tour. The key member missing was bassist Eric Avery. They have tried every other bassist on the planet and noone has compared. The chemistry with these four individuals is extremely unique. So unique that if any member of the band is to be replaced the whole sound will not be compared to the classic Jane’s Addiction sound. I’m just praying they play “Three Days” at least when I see them. To find out more info click 
With so many concept albums being so crappy last year (i.e. Judas Priest Nostradamus and Coldplay Viva la Vida or Death and All His Douchebag Friends), Sepultura take a stab at it again with their new album A-Lex. Their previous album was also a concept album based on The Divine Comedy and called Dante XXI, so this is not uncharted territory for them (and yes I still love that video and song “Territory”). This album is one heavy mother fucking album. With only one original member (bassist Paulo Jr. ), most fans have not followed Sepultura’s career without the Cavalera’s but they are sadly mistaken.
But this is some of the best metal I’ve heard in a while. Just like the book, the album starts off with some heavy violent thrash metal. As soon as the guitar kicks in, you know that you will have your ass handed to you on a platter. The mid range has enough to hair to it that you will start headbanging right away. On “A-Lex 1” it sounds like he is getting his gang together and then on “Moloko Mesto” is where the violence begins. Some of the most intense metal I’ve heard similar to Slayer and Pantera, but not as predictable as most of the metal today.
Bon Iver new EP Blood Bank changes direction and puts out this weak EP. The follow up to his masterpiece For Emma, Forever Ago is still in the works, but this EP shows the potential of what it will sound like. With only 4 tracks (one of which he experiments a little too much), this EP is suppose to wet your appetite on what may sadly come; a crummy experimental record.