Monday Zero

I saw Nine Inch Nails last Monday night, at the Metro. I was pretty happy that the gig even happened... there were cancellations of some of the Sydney gigs, and Trent Reznor walked off stage at the first Melbourne show.

But, despite all that, the gig went ahead. And oh, what a gig it was. Probably the best NIN gig I've been to (I've seen them at Big Day Out and Rod Laver Arena)... the sound was fantastic, it was a smaller venue, dramatic smoke and lighting effects, the band played really well and Trent seemed to be re-invigorated, after what sounded like a bad few days. A real mix of a set list, from across pretty much every album and EP, from Pretty Hate Machine and Broken through to the new album, Year Zero. NIN even played Into the Void, Only and Dead Souls, which would have probably been three of the tracks I was really hoping for. And it was a solid, non-stop 100 minute set, with the only lull in the middle where one or two instrumental and slower tracks brought down the momentum of the rest of the set. But, hey, it was still an awesome show.

However, it took me so long to write up this mini-review because, quite frankly, if I hadn't waited a while, this would have just been an ugly rant and rave post. And I'm not going to waste my time doing that. Suffice to say, Melbourne crowds, just like Melbourne drivers and Melbourne pedestrians, are rapidly becoming some of the rudest, discourteous, impatient and arrogant people around anywhere. So... to the three people we counted all night who actually bothered to say "excuse me" as they pushed past/through us, thank you, you are in an every-shrinking minority. To everyone else who pushed/shoved/elbowed/shouldered/stumbled/staggered straight into us, go away now please.

(And no, this was not in the mosh pit, this was up the back, away from the jumping around... where the civilised folk should be).