Audience photo by: Katherine Amy Vega
PHOENIX — An impressive crowd gathered at the Desert Diamond Arena for opener Boyz Noize and the legendary Nine Inch Nails. Bass pounded through the speakers as the opening set welcomed attendees to a darkened room, with occasional red lighting shifting between the center of the room, a shrouded, large box-shaped object sitting in the growing sea of fans.
Audience photo by: Katherine Amy Vega
The room transformed as the walls were shed to reveal Trent Reznor playing the gentle notes to “(You Made It Feel Like) Home” (2022). His warm voice invites us into a feeling of intimacy while being surrounded by other fans in the shadows, gazing into the gold light holding him. The experience felt like I was the only one in the room, though when I looked, the arena had little room to spare.
Audience photo by: Ali Crimson
The band assembles and Josh Freese returns
The warm light became cold, brighter, and sterile as the music transitioned to “Non-Entity” (2007). Guitarist/keyboardist Robin Finck and bassist Stu Brooks appeared, coordinated in all black with Reznor, to loud cheers.
Audience photo by: Katherine Amy Vega
“Piggy” from the 1994 The Downward Spiral album followed, the lights shift back to gold, now a low glow this time with Reznor on his feet, bouncing with his finger to the ceiling signaling the room to bounce with him to the beat.
Photo by: Sara Perez
The glow allowed the room to slip into darkness, leaving only a screen at the front of the room showing a drum solo that marked the entrance of newly returned drummer Josh Freese, starting only on the North American leg of the tour. The curtain that once showed Freese lifts, showing the entire band surrounded by sheer veils.
Audience photo by: Ali Crimson
Visuals as an instrument
Live projections of each band member are shown on the sheer curtains as the band blasts into “Wish” (1992). New visuals come with each song; “March of Pigs” (1994) is the first time soundwaves are projected. A dramatic piano piece guides the performance into “Reptile” (1994) a standout at the sixth song in their set, the introduction contrasting heavily, grinding with aggressively flashing green lights as white whips across the screens with the rise and falls of the music.
Audience photo by: Katherine Amy Vega
Peak intensity and set highlights
“If there is a hell, I’ll see you there,” Reznor sings to us in the foggy, red-lit arena, as the audience claps along with “Heresy” (1994). Lights flash chaotically as the lyrics “God is dead, and no one cares” echo into every inch of the space. Shifting away from the earlier chaotic lights, the room darkens to a single spotlight on Reznor, with smaller projections on the walls between the band members that look like a house of mirrors showcasing dancing white silhouettes of him performing “Copy of A” (2013) from Hesitation Marks.
Audience photo by: Katherine Amy Vega
The energy high, beneath the red and blue flashing lights during “Gave Up” (1992), a small, seemingly friendly mosh pit begins on the floor level. The room is one with Nine Inch Nails, every moment seeming perfectly executed to the plan of long-time industry professionals.
Photography: aliina s. (CC BY 2.0), via Wikimedia Commons
Drowned in red and fog, almost by magic, Reznor has returned to the smaller center platform. Electric fuchsia zaps and flashes in the foggy clouds surrounding the stage as “Vessel” (2007), from Year Zero, pumps through the veins of every listener. The music surges beneath the skin.
Audience photo by: Katherine Amy Vega
The final stretch: “Closer” to the closing moments
Entering the final songs of the set list, the most popular song of Nine Inch Nails’ nearly 40-year career, “Closer” (1994) starts and engulfs the room in purple, fuchsia, and white, flickering to the heat of the music. The feeling this song gives is undeniable; the words are on the lips of everyone there.
Audience photo by: Katherine Amy Vega
“Parasite” (2010), originally by How To Destroy Angels (a band featuring Reznor and his wife Mariqueen Maandig Reznor) poured fresh green lights and fog down the room. The projections return with close-ups of Reznor, where I note a link chain around his neck I hadn’t noticed before. In this song, Trent Reznor’s vocals have a more digitized effect than in previous songs in the set.
Audience photo by: Katherine Amy Vega
“As Alive As You Need Me To Be” (2025), off the newest album TRON Ares: Divergence (a 24-track soundtrack for a movie of the same name) plays with coordinating white and red flashing lighting. The full band returns to play “Mr. Self Destruct” (1994) with the entire stage flashing, energy peaking — a song they had played so many times before, and it shows only with the smoothness of their performance. It is practiced to perfection.
Audience photo by: Ali Crimson
“Less Than” (2017) raises the sheer curtains that provided the veiled cover for the entire show, signaling that it is one of the final three songs of the evening. This is the one and only time I believe Reznor plays a tambourine the entire show, which I did not expect.
“Head Like a Hole,” “Hurt,” and an unexpected interruption
The closing songs for the evening are fan favorites “Head Like A Hole” (1989), off Pretty Hate Machine, and “Hurt” (1994) from The Downward Spiral. “Head Like A Hole” is one of the most recognizable songs of the band’s extensive catalog, inspiring dozens of covers over the decades.
Photography: Al Pavangkanan (CC BY 2.0), via Wikimedia Commons
At the beginning of “Hurt”, a fight broke out in front of the stage. As it was yet to be broken up, Reznor stopped the song and spoke directly to the people saying, “Hey we’re not here for this shit man, hey HEY!! There’s enough bullshit happening out there, we don’t need it happening in the fuck here.” He turned, awaiting the resolution of the problem before continuing the performance after his very Dad-like scolding.
Audience photo by: Ali Crimson
“Hurt” closed the show, giving us a finale of Reznor’s emotive lyrics and vocals to send us off into the night. There was no encore, and one wasn’t needed.
Audience photo by: Katherine Amy Vega
Peeling back the decades
You would think this performance would be one of simple nostalgia, but the music felt as fresh as when I listened to each release by NIN throughout the decades. The professionalism of this show was unmatched, smoothly transitioning between stages like the members had teleportation powers. The industrial music coursed through my veins with a unique awakening, the memorized words flowing from my tongue. The Peel It Back tour is an apt title, as this set list peels back the layers of years, and it is new again.
