Nine Inch Nails, CoopLive. 17th June 2025

I’m looking forward to this more than my last trip to Coop Live. Springsteen was okay, but NIN, this is what my ears have been craving and a much better excuse to drag myself to one of the most awkward to get to venues in the city. Yeah Yeah Yeahs caught me out last night with an early start, but tonight I’m in nice and early for the post apocalyptic warm up from Boys Noize, that’s banging out a gloriously teasing industrial hellscape score as the entire floor space is bathed in red light. It’s already an epic sight and there’s not even anyone on the stages yet. That’s stages plural, as aside the DJ booth near the mixing desk, set in the middle of the floor away from the main stage, is a large curtained cube. I suspect that those amassed around it are in for a treat. That treat being Trent appearing alone in the heart of the room with just the solemn piano chords of ‘A Minute to Breathe’. It’s packed in here, but you can hear every little sound. Everyone trying their best to be quiet, but there’s a palpable air of excitement. This is like nothing I’ve seen from them before. ‘That’s What I Get’ too is stripped back to piano, but teases glimpses of industrial electro kept on a short leash as more members join the satellite stage. There’s one diffused light above them, covering them and the floor in white light as guitars join the mix. I’ve never heard this live before and this twist on the original is worth the hefty ticket price alone. It wouldn’t be out of place in a classical concert hall. Which is saying something for songs like ‘The Fragile’. The crowd begins to seethe like a single controlled entity, heads all facing inward, they bob in a rippling unison. Much is made of the sound in here, but fuck me, I’ve not heard anyone put the Coop Live sound system through its paces like this. As the live drums of ‘Eraser’ kick in on the main stage, still temporarily hidden behind a massive video projection, the place swells with the sort of sound like main lines into your soul as it mutates into ‘Wish’. The buzzsaw guitars of ‘March of the Pigs’ then explode and so does the floor as limbs fly. They’ve hit the accelerator and it’s incredible. They’re still behind a translucent curtain that’s firing rapid video relay as they tear through the sort of monolithic industrial metal that they built their name on. It’s a fan pleasing set make no mistake. ‘Reptile’ is next to bludgeon our souls. The stage turns green and I think I do too watching the front surge and respond to the sound of the machine tearing itself apart. ‘Copy Of A’ is a bit newer as we hit demonic dancehouse era NIN. Trent’s outline duplicated by projection around the stage as things take a hedonistic turn. ‘Gave Up’ see’s the floor look like it’s bending space and time as blue and red strobes wonderfully fuck with my vision.  The video and lighting are always next level at NIN gigs, but whoever’s in control has once again outdone themselves. This is what gigs in venues like this should be like. The lighting rig over the satellite stage decends dangerously low signifying a switch back into the belly of the crowd. There’s not much space on there and it seems to reflect in the tighter sound of ‘Vessel’ as they lean into the electronica. They look and sound more comfortable here. Sure there’s less spectacle, but this is might be the best I’ve ever heard them. ‘Branches/Bones’ sounds like a 3am euro rave dystopian nightmare, it’s an absolute banger. Support Boys Noize is back joining them on the smaller stage and whips up the crowd in typical DJ style, as they let ‘Came Back Haunted’ unfurl over a barrage of beats, complete with dirty bass and filthy drops. Seamlessly the band decamp back to the main stage as Boys Noize closes and they pivot into ‘Somehow Damaged’. The drums pound, guitars do things only Robin Finck can harness and Atticus Ross unleashes hell from his keyboard. He maybe newer to the live band, but I think he’s enjoying it. ‘Less Than’ is probably the most accessible song on the setlist, it’s a bouncy bastard, Trent even grabs a tambourine and it works as an effective softener before ‘Heresy’. Whoever’s mic’d up the drums has done a truly stunning job. They’re clean and devastating as Trent screams “God is dead and no one cares”. ‘Survivalism’ is visceral punk. Assuming you like your punk strapped to a perpetually exploding jet engine fuelled with pure adrenaline. It’s a great mix of hits and deep cuts than span almost every record. There’s sparse chat. Trent is not a talker, but he introduces the band and thanks us for showing up. This of course gets a huge roar, as does the drum and bass fury of ‘The Perfect Drug’. This was always a divisive era for the band, that signalled Reznor wanting to spread his wings, hearing it delivered live so well tonight is a real joy. The crowd drown out Trent on ‘Head Like a Hole’s chorus, which is saying something. NIN are never quiet and they nearly destroy Coop Live tonight with this, but this crowd is feral in the best possible way and although not as pitch perfect as the Apollo last night, they’re certainly louder. ‘Hurt’ is chosen to close. Its tenderness is the perfect bookend to how we started. It’s haunting as the spotlight on stage sweeps from Finck and that guitar line to Trent and those poignant lyrics. He’s never sounded better. NIN have never sounded this good, this tight, this expansive. I had very high expectations from one of my favourite bands and boy did they deliver. They feel reborn in Manchester tonight, I’m excited to hear what they might do next.