Nine Inch Nails, Manchester Apollo, 20th June 2022

Manchester Apollo is where I first saw NIN play live, nearly two decades ago. It feels fitting to see them here again tonight. The sweat was dripping from the walls that night. Seriously, it was hotter than hell and all these years on, it’s still a gig that lives clear in my memory. So expectations are high, even more so after having a ticket for the Eden Project show over the weekend that I couldn’t get to (thanks AXS for not allowing me to even give the ticket away!), but those expectations are about to be blown away. ‘Somewhat Damaged’ kicks things off. As the stage detonates in a wall of strobes. It’s insane, they draw so much power the rest of Manchester must be in black out. There’s no other word for it, it’s apocalyptic! ‘The Day the World Went Away’ slows things for a moment before they launch into ‘Wish’, Rubin’s drums sounding absolutely brutal. This is clearly going to be a bit special. The stage is bathed in smoke for ‘1,000,000’ before they roll into ‘Sin’ and those sharp synths cut right through it. I’m baking, it’s brilliant, but I’m thankful to ease up a little for the piano intro of ‘Something I Can Never Have’. It’s beautiful. Reznor really doesn’t get enough credit for his lyrics. His voice is superb too, devastatingly so. Joining the entire audience who sing along. The idea seems to be to lull us for a moment before walloping us with the industrial sauciness of ‘Reptile’. The lights configured like a cage that of course can’t contain them. ‘Discipline’ doesn’t seem quite as popular with the crowd, but I think maybe everyone’s in shock. It’s been an all out assault so far. The newer songs have a lot more space to them, allowing Ross more time in the mix and Reznor chance to pick up a saxophone on ‘God Break Down the Door’. So much so that even with all the guitars, drums, Reznor holding court, it’s Ross that’s commanding the sound. There’s more layers, more rhythms intermixing, it’s playful stuff. “We’re gonna play what we wanna play” Reznor almost whispers over the piano, before ‘The Frail’ seeps into ‘The Wretched’ and it’s set on its path of destruction, “Now you know what it feels like”, pretty bloody awesome is what I’m getting. They’ve been mixing the sets up night to night, so you’ve no idea what’s coming next, but honestly they don’t have any bad songs. ‘Survivalism’ is a monster. Reznor unleashed, wrestling the mic stand and punching the air. ‘Every Day is Exactly the Same’ is sublime, even more so for the crowd taking over the vocals at the end as the band stop to take it in. “That was fuckin cool, thank you” says Reznor, you too Trent, you too! I’d almost forgotten how brilliant ‘Burn’ is. Like brilliantly face meltingly fantastic. Follow that with ‘Gave Up’ and ‘Head Like A Hole’ and well, I’m just utterly lost. “Bow down before the one you serve”. With pleasure, this is like being in church, a really amazing, fucking loud church. ‘Only’ launches the encore, its teasing build before that ridiculously catchy chorus. It’s a bouncy little bugger. I could make a list of great songs they didn’t play, but I’m not at all disappointed. How could you be after a set like this. There’s seldom little chatter, Reznor at the end of the night thanking us, introducing the band. He’s cautious with his words, but again that’s fine. I’m in a a puddle of sweat after nearly two hours, but I don’t care. Everyone loves the cover of ‘Hurt’, but I tell you, you can’t beat the original and live it is majestic. Finck’s sparse guitar, that echo resonating in the background and those dark desolate lyrics. For any other band it might feel like a weird song to finish a set, but for NIN it’s perfect. I see a lot of gigs, I’ve seen a lot of great bands. This gig though I’ll remember for a long time, at least 20 years. Incredible.