Nine Inch Nails
Live in Philadelphia
August 29, 2008
Philadelphia, PA
Set List
1,000,000
Letting You
Discipline
March Of The Pigs
Head Down
The Frail
The Wretched
Closer
Gave Up
Me, I'm Not
The Great Destroyer
Ghosts 5
Ghosts 17
Ghosts 19
Piggy
The Greater Good
Pinion
Wish
Terrible Lie
Survivalism
The Big Comedown
Ghosts 31
Only
Down In It
Head Like A Hole
Encore
Echoplex
Reptile
God Given
Hurt
In This Twilight
If you weren’t a NIN fan before this show, there was a 100% conversion rate. If you were a fan going in, there was a 100% conversion rate to fanatic. Everything about the performance was out of this world.
Dancing & Singing (The Movement)
General admission floor tickets allowed for full audience participation — singing, dancing, and a collective physical response to the music. The opener, Does It Offend You, Yeah?, set the tone with frantic electro-rock energy.
While NIN isn’t traditionally thought of as a dance band, much of the set lent itself to movement. The crowd merged into a single pulsating rhythm machine. One particularly inspired fan even made it onto the stage before Down In It, bowing to Trent before being tackled by security.
The audience skewed far more balanced than expected. Trent even commented on the increasing number of women at NIN shows — a moment punctuated when a bra landed on the stage.
The Sights
The lighting design was extraordinary. Walls of light transformed into moving screens, reacted to motion, and dissolved to reveal the band. During the Ghosts segment, a green aura pulsed behind the performers, synchronized with the sound.
At one point, a solid wall of white lights was “washed away” by a single handheld floodlight, revealing the band through negative space. It was a masterclass in live visual design.
The Sound
Despite the Wachovia Center’s notoriously poor acoustics, the sound was pristine — loud without distortion, clear without harshness. Trent’s vocals were sharp and controlled. Justin Meldal-Johnsen was electric, Robin Finck precise beneath the chaos, and Josh Freese locked the entire machine into perfect time.
The Band
Trent Reznor -- Vocals, Guitar, Keyboards, Xylophone
Alessandro Cortini -- Keyboards (Modwheelmood, The Mayfield Four)
Robin Finck -- Guitars (Guns N' Roses)
Josh Freese -- Drums (A Perfect Circle, The Vandals, Devo)
Justin Meldal-Johnsen -- Bass (Beck)