NINventure Kansas City!

The backstory:

Kourt and I had wanted to maybe do more than one NIN show on this tour, but after thinking about it and looking over our finances at ticket purchase time, we decided to be responsible adults and just do the one show nearby. The cost of travel and lodgings to any of the other nearest shows would have been prohibitive.

Recently, however, we ended up selling Kourt's second car. The Jetta had been sitting, neglected, in the driveway for over a year, waiting to be fixed and cleaned up and sold, and when we finally got it ready we actually got a lot more for it than we expected. Yay for low mileage! So, when Trent tweeted about raising money for Eric, it just so happened that we had some money left from the car sale.

So Kourt called me up that night saying she needed me to talk her out of spending money on something, because that's what she does when she's not sure if I'll agree with a large purchase. I'd been off the internet for the most part for a while, so I hadn't seen Trent's posts, but when she told me about it (despite the fact that usually I'd balk on spending $300 bucks on... well... anything) I couldn't really see a downside to donating.

I probably should have been really excited from that point on, but to be honest I've been really trying to stay off the interwebz and spend the time I needed to spend on my to-do list. I've got some high-priority stuff to focus on. So it didn't really hit me until last weekend. And then on Monday night it finally REALLY hit me, and I went directly from "I get to meet Trent!" to "Holy shit, I'm going to meet Trent..." I had absolutely nothing to have autographed except the hat I put Rob's AIR patch on, and that just didn't seem like a great idea. I had no idea what to say. And I was fairly sure I'd say something dumb to embarrass myself.

By Tuesday night, though, I was back to being really excited. Kourt and I stopped at a local independent record store and had a nice convo with the NIN fan behind the counter. We ended up picking up copies of TDS and The Slip to have signed, which were a) the only NIN CDs they had and b) conveniently appropriate. Kourt had been a NIN fan from way back, but lost track of what Trent was up to during the long down time after TDS. I became a fan just before The Slip came out and got her caught up again.

The NINventure:

We went to bed at midnight on Tuesday night, thinking we'd sleep a full eight hours and be on the road by 10am. Unfortunately, I woke up at 4:30 and could not get back to sleep. It was weird and frustrating because I hadn't gotten any sleep after work Monday night and only about 2 hours of napping in during the afternoon on Tuesday, so I knew if I couldn't get myself un-excited and get a few more hours of sleep I'd be in trouble driving back after the show. I finally managed to play games on the web until I got tired again and caught about 2 1/2 hours before finally getting up at 9:30.

Kourt had to do some stuff at work before we could leave, so we stopped by there and didn't actually get on the road until 11:30. (We're never on time with these things, so we weren't surprised.) I'd picked out a tank top to wear and brought my With Teeth hoodie for when it got cold or rained, and realized about halfway into the drive that I probably should have thought out my wardrobe better. Hoodie on, I was too hot. Hoodie off, I was freezing. But whatever, as the weather got shittier I just resigned myself to being in the hoodie.

We arrived at about 3. There weren't many cars in the lot yet and only a few people by the gate. We milled around the gate area for a bit as more and more people showed up for the meet and greet, watching deliveries come in and out and the staff setting up the presale tents. At about 3:30 or so they lined us up to get our presale tix and had all the donors stand under a tree to wait. (I wondered if they weren't trying to get us struck by lightning to thin our numbers a bit.)

The meet and greet:

At this point Deighe and Casee showed up with their husbands, so we got to talk a little before they got the donors together to take us inside for the meet and greet. We only got to chat a little while, though, because they then lined us up to have our bags searched and get our hand stamps (for $300 donors) and purple stickers (for $1000 donors). After everyone got through security (with only minimal confusion, I might add) JT came out to tell us how things were going to go. Based on the stories of those who had gone to previous meet and greets we were expecting a more unstructured event, but the sheer number of people involved have necessitated a more structured approach. We were told to have one and only one item to get signed and that we'd be lined up to go past the band and meet them and get our autographs. After that we'd be lined up again, and each donor and their guest would have their pic taken with the band as a group.

So, we headed down into the venue and around the side of the stage to the back of the venue where there was this... shack. Well, maybe not a shack, so much, since it wasn't enclosed, but it was a covered storage area of some sort. Kind of weird. A few people at a time were led up the ramp into the sheltered area for autographs. Kourt and I were about a third of the way through the line, which moved pretty quickly. Brett and Leo were there, standing around just being Brett and Leo.

I let Kourt go first, but honestly I didn't hear much of what she said to the guys. Robin was first at the table. We had a kind of awkward conversation. He's rather soft-spoken, and I was rather at a loss for anything to say. To be completely honest, I think the guys in the band are extremely talented and great performers, but I'm a NIN fan because of Trent, and I don't have any real emotional attachment to whoever he's currently paying to play the live shows. It's the lyrics that have gotten inside my head, really, and they don't have anything to do with that. I don't really even remember what I said to Robin. Something came up about if we were from KC or not, I remember that much. His hair was fantastic, though.

Justin was next, and he thanked us for donating to help Eric. I thanked him for doing all this to help raise the money, especially since this was going to be my last NIN show and it made for a really great way to kind of bring my live NIN experiences to a close. He assured me that I'd really love the setlist, and I said I was sure I would.

Next was Trent, and I was really surprised that I didn't completely clam up. I introduced myself, and he said, "This is your last NIN show?" I said yeah, and then said that we'd wanted to have him sign our car but that security wouldn't let us bring it into the venue with us. He laughed, and then said, "You car?" I explained that we'd painted the stripe from The Slip down the sides of our car, and he said I should send them a pic. I said we had the pic on our camera and we were going to show him, but Kourt had it. And I thanked him for doing the whole fundraising thing.

They had Ilan last at the table, and I thanked him for doing all this and said I was looking forward to the show. Really quick convo. His hair, too, is really fabulous. I kinda wanted to touch it.

I joined Kourt in the second line and we Twittered our excitement while we waited. I was just happy that I'd not only managed not to completely embarrass myself, but that I'd actually gotten Trent to laugh.

When they finally got everybody through the first line, Rob came out to take the pics. They lined the band up against the brick wall that, I assume, was the back of the venue itself. When Kourt and I got up to take our pic Kourt stood inbetween Trent and Justin and I got inbetween Trent and Robin, saying that "we should put Trent between the lesbians." Justin started cracking up, and Trent tried to keep his "serious picture" face on but couldn't quite hold it with Justin shaking with laughter on the other side of Kourt. He let out a... chortle? It was funny. Once Rob had gotten the pic, I said we were going to use that pic on our Christmas cards, and Trent said that, yeah, we should do that. I kind of wanted to thank Rob for the patch I'd put on my hat, but I didn't want to hog time when there was such a long line behind us.

Once our pic was done, we went back down the ramp to line up on the little sidewalk leading back around to the seats, but after a few minutes it started raining on us and they let us come back up under the shelter to wait while they finished the pics. We kind of hoped once they were done that we could catch Rob and talk to him, but once they had us all photographed he got us together to film a little video for Eric, and then he left. They took the $1000 donors on to where they'd get dinner, leaving the rest of us standing around waiting to be taken back out.

And we waited.

And waited.

The young security dude said he didn't know why it was taking so long, and that he didn't want to go ask because he'd been assured that they'd come back for us when they were ready. I thought they were probably waiting until the presale people had been let in, but when I tweeted that Casee tweeted back that the presale line was already in. Eventually JT showed up and thanked us for our patience and assured us that it wouldn't be much longer. And after about another ten minutes he came back and let us into the venue.

The show:

Kourt and I made our way first to the bathroom and then to the merch table. I got the olive green shirt with the white logo on the front and the "Wave Goodbye" logo on the back without the concert dates on it. Kourt got the black shirt with the dates and the turquoise green logo. By then we were kind of hungry, too, so we split a funnel cake. Funnel cake isn't really on my diet, but as Lisa said, NIN/JA day is splurge day!

Our seats were even better than we expected. Nine rows back, center section, by the aisle on Robin's side. By the time we sat down, it was FUCKING FREEZING! I ended up putting my new shirt on between the tank top and the hoodie just for the extra warmth. We tweeted while we waited for Street Sweeper Social Club to start, and made some small talk with the people around us.

Our section was just about half full when SSSC took the stage. They were phenomenal! Some people stayed seated during their set, and that blew my mind.

After their set we went up and had a smoke and then went back to our seats. The break inbetween SSSC and NIN was a lot shorter than I expected, which was fine by me. With no crowd jumping around, the temperature was really uncomfortable.

The setlist started with Now I'm Nothing/Terrible lie, which I was hoping we'd get. Then right into Discipline, March Of The Pigs (which is really odd to see live without being in a pit, I have to say. I couldn't jump around as much as I wanted to, because when I did I ended up taking an armrest to the thigh, which is rather painful.), The Frail and (thankfully!) The Wretched, Piggy (Nothing Can Stop Me Now), The Becoming (which was the one song I most wanted to hear live -- it's my all time favorite, and I was blown away), Burn, Gave Up, Echoplex, The Fragile (yay!!), The Way Out Is Through, Wish, Survivalism, Physical, The Hand That Feeds, and Head Like A Hole. For an encore we got Hurt, which was kind of annoying because it seems to be an open invitation for idiots to yell dumb things like "happy birthday" and make obnoxious "woooo!" noises. My only complaints during NIN's set were that the idiots behind us kept talking really loud about stuff like the girl's insistence that she could sing the songs better than Trent because his voice was worn out. Oh, and the couple beside us who kept having to squeeze past us again and again for more beer and bathroom trips. Seriously, how many fucking cups of beer do you have to drink during a show? You miss shit while you're gone, and by the end I can't imagine they were able to remember much of what they saw. But whatever, their loss. And the dude in front of me kept swaying side to side and blocking my view, so several times I had to kind of straddle the armrest between Kourt and I so I could watch Trent over her shoulder. But still, none of that was enough to really impact how perfect the whole show was.

After NIN we went up and had another quick smoke, and tweeted that any of our twitter pals who wanted to grab a cheap dinner after Jane's should meet us at The Slip Car. We went back down to our seats and waited for Jane's Addiction, which I was hoping would really impress me.

I guess I just don't "get" Jane's. It was a good performance, but I can't say I enjoyed it half as much as SSSC. And their fans are annoying. Everyone was drunk, I was starting to get a contact high, and there was a lot more flailing around than seemed warranted by the music. Oh, and because of the shitty Missouri weather, Dave wasn't even shirtless. About two-thirds of the way through their set Kourt and I made our way back up to the lawn area to sit down where doing so wouldn't be disrespectful to the band.

After the show:

By the time we left and met up with Casee at The Slip Car, Deighe and her husband had already gone back to their hotel. We made plans to meet at the Waffle House near their hotel to hang out and eat. However, it took Kourt and I a good hour to get out of the parking jam and finally find their hotel and then ride with Casee and her husband to the Waffle House. We had a good time hanging out over waffles and eggs and such, and finally got back on the road home by about 1:30. I was exhausted, but still running on residual excitement to keep me awake for the drive. Finally, a trip that didn't include any drama or catastrophies!

Once Kourt gets the vids and pics edited and uploaded I'll post them on here. We got some good stuff, which is the upside to having NIN start their set in daylight. Usually once a concert is done and we get home I have this sort of withdrawal thing. Post-show depression or something. But it's like I have closure on the whole thing. As much as I'd love to see another show, I'm totally satisfied with this being the closing chapter on my live NIN experiences.

It couldn't have been a more perfect day.