Best. Concert. Ever. So.... Now what?

After last week's concert escapades... or whatever we want to call what transpired last Wednesday... I had pretty high hopes for the Nine Inch Nails show tonight. Or, I don't know if hopes is the right word. More like I sure as hell was not going to let tonight go down in anything but awesomeness. And as I'm sure you can tell from this blog title, it was fucking... indescribably amazing. But I'll try. Not that there weren't a few less-than-perfect moments, but I don't think anything short of complete catastrophe could have ruined tonight.

First off, we actually left ON TIME! Yeah! Really! I was going to pretty much go straight home from work and go to bed, but I was on the verge of bouncing right out of my skin all Tuesday night, so I was in no mood for sleep when 6am rolled around. So I took Kourt to breakfast, then stopped to get the cash and energy drinks and gas for the trip taken care of so we wouldn't have to worry about it later, and then we decided to make good use of the box of black hair dye she had sitting around in the bathroom. And for the first time ever... really... I painted my nails black. Because it just seemed like if I ever had an excuse to be a little silly and absolutely stereotypical that way, a NIN show would be it. Anyway, not much sleep was had, but way more than I had last week, and I was running on adrenaline anyway.

So, yeah, out of the driveway at right around three, as planned. Quick stop to pick up some cheap lunch at McDs, and we were on our way. Uneventful drive up -- as it usually is to StL since it's impossible to get lost -- with NIN blasting most of the way and me bouncing in the driver's seat. Well, okay, we listened to Eddie Izzard part of the way, too. We only kinda got lost once on our quest inside the city to find the arena. Not my fault -- the directions didn't tell us which way to turn, and I guessed wrong. Quick correction, and we found the venue with no hassle, and even had an easy time finding parking.

Picked up our tickets at the special nin.com window ('cause we're cool), and still had a bunch of time to spare. I had to pee after the drive and the caffeinated beverages I'd consumed, so we walked over to Union Station to find a bathroom (the venue only has bathrooms past the turnstiles -- what's up with that, anyway?) and an ATM (kinda forgot, when I was getting cash for a t-shirt, that we'd probably have to pay for parking). Conveniently enough, the ATM was Bank of America, so I didn't have to pay a fee on the transaction -- which is what I was trying to avoid by getting the cash out before we left -- so bonus good news on that one. And I showed Kourt that arch thing where you can whisper on one side and the person across the arch can hear. She thought that was pretty cool.

By the time we got back over to the Scottrade Center, they'd opened the doors. So yay! No lines! There was a special entrance for us cool nin.com presale ticket holders, so we got right in. And bought t-shirts, which of course are awesome, and cost exactly the amount of cash I'd pulled out at the ATM, which of course was awfully convenient. And then we went to our seats...

...WHICH WERE FUCKING AWESOME, TOO.

We thought from looking at some seating charts beforehand that we were in the second section back from the stage, but we were actually the very first section of seats, right off the side of the stage, ten rows back. Great view. Sat next to a couple of pretty nice guys, too. As I predicted, the crowd was considerably older on average than the one we were in last week, and far less... um... high strung, maybe? Assholeish? I mean, let's face it -- it's not like Trent's been busy making super commercial, "this sounds just like Downward Spiral so I know everyone will buy it" type albums for the last 14 years, so it's the older folks who have been fans for years and years that show up. (And me -- who kinda just now caught up, but whatever.) I mean, for fuck's sake, the man plays a freakin' xylophone in his show now. You can't mosh to a xylophone. Knocked a few things over, but didn't break anything (though he did throw a mic stand during March Of The Pigs, but it wasn't even close to hitting anything or anyone else on stage, and he pushed his keyboard over at one point). I saw three guys try to start a mosh pit during Wish, I think, and nobody around them would join in and they gave up. Funny -- somebody on the ETS message boards said it looked like the "pit was in full force tonight" but compared to the LP/Atreyu pit last week it was nothing! Which in my book is a total thumbs up. That's not to say that the crowd wasn't into it -- it was a really great crowd -- but it didn't look like anyone was getting mangled down there. Looked like the most noteworthy thing happening in the pit was when somebody started tossing around a roll of toilet paper.

That was actually damn funny.

Anyway, we shot the breeze for a while until the opening act that nobody had ever heard of took the stage. A Place to Bury Strangers. They weren't bad, I guess, though I couldn't understand a single lyric. Probably would help if the singer stepped an inch or two away from the mic instead of trying to eat it. It was somewhat entertaining, though, until their last "song" which involved a half-hour long strobe light solo. I'm sure they were playing their instruments during that time, but it didn't matter since my brain was incapable of registering anything sensory other than the too-fast, too-bright, pulsating light that I think could be used as an alternative to pepper spray or a taser. I'm surprised nobody had a seizure. Kourt spent the time with her face buried in our new t-shirts. I spent it laughing hysterically out of sheer discomfort and staring anywhere but in the direction of the stage. The dude next to me said he couldn't stop staring, but he didn't know why. Most agonizing half hour ever. Okay, it was probably just ten minutes, but still. Everyone applauded at the end, but I think we were all applauding the comfort of darkness and not the band. And then the half of the crowd that hadn't made a run for the hallway during the strobe light assault made a run for it to get their senses back in order for NIN.

Seriously, it was that horribly uncomfortable.

Back in our seats, it was a fairly short wait for them to set up for Trent and Co. Lights went down, 999,999 started up, and the awesomeness commenced. Trent is evidently still battling his throat problems (he's had to postpone two shows already this tour), and is still pretty hoarse, but I didn't even realize it until near the end of the show when he finally talked a little bit.

They played just about every song I was hoping they would, with the exceptions of The Hand That Feeds and Getting Smaller. Love the new version of Piggy -- didn't know what it was at first and everyone kind of looked around bewildered for a second before the lyrics kicked in, but it's awesome. Just in case you're curious about a set list... 999,999, 1,000,000 (got good video of everything after the first verse), Letting You, Discipline, March of the Pigs (got awesome video), Head Down, The Frail, The Wretched...

Okay, at this point I was super excited about them playing The Wretched, and I was catching it on video. And I know the signs on the doors said no audio or video recording devices, but they always say that and people do it anyway, and I know I wasn't the only one. But the security at the Scottrade Center are video nazis and we were close to the end of the row so they could see us, and they fucking pulled me aside and up to the landing to jump all over me for shooting video. Kourt followed, because she was afraid I was getting thrown out. I was afraid we were getting our camera confiscated. He just asked me to delete the video, which I didn't know how to do, because the camera is brand new. So Kourt grabbed it and deleted what I'd gotten of The Wretched, and said she thought that was all, so he let us go back to our seats. If I'd lost the other two, too, I'd have been pissed. But still not as bad as getting our camera taken away or getting thrown out.

The bad part was that while we were getting scolded by the miniature security guard, we missed getting to pay attention to the first half of...

...Closer (but we got back to our seats in time for that The Only Time breakdown part), Gave Up, Me I'm Not (I'd been SOOO hoping they'd include it!), Great Destroyer, Ghosts 17, Ghosts 28, Ghosts 19, Ghosts Piggy, Greater Good, Pinion, Wish, Terrible Lie (thankfully, because some 40 year old idiot behind us kept yelling "TERRIBLE LIE!!" during the Ghosts, so after that he shut up -- I just wish the "I LOVE YOU, TRENT" girls behind us would have done the same), Survivalism, The Big Come Down (yay!), Ghosts 31, Only, and Head Like A Hole.

And then for the encore, which they've been starting with Echoplex for I think every show so far. And then they played Love is Not Enough, which I think is a first this tour, so that was fucking sweet! Then Reptile, God Given, Hurt (which I'd been saying he could totally skip for this show because it's not one of my absolute favorites, but I have to say I'm glad he did it), and finally In This Twilight (at which point I kinda teared up).

I'll try to get pics and video up soon. Pics were hard to get with all the LCD screens and lights and visual effects and stuff -- either there was too much light for the camera or not enough -- but I think we got some good ones.

And once it was done, we didn't even have any trouble getting back to our car and back on the road. Probably if we'd parked in the parking garage we'd have waited in a line forever, but we were inadvertantly smart that way. The only hitch on the way home was the on-again/off-again torrential downpours and Kourt's contact-induced migrane, but we got home by just after 3am with all four tires intact. So yay!

Now, though, I can't sleep. It's like I've become an addict -- now that it's over and I've experienced the high, I don't want to just go back to the everyday crap. I WANT MORE! I want to go again, and not wait until fucking November (not that I'm going to complain about two NIN shows in close proximity in one year). I wish I'd gotten the video footage I wanted to get, so I could at least relive the show. Security bastards. It's not like Trent cares.

Sigh.

It was just so good, I'm bummed it's over.

I so want to be down on the rail (or at least close to it) for the show in November. I know Kourt's not all that excited about the prospect, but I think this is one of those things I'm going to have to be selfish about. Me want!!!

And I totally agree with her, even though I've only seen video footage of Trent from back in the day, that fit-and-sober Trent is an infinitely better performer (and songwriter, IMO) than drunk-and-strung-out Trent.

Is it November yet?