Nine Inch Nails - submitted by : Rob

Glastonbury Festival 2000

Friday 23rd to Sunday 25th June 2000
Worthy Farm, Pilton, nr Glastonbury, Somerset, England
£89 including booking fee and postage

Daily capacity: 80,000

Nine Inch Nails
Other Stage
2300 Friday 23rd June 2000

It took quite a while to remove Moby's stage setup and put on the Nine Inch Nails gear, but the wait was worth it, as they managed a suitably gothic scene for Trent Reznor's band to peform on.

Except for Trent, the band was dressed up a bit like Zombies (imagine the Thriller video in black & white), which was cool if that's your sort of thing I guess (one of the guitarists was genuinely scary), and it helped to emphasize who the real star of the band was.

Trent was excellent, one of the few singers at the festival to actually look like he was feeling the words and music he'd written. It's difficult when the band are nobodies to enjoy their perfomance as well, after all, they are just Trent's puppets, but the man almost made up for it by himself, and it was great to appreciate a truly creative indivdual.

The crowd didn't get largely manic exept for right down the front, but Nine Inch Nails' music is more to be appreciated as a listener than some of the more commercial metal bands that are currently going for the quick to please but little substance style currently dominating the scene.

The performance was something special to watch, because of the level of personal expression that was lacking in so many of the other main acts, but Nine Inch Nails maybe lost out because there were few bits that you could grab and enjoy instantly, especially as the only communication to the audience was the odd 'Thankyou' from Trent.

But the entertainment was in the songs and music, which made it one of the highlights of the festival for me.

Review sent in by
ROB