On the eve of the 28th of April 2022, industrial rock legends Nine Inch Nails made a loving tribute to the memory of David Bowie by coving two of the late star’s tracks. The show took place at Red Hat Amphitheatre in Raleigh, North Carolina at the cusp of their 2022 headline tour. The NIN frontman Trent Reznor was a long-time friend of Bowie and collaborated with him on numerous projects.
After a straight-set of classic hits by NIN, featuring such songs as; “Every Day Is Exactly the Same”, “The Frail” and “Closer”. The band wowed fans by chucking in two Bowie tracks to make this the gig of a lifetime. The first instance was a barnstorming rendition of “I’m Afraid Of Americans”, which Reznor co-produced back in 1997. Take a look at the fan-captured footage below:
To follow, NIN went into a spine-chilling cover of the 1980s staple “Fashion”. Whilst this was the first time the band played this song together. Reznor had previously performed the song for a live-streamed gig in tribute to the star man himself in 2021. See “Fashion” as played by Nine Inch Nails below:
Glorious cover versions aside, the setlist of last night’s gig was something to behold in its own right. The full menu is detailed beneath;
”Somewhat Damaged”
“The Day The World Went Away”
“The Frail”
“The Wretched”
“March Of The Pigs”
“1,000,000”
“Survivalism”
“Piggy”
“Closer”
“The Perfect Drug”
“The Becoming”
“This Isn’t The Place”
“Every Day Is Exactly the Same”
“I’m Afraid Of Americans” (David Bowie cover)
“Fashion” (David Bowie cover)
“Only”
“The Hand That Feeds”
“Head Like A Hole”
“Reptile”
“And All That Could Have Been”
“Hurt”
The honour of opening this event was given to electronic technomancers Boy Harsher. With Yves Tumor, 100 Gecs, Nitzer Ebb and Ministry set to support the remaining tour dates (including stops at the O2 Academy Glasgow, the O2 Apollo Manchester and the O2 Academy Brixton and 2 nights at the Eden Project, Cornwall). Information and tickets can be found here.
In a touching interview last year, Trent Reznor discussed the mark left on him by the late great David Bowie. Saying; “I still think about that dude all the time, and I still listen to him constantly. And I’m grateful that our lives intersected, and I’m grateful for, whether he knew it or not, how much he helped me in those dark times before I chose to get my shit together. And I can hear his voice. He penetrated through the layers of bulls**t that I’d built around myself. I’m grateful for that.”
