Nine Inch Nails live: "Beside You In Time" DVD
January 26, 2007 9:12 PM   Subscribe

If anyone can put together a kick-ass concert DVD, it's Trent Reznor. For your consideration: Nine Inch Nail's upcoming "Beside You In Time," which will be released in HD-DVD, Blu-Ray and some format from the late-90's they are referring to as simply DVD (this is apparently the first music DVD ever to be released on all three formats). View the trailer and some clips here in 1080P (if you're computer and eyes can handle it). Or, if you're lucky enough to live in one of the chosen cities, attend a screening.
posted by JPowers (48 comments total) 5 users marked this as a favorite
 
Also, in case you're wondering, yes, I do work for Trent Reznor. He pays me (in blood) to spread the word about his work (how else would anyone find out about it?).

I also love Pepsi Blue.
posted by JPowers at 9:16 PM on January 26, 2007


No real comment on the DVD, but god damn I like watching things in 1080p.
posted by saraswati at 9:25 PM on January 26, 2007


Hmm. The screenings link seems to think San Francisco's zipcode is 39108.
posted by Clamwacker at 9:34 PM on January 26, 2007


this is the first thing i've seen that makes me want to buy hd anything.
posted by empath at 9:47 PM on January 26, 2007


I am, in fact, computer.
posted by Rhomboid at 10:01 PM on January 26, 2007 [2 favorites]


Trent is nothing if not media-savvy.
posted by cortex at 10:10 PM on January 26, 2007


Previously (NIN releases single as a GarageBand file)
posted by Guy Smiley at 10:20 PM on January 26, 2007


Sweet. I saw them in Milwaukee about a year ago in a relatively small venue and it was one of my favorite shows ever. Still waiting for that Closure DVD, though...
posted by aaronetc at 10:31 PM on January 26, 2007


So, is the concert actually any good? It all seems to be about res.
posted by chococat at 10:42 PM on January 26, 2007


This post was about 2 hours and 12 minutes too late for those of us in San Francisco. Bummer. Looking forward to the clip, though.
posted by pkingdesign at 10:42 PM on January 26, 2007


Gal darn 'puter ain't fust ensust!
posted by metaplectic at 10:56 PM on January 26, 2007


Did they lose a band member or something? Otherwise why the change from "Nine Inch Nails" to "Nine Inch Nail"?
Last thing the world needs is another pile of drek from Trent Reznor, who hasn't had a good album since the one he "borrowed" from Keith LeBlanc.
posted by eparchos at 10:57 PM on January 26, 2007


no music, lots of hi-res. meh. NIN is lots of music (OK and lots of hi-res, but the music makes the band)
posted by caddis at 11:01 PM on January 26, 2007


eparchos: since the one he "borrowed" from Keith LeBlanc.

Are you going to back this up? Not liking a band isn't solid grounds to claim he's a thief. (Other than "Crystal Japan" "A Warm Place". Which was an open homage to Bowie.)
posted by spaltavian at 11:15 PM on January 26, 2007


Wow! In that 1080p you can really see what a washed-up weenie Reznor really is. It's amazing how the resolution just makes the lameness jump out at you. So vivid!
posted by squirrel at 11:33 PM on January 26, 2007 [2 favorites]


I can't seem to find it on the intertubes, but Keith LeBlanc worked on Pretty Hate Machine with Trent Reznor, was not credited on the original release, and later got his name put back on it. I read aaaall about it in both my Wax Trax and Nettwerk newsletters back in the day. Word on THAT street was that LeBlanc had "lain down some example tracks" for Reznor to learn from, and Reznor turned around and slapped those on his album without crediting LeBlanc.
posted by eparchos at 11:38 PM on January 26, 2007



So, is the concert actually any good?


God yes.
posted by dopamine at 11:59 PM on January 26, 2007


I opened this expecting the usual pile-on when anyone posts something about a musician that only a selective group of people would dig [one of my first posts about Bonnaroo and jammy summer music festivals and that went over splendidly]. I was surprised and happy to see it's just not here... even most of the "your favorite band sucks" comments were handled tactfully. Awesome.
posted by trinarian at 12:12 AM on January 27, 2007


yes, that "concert" was amazing. saw it twice on the tour. a small version and a large coliseum version. Unfortunately the email that went out from NIN announcing this viewing parties went out a half hour after the party in San Francisco started.
posted by matt_od at 12:16 AM on January 27, 2007


Trent Reznor, who hasn't had a good album since the one he "borrowed" from Keith LeBlanc.
LeBlanc was a producer on some early NIN albums. Whether or not anthing was stolen from anyone in the studio is complete heresay at this point. If you really want to call Reznor a theif why don't you at least use an example that can be proven: Skinny Puppy's "Dig It" vs. NIN's "Down in it"
posted by matt_od at 12:22 AM on January 27, 2007


if you're computer and eyes can handle it

i am computer and eyes can handle it are you computer?
posted by loquacious at 1:02 AM on January 27, 2007 [2 favorites]


Gah! If only I had the money I'd go see them live in March at Brixton... Truly awesome live band. Can't wait for the concert to be out on HD. Now to invest in a proper TV/sound system to get the full feel of it.

Suck it haters!
posted by slimepuppy at 2:23 AM on January 27, 2007


Wow, Quicktime really is a piece of shit.
posted by redteam at 2:41 AM on January 27, 2007


!
posted by geekyguy at 3:45 AM on January 27, 2007


Double
posted by srboisvert at 3:56 AM on January 27, 2007


Yeah, I'll have to agree with redteam. One of TR's very few faults is that he insists on putting promos out in QT format.

Other than that, I've been looking forward to this release since it's been announced.

(Oh, and the Closure DVD can be found on The Pirate Bay. According to one of TR's blog posts on The Spiral, it's a "guilt-free" download.)
posted by booticon at 6:32 AM on January 27, 2007


Also worth reading: a really well thought out HD-format FAQ from the band covering almost any question people would have about what the new formats provide, why they're worth buying, which one is better (no answer to that yet), etc.
posted by Remy at 7:42 AM on January 27, 2007


'And All That Could Have Been' is one of the best DVDs ever. The surround sound is outstanding. I don't know that HD could add much to that.
posted by kableh at 8:19 AM on January 27, 2007


That said, I didn't care for [with_teeth] at all.
posted by kableh at 8:25 AM on January 27, 2007


i am computer and eyes can handle it are you computer?

Linguo is dead.
posted by Afroblanco at 9:23 AM on January 27, 2007


Do we get his Volvo as well?
posted by solistrato at 11:37 AM on January 27, 2007


I've seen Trent Reznor twice and I really wasn't impressed -- it's pretty well all pre-recorded and he doesn't seem to have much stage presence. I'm not a big NIN fan either -- it's OK but rather bland for that style (as my friend put it, they're more like Half Inch Nails if that).

I saw him warm up for Bowie (Bowie wasn't very good either that night, unfortunately) and they shared drummers.... when the drummers played for Reznor, they didn't look at each other and just flailed around, it didn't look as if they were in time, then one of the drummers dropped his stick and instead of doing the usual drummer magic of making another one appear, he *stopped playing*, looked around for another stick and restarted! The sound did not change one bit.

When Bowie appeared, the drummers magically morphed -- they sat up, turned slightly towards each other so they could see each other, and stopped thrashing around (even on the fast songs). Suddenly, you could hear them play -- it was clear that they knew that they were actually being heard on the mix.

I read an interesting interview with Reznor where he admitted that he's actually never had any sort of traumatic relationship or a relationship that's ended badly and he's still friends with his ex-es. This possibly accounts for the rather emotionless feeling to a lot of these songs about tortured love/lust (not that having sustaining relationships is bad personally! it just doesn't make for good art...)
posted by lupus_yonderboy at 11:49 AM on January 27, 2007


"I've seen Trent Reznor twice and I really wasn't impressed -- it's pretty well all pre-recorded and he doesn't seem to have much stage presence."

Didn't Rolling Stone choose his And All That Could Have Been tour as being the best tour of 2000. I guess "stage presence" wasn't important to them.
posted by JPowers at 12:15 PM on January 27, 2007


"Didn't Rolling Stone choose his And All That Could Have Been tour as being the best tour of 2000. "

The tour was certainly spectacular with impeccable production values, very exciting in its way. I've nothing against Trent Reznor, he's a hard-working and talented professional, he just isn't really very exciting though he tries very hard. And I have to say that I liked his material better before I saw it in concert -- an evening of it and I got pretty bored.

Your Mileage May Certainly Vary. I'd be perfectly happy if I had a son and he were playing that music -- it has musical value. It just isn't very exciting once you get past the faux rage.
posted by lupus_yonderboy at 1:20 PM on January 27, 2007


Examples of people with astonishing stage presences:

Iggy Pop
Nina Hagen
The Butthole Surfers
Fela
Jimi
any number of "world" musicians and "classical" musicians

where you leave the concert hall exhausted and amazed that such a thing can be.


I wouldn't unfortunately even put Reznor in the second tier of "brilliant" performers, containing such disparate individuals as Devo (for intensity of performance) or Joni Mitchell (for all levels of musicianship).

He's unfortunately in the "third tier" of talented hardworking musicians whom give good value for the money but no more.

(If you're interested, "a good rave" probably fits in a special category somewhere between tier 1 and tier 2...)
posted by lupus_yonderboy at 1:31 PM on January 27, 2007


more of trent reznor in action.
posted by jcterminal at 3:49 PM on January 27, 2007


I don't find his rage particularly "faux". You can feel rage without being a macho posturing asshole. If you want to pigeonhole him as a metal act because his CDs are in that part of the store, that's your problem. That said I prefer the sound of his band than his voice, apart from on the quieter pieces.
posted by snoktruix at 5:35 PM on January 27, 2007


Well, it does seem that a lot of his songs are about anger and relationships -- and since he's revealed that he has not indeed had angry relationships, these songs don't refer to anything real.

I don't quite get why you think I think this is "heavy metal", nor would appear as such in a decent record store (it'd be under "industrial" perhaps).
posted by lupus_yonderboy at 8:12 AM on January 28, 2007


I think you're misreading his oeuvre if you think "a lot of his songs are about anger and relationships." Anger, yes, but not relationship anger.
posted by aaronetc at 8:52 AM on January 28, 2007


While I liked some of NIN's early work, Trent Reznor is to anguished souls what Larry the Cable Guy is to honest, hard-working rednecks - a symbol, but definitely not the real thing. Almost despicable, really, in that both of them are manufactured stereotypes with little substance, designed to make themselves rich at the expense of that stereotype.
posted by FormlessOne at 9:35 AM on January 28, 2007


J.K. Rowling has no idea what it's like being an adolescent boy in Wizard school! How dare she write about what she obviously knows nothing about?

Writing/acting/singing/painting about something you haven't personally experienced is called fiction. It's quite popular with the kids today.
posted by slimepuppy at 9:45 AM on January 28, 2007


This is art: we're talking about emotional truth, not factual truth.

Rowling was a struggling single mother without a family when she created Harry Potter, a boy who also has no family but struggles on. It's indicative that while he handles themes like family, friendship, low self-esteem, self-sacrifice and such really well, she fails somewhat in giving a good account of the evil characters, who are much more cardboard villains (not that I don't love the Harry Potter books!)

And performance requires even more emotional truth than writing. We can have someone write about anger convincingly who has never really experienced it, but is just a good observer of other people. We cannot have someone sing about it unless they have really experienced it.

I remember I saw Iggy Pop once sing his song "Social Life". I'd never heard it before but he just sat on the edge of the stage and sung it so clearly I heard each word. And, damn, the first time he got to the chorus "That Goddamn social life, it's torture dressed as fun" I winced, in the same when when your friend stresses one word a little too much and you realize that they had a deep hurt you never knew about -- I got an idea what it must be like to have had to be polite through 30 years' worth of gallery openings -- which makes the last more hopeful verse like a burst of light.

He really means each word in the same way that say Zakir Hussain means each tabla beat.

Now, I'm not meaning to exclude ballad singers -- for example, Robert Plant. You can be a brilliant performer and just have an astonishing voice (running around a lot helps too :-D). I don't think Plant "means" it when he sings, "There's a lady who's sure all that glitters is gold", but he's got virtuoso pipes and cares deeply about this song itself so he's a pleasure to listen to. (And he certainly means it when he says, "I'm going to give you every inch of my love.")

Trent Reznor is fine but he doesn't have the Great Soul.
posted by lupus_yonderboy at 1:22 PM on January 28, 2007


Rowling was a struggling single mother without a family...

How can you be a single mother without a family?
posted by eparchos at 1:52 PM on January 28, 2007


Well, it does seem that a lot of his songs are about anger and relationships -- and since he's revealed that he has not indeed had angry relationships, these songs don't refer to anything real.

He's a recovering alcoholic/drug user. That's a reference to a real angry relationship.
posted by saturnine at 4:18 AM on January 29, 2007


As big a curmudgeon as I tend to be, I couldn't believe how great it was to watch HD content, even if the only HD channels I get are OTA.

When I got to see the 360's dashboard at 1080i I couldn't help but to exclaim "It's like it's having sex with my eyes!"

Thanks for the heads up, JPowers. I'll definitely be looking into this.
posted by owenkun at 4:19 AM on January 29, 2007


My thoughts:

The Video: Hurray for HD. Hurray for 1080p. Sucks to QuickTime. Seriously, that killed it for me.

The Openings: I would go to the Seattle show, except I already have tickets to Swan Lake that night and at this stage of my life, I'm okay with picking Swan Lake of Trent Reznor.

The Music: NIN helped me get through high-school without killing anyone. Pretty Hate Machine and Broken were constantly in rotation at my house and in my car. That said, I think pretty much everything except Fixed is unlistenable these days. Maybe in the right context, but they don't make many appearances in my play lists these days.

The Concerts: I've seen NIN three times, all in St. Louis. The last time I saw him was the NIN/Bowie tour. The NIN/Bowie show was awesome, but you can't even begin to compare the two. Trent is a hack and Bowie is about as world-class as it gets. Are the shows mostly pre-recorded? Well, yeah, it's industrial music. WTF do you want? I'll take pre-recorded samples over lip-syncing any day. It wasn't as bad as Depeche Mode. I never left a NIN show disappointed. There was a lot of energy and emotion in those shows. It was an incredible experience. But Bowie is the only artist who has ever made me cry at a live show.

Verdict: Go buy a Bowie album in protest of mediocrity and QuickTime.
posted by jeffamaphone at 5:56 PM on January 29, 2007


Dear Quicktime,

While you're on Windows, I humbly request that you do two things. First, please consider having a full-screen mode in your "free" version. Second, I know you do things differently where you come from, but while you're on Windows, please allow me to resize you from all four of your corners. I hope my requests won't be too much of an inconvenience for you.

Sincerely,
redteam
posted by redteam at 3:39 AM on January 30, 2007


PS: Also, when I double click something to launch it in your silly little player, why not start playing automatically? Why do I have to click the play button? What else am I going to do with your little crapplet?
posted by jeffamaphone at 9:06 AM on January 30, 2007


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