Further down the spiral...

October 24, 2009 7:03 AM

We've seen Nine Inch Nails before on the blue, and the band's last two albums have been available for free online. Now there's more, in the form of a fan-produced DVD.

Trent Reznor's last tour was supposedly his last ever, and as a gift to his fans over the years, he put on some special performances. NIN played the entirety of The Downward Spiral album live at Webster Hall in NYC, but due to exorbitant prices charged by LiveNation, were unable to professionally film the performance. So the fans stepped in, a call was made for HD video filmed by fans at the show, and the result is here: The Downward Spiral: Live, a fan-produced DVD available via Youtube streaming or for download with bittorrent. (via nin.com)

posted by reptile (17 comments total)

eponystaccurate?

Thanks for posting this - I'm so grabbing this when I get home from work.
posted by lizzicide at 7:22 AM on October 24, 2009

I'm Loving It!
posted by d1rge at 7:50 AM on October 24, 2009

Awesome, thanks. I never got to see them live, and now I get to do legal torrenting to boot. It's a day of firsts!
posted by Ghidorah at 8:17 AM on October 24, 2009

I saw them when they were on DC on this tour. It was surprisingly dull. Something about a bunch of 30 somethings with jobs and families and stuff not being so into the moshing, etc. One guy moshed, but, I dunno. It was cooler in 1995, when I saw them with Bowie.

Still, I got right up on to the stage, which was cool.
posted by empath at 9:36 AM on October 24, 2009

There are numerous fan-edited NIN concert projects underway at the moment...

One of them was completed quite a while ago and is available for download in several forms. Lights In The Sky Over Victoria was created out of "The Gift" footage (HD semi-pro footage filmed by Trent's team and released for fan editing with soundboard audio). It's ASTOUNDING and I highly recommend it as a download of one of the most technologically intense shows ever mounted.

This version of the LITS tour was a single-person project tossed together pretty quickly. There has been a much more intensive editing of footage from this show created from multiple shows worth of footage from The Gift, plus at least one giant project from a zillion camera angles filmed by fans. You can read more about all those projects (and more!!!) at This One Is On Us.
posted by hippybear at 9:54 AM on October 24, 2009 [2 favorites]

Goodness! Thanks hippybear! I started the original torrent, then read the txt file, and I was like hmm... shaky saturated fan videos.. how... raw... yours sounds quite sexier. (No offense reptile!) nom nom nom.
posted by cavalier at 10:12 AM on October 24, 2009

Hmmmppfff -- can I take that last part back? The OP video is actually quite good for a fan vid, I think the creator was a little too modest of his efforts in the txt file. Grab 'em both! Nom nom nom.
posted by cavalier at 10:15 AM on October 24, 2009

As Trent Resnor distances himself from the NIN brand it seems he's been allowing the fans more and more direct participation. First with the Garageband studio tracks for remixing, then the "free" albums, now this. It will be really interesting to see where this trajectory leads in the end.
posted by lekvar at 10:45 AM on October 24, 2009 [1 favorite]

I just love how they're trying to change the way the music industry works. A new artist wouldn't be able to give music away for free like this, though. Because NIN has a large, established fanbase, they can still make dough while giving their fans what they want for free.
posted by mattmatt7 at 10:49 AM on October 24, 2009

So, not to continue filling the thread with other NIN downloads available, but if you have a home theater system with a good surround sound system, you can find these (fully legal) surround sound fan mixes of their last three albums to download and burn:

Year Zero 5.1
Ghosts 5.1 Vol. 1, Vol. 2
The Slip

The .iso files can be burned to DVD and then played in your home theater for amazing NIN experiences.
posted by hippybear at 11:24 AM on October 24, 2009 [1 favorite]

A new artist wouldn't be able to give music away for free like this

Lots of new artists give away music for free.

They don't also make money while doing it, but still.
posted by anazgnos at 11:28 AM on October 24, 2009 [1 favorite]

If you're interested, Trent is generally associated with the "seedX" torrents.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:56 PM on October 24, 2009

O Post Maker, I thank thee for this precious link~

By empath's description, it seems DC is a city full of boring old people. I caught the tour recently in Ottawa, hardly the party capital of the world, and the crowd was moshing, loud, enthusiastic, and incredibly young. I actually felt kind of old, and I can pass easily for a seventeen year old.

The dynamic light displays were incredible, and although my teen angst days are long, long behind me (I rarely spin NIN anymore), I have to say that NIN puts on one of the best shows I've ever seen.

I've always enjoyed it when bands do themed sets, like playing a single album straight through, so this is a treat. Trent Reznor is one of the few artists out there that realizes art is a conversation, and without audience participation is just masturbation. I wish more people, in all sorts of media, would think like Reznor (and I don't mean that in a "cry tears of mercury" kind of way).
posted by Her Most Serene Highness at 6:51 PM on October 25, 2009

DC is a city full of boring old people.

I wouldn't say that's the case. Young people in DC just aren't into NIN. The industrial/goth scene out here is dead, dead, dead.
posted by empath at 8:36 PM on October 25, 2009

Weird, I wonder why that is? Now I want to do some sort of music demographic survey by electoral district or something equally baroque and geeky. "Youth reaction to Nine Inch Nails in North American capitals, sans Mexico." Should've gone to grad school. :(
posted by Her Most Serene Highness at 8:51 PM on October 25, 2009

Young people in DC just aren't into NIN.

It's kinda funny you should say that. I spent some time in DC back in '91 or so. I don't know if it was a DC thing or what, but everyone was claiming NIN for their favorite genre. Metalheads insisted that NIN was metal. Rivetheads insisted that NIN was industrial. No, NIN was hip-hop. No, goth. No, indie, college rock, punk, post-punk.

Yeah, I know, off my lawn and all that, but young people in DC certainly used to be into NIN.
posted by lekvar at 12:28 PM on October 26, 2009

but young people in DC certainly used to be into NIN.

And it's all the same ones that showed up to the concert, except they're 30 something now.
posted by empath at 12:37 PM on October 26, 2009