Nine Inch Nails announces tour with Soundgarden

To follow up the stunning Tension 2013 tour, Trent Reznor has announced a summer tour featuring Nine Inch Nails and Soundgarden with support from Death Grips. NIN members receive a presale similar to the one done for Tension, with a 4 ticket limit instead of 2, on March 17th while tickets go up for the general public on March 21st.
NIN just wrapped up tour dates in Japan and is currently touring New Zealand and Australia with Brody Dalle and Queens of the Stone Age. After that they are touring Latin America and then the UK/Europe until June 11th.

This acts as sort of an ironic 20th anniversary for both NIN and Soundgarden as The Downward Spiral and Superunknown both celebrated their 1994 anniversaries last week. Nine Inch Nails is still riding the wave set by the release of Hesitation Marks last September along with the overwhelmingly positive reviews of Tension 2013. I saw the Tension tour last November and out of all the NIN shows I have been to it was by far the best one. The production was just out of this world.
Soundgarden is set to release a 20th anniversary edition of Superunknown on June 3rd. They released their latest album, King Animal, in 2012.
As for Death Grips, I have no idea who they are but the moment I Googled and saw the phrase "experimental hip-hop" I facepalmed. Did Trent not learn after the failure of the Street Sweeper Social Club opener back in 2009?

Anyway, here are the summer tour dates for North America:

7.19 - Planet Hollywood (Las Vegas, NV)
7.21 - Red Rocks Amphitheatre (Morrison, CO)
7.24 - First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre (Tinley Park, IL)
7.26 - DTE Energy Music Theatre (Clarkston, MI)
7.27 - Molson Canadian Amphitheatre (Toronto, Ontario, Canada)
7.29 - XFINITY Center (Mansfield, MA)
7.30 - Susquehanna Bank Center (Camden, NJ)
8.01 - Nikon at Jones Beach Theatre (Wantagh, NY)
8.02 - PNC Bank Arts Center (Holmdel, NJ)
8.04 - Jiffy Lube Live (Bristow, VA)
8.05 - Farm Bureau Live at Virginia Beach (Virginia Beach, VA)
8.07 - PNC Music Pavilion (Charlotte, NC)
8.08 - Aaron's Amphitheater at Lakewood (Atlanta, GA)
8.10 - Cruzan Amphitheatre (West Palm Beach, FL)
8.11 - MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre (Tampa, FL)
8.14 - Austin360 Amphitheater (Austin, TX)
8.16 - Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion (Woodlands, TX)
8.17 - Gexa Energy Pavilion (Dallas, TX)
8.19 - Isleta Amphitheater (Albuquerque, NM)
8.21 - Sleep Train Amphitheatre (Chula Vista, CA)
8.22 - Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre (Irvine, CA)
8.24 - Shoreline Amphitheatre (Mountain View, CA)
8.25 - Hollywood Bowl (Hollywood, CA)


I must admit that I am pissed. I am happy they are coming back to Colorado, but I am not happy about Red Rocks. That venue is so overrated. It takes forever to get to, the sound doesn't distribute evenly, it's expensive, etc.. I could keep going about how much I despise that venue. I skipped Lights in the Sky in 2008 because it was at Red Rocks.

Nine Inch Nails' Hesitation Marks streams for free on iTunes

The new studio album from Nine Inch Nails titled Hesitation Marks officially drops next week on September 3rd, but it was put up for free streaming via iTunes last night as a sneak preview. I'm sure because of it the album has leaked online but that isn't important. I listened to Hesitation Marks last night because I am an impatient fangirl and although I wouldn't say it is a bad album I definitely wouldn't say it is a favorite.

I am a major Nine Inch Nails fan and have been listening to them for many years. I haven't encountered a time when I didn't really like something that Trent Reznor gave us so I am a bit lost right now. I mean, I'm not a huge fan of With Teeth but even then I didn't feel the way I do now. I think the album started off strong with the tracks "Copy of A" and "Came Back Haunted," but after those it just morphed into what felt like one giant, 50min song. It all sounded very similar and was dull and quite boring. Ordinarily I would have been bobbing my head to a beat but I only found myself doing that when "Satellite" was playing.
Yes I have to admit... I only liked three songs, maybe four. The saddest thing for me is two of those I have been listening to for a while now because Trent released "Came Back Haunted" and "Copy of A" early. The majority of the songs were just a dull roar for me. It sounded like Trent was still in movie mode and created another score only this time he decided to put words to each song. It felt very forced.
Now with all that said, I wouldn't call this a bad album. It is identifiable and you can tell it is Nine Inch Nails. I just feel like Trent was trying to mix all of his sound from the past 20+ years instead of trying to move to a new area like he continuously has done with each album release. When you look at the musical evolution of Nine Inch Nails it is rather incredible and noticeable. With Hesitation Marks it's like he sat down and was like, let me just mix everything and see what happens. It should have worked but I don't think it quite got there.
I'm not saying I don't want to own this album because I will, but I would put Hesitation Marks on the same level of The Slip and With Teeth (to some extent). It has a few good songs but it isn't an album I would listen to straight through more than I had to.


It's alright. I still love you, Nine Inch Nails. See you in November.

#NIN2013 #HesitationMarks

Nine Inch Nails - Came Back Haunted music video premieres

Apparently it can cause seizures, so exercise some caution.

Nine Inch Nails announces 2013 US tour dates

Nine Inch Nails has released the US and Canada tour dates for the 2013 Tension tour!

9.28  St Paul, MN (Xcel Energy Center)
9.30  Kansas City, MO (Sprint Center)
10.01  St. Louis, MO (Chaifetz Arena)
10.03  Monreal, Quebec (Centre Ball)
10.04  Toronto, Ontario (Air Canada Centre)
10.05  Cleveland, OH (Wolstein Center)
10.07  Auburn Hills, MI (The Palace of Auburn Hills)
10.08  Pittsburgh, PA (Petersen Events Center)
10.11  Boston, MA (TD Garden)
10.14  Brooklyn, NY (Barclays Center)
10.15  Newark, NJ (Prudential Center)
10.18  Washington, DC (Verizon Center)
10.19  University Park, PA (Bryce Jordan Center)
10.21  Raleigh, NC (PNC Arena)
10.22  Nashville, TN (Bridgestone Arena)
10.24  Atlanta, GA (Philips Arena)
10.25-27  Ashville, NC (Mountain Oasis Electronic Music Summit)
10.30  Sunrise, FL (BB&T Center)
10.31  Orlando, FL (Amway Center)
11.01-11.03  New Orleans, LA (Voodoo Festival)
11.05  San Antonio, TX (AT&T Center)
11.08  Los Angeles, CA (Staples Center)
11.09  Phoenix, AZ (US Airways Center)
11.11  El Paso, TX (Don Haskins Center)
11.13  Broomfield, CO (1stBANK Center)
11.15-16  Las Vegas, NV (The Joint)
11.18  Portland, OR (Rose Garden Arena)
11.19  Spokane, WA (Spokane Arena)
11.21  Vancouver, British Columbia (Rogers Arena)
11.22  Seattle, WA (KeyArena)
11.24  Edmonton, Alberta (Rexall Place)
11.25  Calgary, Alberta (Scotiabank Saddledome)


I'm pissed because they chose 1stBANK Center up in Broomfield, but I will go up there for NIN. I don't see why they didn't just pick Pepsi Center.

This NIN tour will feature Trent Reznor, Robin Finck (returning), Josh Eustis, Ilan Rubin (returning), and Alessandro Cortini (returning). I am excited to see Robin Finck come back despite me secretly hoping Aaron North would make a comeback, but not all dreams can come true. I was also hoping Trent could pull Josh Freese back into the groove but again... you can't have it all.

[Update 6/6] Adrian Belew has left the tour lineup citing that it was "just not working." No word yet on who will be replacing Belew in the lineup.