Perpetual Smile

The NIN show last night was amazing. I know I say that about every concert I go to, but this one truly tops them all. There’s no way to even describe how incredible it is to see NIN live. I don’t think I could ever explain, in words, what it’s like. You would have to see them for yourself. We got lucky, too; apparently tonight’s show in Worcester, MA is canceled because Trent is having throat problems.

The opening act was an obviously college band called Deerhunter. They weren’t bad, but they weren’t good either. The lead singer had a strong voice with some range, but you couldn’t really hear him over the noise of the guitars. They pretty much sounded like a garage band, minus the energy. They didn’t have much of it. After every song, the lead singer said “thank you very much”. I did feel bad for them when he announced their last song and said NIN was up next, because the whole crowd went nuts. After every other song a few people clapped and cheered, but not as many as when he said “this is our last song”.

When NIN came on, though, you could feel the energy building. On tour with Trent Reznor were Alessandro Cortini, Josh Freese, Justin Meldal and Robin Finck. I’ve never seen NIN live before but I thought the band he put together for this tour was pretty kickass. Mike said they are the best, so I’ll back him up. (:

I took some photos and video before a security guy came over and made me stop. You can see official photos on NIN Flickr page. (Some of my favorite parts of the show were the desert, the red backlights, the red and white buttons (which one of the band members came over and pressed) and the ghosts. I really loved the rain part of it, but I can’t find any photos on their stream and couldn’t take my own. The screens were set up to make it look like it was pouring on the stage, and one screen was like the glass of a window. Then someone wiped away the “steam” on the window and you could see the band through a little looking-glass. It was fucking awesome.

I do have one regret about the night: Close to the end of the show, Trent told everyone they would be hanging out at Denny’s down the street if anyone wanted to come hang out. Since Mohegan Sun is huge and a time-warp, we had no idea where Denny’s is. It so would have rocked to hang out and eat breakfast with someone I admire so much.

That hand at the end was the security guard. He totally ruined “Closer,” dammit.

You can view the rest of the photos I took here, in the NIN Lights in the Sky album I made.

And just in case you wanted to hear the rest of “Closer”:

I don’t know what it is lately, but I’m inspired by everything. I got another idea for some writing today. I’m going to write a series of ten short stories, maybe more if my muse sticks around. I was reading today’s stories on Rep-Am.com and one of them caught my eye. It was about the homeless in my city (literally right down the street from where I work, at that), and how they are living in tents. The area is dubbed Tent City, and there are hundreds of people living there. It’s kind of sad, yes, but I also think it’s kind of interesting that there is a whole ’sub-culture’ kind of ‘city’ in my own. These people live there year-round. Apparently HUD is involved but not enough. I really hope something happens, to help these people.

Meanwhile my imagination is piqued, and all I can think about are the different kinds of people who live there.

One of those people–at least, I think so–came into my office earlier, ironically enough. He was kind of babbling and ranting, but what I did get out of it was that he was 60+ years old, “they” had kicked him out, the FBI was involved with helping him, so-and-so on Fox News Channel apologized for something, HUD was involved, and the rest didn’t make much sense. I’m assuming he was talking about Tent City or maybe an abandoned warehouse, and this Fox guy probably exposed the story and got him kicked out of where he was staying. It wasn’t really clear. But it’s kind of ironic, how I read the story on Tent City and then a homeless man (he was carrying a beat-up green duffel bag and looked kind of grungy, so I’m only assuming) comes into my office demanding that my boss and I call the Fox reporter and complain enough so he will “do something” instead of writing an apology letter.

If you’re lost, don’t feel bad. So was my boss and I.

Anyway, tonight is the NIN concert! We’re leaving around 4 because the drive will take about an hour and a half. I’m going to bring my camera and take mass amounts of pictures. Of course, because I’m bringing my camera, Murphy’s Law says I won’t run into any of the musicians. Still, maybe I can snag some pics of Mike and me. I’m just hoping all goes well tonight. He’s been in a bad mood lately, and things seem kind of strained–at least to me, anyway. He doesn’t seem to think so, so I guess that’s a good thing.

Between now and the time I meet him at his house, I have to: finish my shift, catch up on blogs, catch up on email, maybe do some laundry, catch up on Letters of Love and find something to eat for dinner. If you never hear from me again, it’s because I ran away with Trent Reznor.

Coheed and Cambria are doing a four-night show, entitled Neverender, in New York City and Los Angeles. They will be performing all four albums. This would be an awesome show. I called Joe and left a voicemail about it, but the more I think about it the more out of reach it seems.

First of all, it’s four nights. We (being whomever I go with) would have to stay in a hotel at least three nights, and that’s assuming we’re going to drive back home after the show the fourth night. Hotels are expensive–especially NYC hotels. Even if we got a cheaper hotel some ways away from the venue, the cost of gas would be a factor as well.

Speaking of gas, we would have to buy enough gas to get to and from the city. With the price of gas these days, who knows how much that will be.

The other issue is the show dates. Being that we’d be going all the way to NYC, I wouldn’t want to miss work for four days. The best bet would be a Fri-Monday show, or a Thurs-Sunday show.

Finally, how much are the tickets going to be? I definitely can’t afford anything right now. I have medical bills to pay off and have all the intentions of saving up for an apartment so I can move out in the fall. Depending on when the show is, I might not be able to do it. Read: If it’s this summer, it’s not happening. It would work out much better if it were scheduled for the fall, like November-ish.

Well, I guess the only thing to do is wait and see when the tour dates are released (July 14th) and see how much the tickets are. If they’re out of range–which I can’t imagine a four-night concert being cheap–it’s a no.

So I guess you could say it’s a no. (:

My sister Lauren did not want to see Mindless Self Indulgence–but she did want to see The Birthday Massacre. After see-sawing on the decision, she finally decided that it was worth enduring a couple hours of the band she hates the most in order to see The Birthday Massacre, whom she really likes (she steals their Walking With Strangers album from me all the time).

My boyfriend–Mike–and I really wanted to see Mindless Self Indulgence–especially since TBM would be opening for them. I mean, how many times does it work out that two of your favorite bands would be on the same tour together? When we found out that they not only were coming to the Webster Theatre in Hartford but that Julien-K would also be opening, we had to go. Tickets were only $20, which was another good reason; with the price of gas, going out and doing things together is becoming rare.

I had been looking forward to this concert for a month. When Julien-K came onstage, vocalist Ryan Shuck (Orgy) blew me away with his amazing energy. He was everything a rockstar should be: charismatic, vibrant, and gifted with a powerful voice. He sang, danced, and got the crowd amped, making it feel as if Julien-K was the main act for the night. On guitar was Amir Derakh (also from Orgy), with Brandon Belsky on keyboards and Elias Andra, who was quite impressive on drums. Before the show I had only heard a handful of their tracks, which are being recorded for an album set for release later this year. Their set left me wanting more, and made a new fan out of my sister. Then again, Shuck and Derakh are experienced musicians. The band began as a side project when the two Orgy members decided to experiment with electronica–more specifically, dark electronica.

Next on the stage was The Birthday Massacre. Chibi (vocals) came bouncing onto stage, just as energetic as Julien-K’s Ryan Shuck, but a lot sweeter. She said hello and immediately went into a few tracks from their new album, Walking With Strangers (2007), including “Red Star,” “Kill the Lights,” “Looking Glass” and “Walking With Strangers”. They also played several of their classic songs, like “Lovers End” and “Happy Birthday”. The Toronto, Canada electronica band consists of Chibi, Rainbow on guitar, Michael Falcore also on guitar, bassist O.E., Owen on keyboards and Rhim on drums. Their set ended with Chibi thanking the audience for coming out and calling out “goodnight” as she bounced off the stage.

Later, after Mindless Self Indulgence finished their set, I had the opportunity to meet Chibi and Rainbow in the Webster’s lobby. They were both equally sweet, patiently autographing everything from tickets to jeans as well as posing for photo after photo for all of their fans. They took the time to learn each fan’s name and gave plenty of hugs. Both were glad to be going home and resting; Hartford, CT was the last stop of the tour.

As amazing and energetic as The Birthday Massacre and Julien-K were onstage, nothing compared to Mindless Self Indulgence and frontman Little Jimmy Urine. He came bouncing onto the stage, jumped up on a speaker and gave a monologue about their world tour. He borrowed everything from bunny ears to bras from the audience, and between each song made us laugh as if we were watching a standup comedy routine. At one point, he told us he had good news and bad news. The good news was, he said, they were going to systematically murder us all. The bad news? While systematically murdering us all, they were going to play more “bad music”.

With Steve, Righ? on guitar, Lyn-Z on bass and Kitty on drums, Mindless Self Indulgence put on an act while performing old favorites. They opened with “Shut Me Up” and played “1989,” “Faggot,” “Straight to Video,” “Bitches” and “Stupid MF”, from their You’ll Rebel to Anything and Frankenstein Girls Will Seem Strangely Sexy albums. They also played tracks from their new album, If: “Never Wanted to Dance,” “Get it Up” and “Lights Out”. During “Get it Up,” Jimmy and wife Chantel (Morning Wood)–who did backup vocals on the album–performed a skit along to the song. The skit–which was probably a little too adult for a 12+ show–was cute, in a Mindless Self Indulgence kind of way.

After the show, I ran into Chantel but couldn’t get her attention as she headed backstage. Jimmy came out for a bit and signed autographs off of the stage, but unfortunately we couldn’t get to him before he had to go backstage. However, I did get to chat with Steve, Righ?, who was first to sign my ticket. I told him they’d better come back to Hartford, and he gave me a sweet smile and lightly pinched my cheek.

All three artists were equally sweet, friendly and reminded me of old friends. They were more than happy to make their fans happy, and to me that is worth more than just seeing them play.

Lauren, by the way, is now a Mindless Self Indulgence fan; she thoroughly enjoyed the show and added some MSI songs to her Project Playlist.

For more information on the bands–including their biographies and discographies–check out these sites:

MINDLESS SELF INDULGENCE
www.myspace.com/mindlessselfindulgence
www.mindlessselfindulgence.com
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mindless-Self-Indulgence/5882622093
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindless_Self_Indulgence

THE BIRTHDAY MASSACRE
www.myspace.com/thebirthdaymassacre
http://www.thebirthdaymassacre.com/
http://vampirefreaks.com/u/thebirthdaymassacre
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Birthday_Massacre

JULIEN-K
www.myspace.com/julienk
http://www.julienk.com
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Julien-K/8511506186
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julien-K