March 24, 2007 Berlin (Germany), Columbiahalle

I was looking forward to this event for months. The last show in the MSG was great but you had limited space to let yourself go. Also the atmosphere was quite different than in smaller venues which are much more personal and intense. Therefore I was expecting another great full-scale evening.

The show started of with the support act "The PoPo" from Philadelphia (btw, popo means butt in German). Well, they were not as bad as the usual suspects. Most of the music was quite interesting and had some groove to it, some of it was too reggae-alike in my ears. Nevertheless they were not boring and not too weird. Quite enjoyable. They also changed the instruments in between. The initial drummer was wearing a red t-shirt featuring "Animal" of the Muppet Show.

During the sound check (not quite regular one, most instruments were checked over the monitoring desk only) they also checked the lighting. Therefore they were using a dummy for Trent Reznor with the same measurements. Quite funny.

Ages later whilst the roadies were still on stage the music started. Twiggy came on stage and all of a sudden Trent Reznor was evolving from out of nowwhere. The song started somewhere in the middle and I had expected a different opening somehow (Pinion or Somewhat Damaged from the very beginning). Although I don't really like and know the song "Last" too much I was forced to go insane along with the crowd. It was a really awesome audience, really into it. However, after my personal explosion with Eraser which made me go nuts, I had to get a drink and the rest of the show was no longer that intense for me. I was lacking of energy and songs like Survivalism, Only and Suck did not really have a positive impact on my temper. Therefore the rest of the show was not as good as I had wished. With Sunday's setlist La Mer, Into The Void and No You Don't I would have been back on track again.

After Survivalism Trent also said that they had been working on 2 albums (not only Year Zero) and should be back with another tour very soon. The last part of the gig was quite distant for me and from the balcony it became even more distant. But what really pissed me off is the fact that that they did not have an encore (with this freakin' audience)! Why the hell...?!? I was hoping for Reptile, Terrible Lie and The Wretched or the La Mer, The Great Below and Right Where It Belongs...

Anyhow, great show, just too high expectations after my original first NIN live experience in Berlin in 1999.

Pictures taken from furbyx4 posted in echointhesound-forum:

Please also feel free to check out the new album streamed online at http://yearzero.nin.com/

If I had had a choice I would have preferred Sunday's setlist:

*It's when the roadies 'mill about' on stage, pretending to be setting up while the intro to "Somewhat Damaged" plays.

Claas