My friend and I made the trek to Austin, Texas to fulfill my Nine Inch Nails-Groupie requirement for the month. The closest show to where I live was here, which was a two-hour drive. I ditched work, put on my skinny jeans, and we left. When we arrived in Austin, there was parking right in front of the venue. The meters didn't work, and my friend was quite anxious about getting a parking ticket. I personally could have cared less, so I left the car, and left her to walk to CVS by herself to get her earplugs, while I went inside and sat with the other presale ticket holders. I wanted to be at the stage again for the Nine Inch Nails/Jane's Addiction concert.
Street Sweeper Social Club, consisting of Tom Morrello from Rage Against the Machine/Audioslave/Nightwatchman and Boots Riley, along with a couple of white guys, opened the show with a rocking set. They played many songs that have been previewed for us. They also busted out a riveting cover of M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes". SSSC's set was only 30 minutes, and frankly, I would have loved to see more of them. They were so energetic and a great choice for an opening act. Then, Nine Inch Nails exploded into "Mr. Self Destruct", with thunderous vocals, percussion, and bass. Of course, Nine Inch Nails rocked. Their set was very The Downward Spiral-heavy, an homage to the old folks, like myself. TDS is my favorite of their albums, and every song is repeatable, for multiple plays. They also played "Dead Souls", a Joy Division cover from The Crow soundtrack, which was such a pleasant surprise. Interestingly, there were no tracks from the most recent album, The Slip. I think the newest song was "Survivalism", from Year Zero. Trent, Robin, Ilan, and Justin all looked fantastic, and they played their asses off. I would see them again, and again, and again, and again, times infinity. It was an amazing show, and I loved being in the pit, close to the stage again.
After about ten-fifteen minutes, the beginning chords of "Three Days" resonated through the air, the curtains dropped, and Jane's Addiction appeared. Dave Navarro's Barbie doll also made her appearance, from Twitter update fame. Since Jane's hasn't released any new music in like, twenty years, they banged out hit after hit, with "Mountain Song", "Ocean Size", "Been Caught Stealing", etc., taking me back to high school/college. The '90's kick ass, as proven tonight. By this time, the young folk who came for Nine Inch Nails left, and I was able to move closer to the stage. I was stationed immediately in front of Eric Avery and right next to Pee Wee Herman and his multi-ethnic harem. PW had several non-Caucasian women with him, hanging on the rail. Now, that I think about it, they probably had no idea why they were at a NIN/JA concert. But, PW needed his harem around, I suppose. Anyway, I must say, Dave Navarro is a beautiful man. I am all about the tattoos, piercings, and tight, designer jeans that accented the contour of his shapely ass. Very, very nice. However, towards the end, some dumbass pushed his way up to the front, and proceeded to hang on me, with his crotch on my ass. I wasn't sure what to do, but, the visual of Dave Navarro helped distract me.
