QOTSA & NIN @ Rod Laver Arena-14 Mar-2014
Posted: Sat Mar 15, 2014 4:01 am
Not spoiler tagging anything, cuz it's pretty obvious ... so here goes:
The night started by receiving our pre-sale bands and lining up for about a half hour before they shuffled us through the underbelly of the Arena direct to the floor where we made our way to the barricade just off stage left where the bass players were eventually to be lined up for each band. We sat and had a few drinks and made small talk for an hour or so before Brody Dalle came on.
Brody dabbles pretty much straight forward post-grungy power chords with a raspy female voice. I'm mostly only familiar with her from a bit of a 2001 Lolla Distillers set I'd caught. She was apparently told not to sing as she has a chest infection, but being in her hometown was having none of it and performed well none-the-less. There were a few highlights including a cover of a cover in Brian Eno's Needle in a Camel's Eye, performed in a heavier rendition to the QOTSA cover version. Also, her last number, 'Underworld', was quite enjoyable wit ha really funky bass intro and some great lead guitar tones.
After about 20 minutes, Quees came out and started the show as most recent shows have begun; with 'Millionaire'. I never have a problem with this song being played anywhere, anytime s I've a bit of an affinity for it. It's the song my brother played for me on my way to my wedding and I'll always love it for that, among other reasons. They started out with a good selection of fan faves for the first 4 or 5 tracks and it went over really well with me, personally, but it was obvious the crowd was into it as well. Then they went in to Smooth Sailing, which is one of the few standout tracks for me on the new record and I felt it translated really well in the live setting, as did most of the new tracks on the nite, granted I used '... Like Clockwork' as a pee/more beer break. Other highlights for me were 'Misfit Love' from Era Vulgaris as I'd not seen that one live before and the obvious closer Song for the Dead ... it's just a great track all around. But I'd have to say that the best part of their set was the Rated R track, 'Better Living Through Chemistry'. Not only had I never seen it live, unlike most of their set choices, I was completely surprised by it to. It was performed perfectly. Josh sounded great all night and Jon T. was a beast as usual. Haven't seen/heard the drums played on the 'Songs for the Deaf' tracks that well since the actual recording was released.
Overall, I'd have to agree with HB on his 8/10 assessment. Not because there were any major flaws on the night, performance and the sound was mostly spot on, but I always feel like they ignore the deeper, better cuts from the Lullibies record and there are some gems there I still haven't heard and even live, I'm still not totally sold on the new record.
[youtube][/youtube]
After another 20 minute break, the lights went back down and NIN came on to the growing sounds of Pinion. They kicked off immediately with 'Copy of A', which is one of the better tracks on the new record and the staggered entrance of performers into the track did turn out to be a great way to start the gig. The track has obvious electronic elements and I was anticipating a more electronic set, as has been mentioned, but that turned out not to be. It was the opening beats of Survivalism, next up, that really got myself and the rest of the crowd going. They directly followed that up with fan faves, Terrible Lie, March of the Pigs (officially my favorite live song to see, ever), and piggy. Next was the Frail/The Wretched, which is always welcome by me and always brilliantly done by Trent and crew. Those four tracks, performed in succession are just a beautiful live experience for me and always have been. I just never really get bored of that section of a NIN show. After that was another highlight moment as they kicked into 'The Warning' from Year Zero, which on it's own isn't a favorite of mine, but I like that album and have only heard a hand full of those tracks performed live. 'Came Back Haunted' came on immediately following and I despise it, so I took the opportunity to go get more drinks here. The next track, was also a new one, and he started to lose me a bit ubtil the end where they did a little quiet teaser of a portion of 'Closer'. In itself, Closer would have been an obvious setlist addition, but hearing just a snippet performed in a new way was quite refreshing as a longtime NIN fan. He immediately got me back into it with Big Come Down and Gave Up (likely my longest running favorite NIN tune). From there, the show continued to be great in performance, but lacked in substance, with the exception of 'Wish', from my personal perspective. He did two HDTA covers with his wife on stage, which weren't horrible, but 'I didn't pay to go see NIN and get HDTA' is all I could thing the whole time. However, the lighting during the first of the two was the best of the entire night from either band. As predictable as Tool has seem to become with their setlists, so is the case with a NIN show for quite some time. 'Head Like a Hole' into 'Hurt', have closed every single show of theirs I've been to since 1994 ... that's 20 years no ... anyway, we headed out after the first verse of 'Hurt', to beat the crowd and have a piss before exiting.
Another 8/10 here. The sound and performance were spot on, but the inclusion of what are essentially Trent cover songs and the same old closing numbers spoilt an otherwise great performance from my perspective. I was quite thankful that it was mostly devoid of the newer electronic direction Trent's taken.
[youtube][/youtube]
Given the arena atmosphere and the variations of tones and textures these acts utilize, it's also worth noting that the sound was quite pleasant where we were all night. Surprisingly, all of the shows I've been to at Rod Laver (Radiohead, Tool and this one) have not suffered in this area, which is generally not my experience in these sports complex type venues.
The night started by receiving our pre-sale bands and lining up for about a half hour before they shuffled us through the underbelly of the Arena direct to the floor where we made our way to the barricade just off stage left where the bass players were eventually to be lined up for each band. We sat and had a few drinks and made small talk for an hour or so before Brody Dalle came on.
Brody dabbles pretty much straight forward post-grungy power chords with a raspy female voice. I'm mostly only familiar with her from a bit of a 2001 Lolla Distillers set I'd caught. She was apparently told not to sing as she has a chest infection, but being in her hometown was having none of it and performed well none-the-less. There were a few highlights including a cover of a cover in Brian Eno's Needle in a Camel's Eye, performed in a heavier rendition to the QOTSA cover version. Also, her last number, 'Underworld', was quite enjoyable wit ha really funky bass intro and some great lead guitar tones.
After about 20 minutes, Quees came out and started the show as most recent shows have begun; with 'Millionaire'. I never have a problem with this song being played anywhere, anytime s I've a bit of an affinity for it. It's the song my brother played for me on my way to my wedding and I'll always love it for that, among other reasons. They started out with a good selection of fan faves for the first 4 or 5 tracks and it went over really well with me, personally, but it was obvious the crowd was into it as well. Then they went in to Smooth Sailing, which is one of the few standout tracks for me on the new record and I felt it translated really well in the live setting, as did most of the new tracks on the nite, granted I used '... Like Clockwork' as a pee/more beer break. Other highlights for me were 'Misfit Love' from Era Vulgaris as I'd not seen that one live before and the obvious closer Song for the Dead ... it's just a great track all around. But I'd have to say that the best part of their set was the Rated R track, 'Better Living Through Chemistry'. Not only had I never seen it live, unlike most of their set choices, I was completely surprised by it to. It was performed perfectly. Josh sounded great all night and Jon T. was a beast as usual. Haven't seen/heard the drums played on the 'Songs for the Deaf' tracks that well since the actual recording was released.
Overall, I'd have to agree with HB on his 8/10 assessment. Not because there were any major flaws on the night, performance and the sound was mostly spot on, but I always feel like they ignore the deeper, better cuts from the Lullibies record and there are some gems there I still haven't heard and even live, I'm still not totally sold on the new record.
[youtube][/youtube]
After another 20 minute break, the lights went back down and NIN came on to the growing sounds of Pinion. They kicked off immediately with 'Copy of A', which is one of the better tracks on the new record and the staggered entrance of performers into the track did turn out to be a great way to start the gig. The track has obvious electronic elements and I was anticipating a more electronic set, as has been mentioned, but that turned out not to be. It was the opening beats of Survivalism, next up, that really got myself and the rest of the crowd going. They directly followed that up with fan faves, Terrible Lie, March of the Pigs (officially my favorite live song to see, ever), and piggy. Next was the Frail/The Wretched, which is always welcome by me and always brilliantly done by Trent and crew. Those four tracks, performed in succession are just a beautiful live experience for me and always have been. I just never really get bored of that section of a NIN show. After that was another highlight moment as they kicked into 'The Warning' from Year Zero, which on it's own isn't a favorite of mine, but I like that album and have only heard a hand full of those tracks performed live. 'Came Back Haunted' came on immediately following and I despise it, so I took the opportunity to go get more drinks here. The next track, was also a new one, and he started to lose me a bit ubtil the end where they did a little quiet teaser of a portion of 'Closer'. In itself, Closer would have been an obvious setlist addition, but hearing just a snippet performed in a new way was quite refreshing as a longtime NIN fan. He immediately got me back into it with Big Come Down and Gave Up (likely my longest running favorite NIN tune). From there, the show continued to be great in performance, but lacked in substance, with the exception of 'Wish', from my personal perspective. He did two HDTA covers with his wife on stage, which weren't horrible, but 'I didn't pay to go see NIN and get HDTA' is all I could thing the whole time. However, the lighting during the first of the two was the best of the entire night from either band. As predictable as Tool has seem to become with their setlists, so is the case with a NIN show for quite some time. 'Head Like a Hole' into 'Hurt', have closed every single show of theirs I've been to since 1994 ... that's 20 years no ... anyway, we headed out after the first verse of 'Hurt', to beat the crowd and have a piss before exiting.
Another 8/10 here. The sound and performance were spot on, but the inclusion of what are essentially Trent cover songs and the same old closing numbers spoilt an otherwise great performance from my perspective. I was quite thankful that it was mostly devoid of the newer electronic direction Trent's taken.
[youtube][/youtube]
Given the arena atmosphere and the variations of tones and textures these acts utilize, it's also worth noting that the sound was quite pleasant where we were all night. Surprisingly, all of the shows I've been to at Rod Laver (Radiohead, Tool and this one) have not suffered in this area, which is generally not my experience in these sports complex type venues.