surprise concert!

 lot of my friends in various places across the country have been going to the NIN/JA Tour, which is Nine Inch Nails & Jane's Addiction. Everyone has said it was a good show. I thought it would be, and I was jealous of all those people that got to go. Then the other day I heard on the radio that the tour was coming to Detroit May 31. I let out an audible gasp and looked at Jay. I knew we couldn't afford to go, but I really really wanted to. Jane's Addiction has been one of my favorite bands since I was like 15. I have all their cds and even a movie they made. NIN is cool too, though I haven't bought a cd of theirs since I was a freshman in high school. But I knew they would both put on a good show, if only I had the $22 - $96 required. Jay even tried to win tickets for me, but no luck.

Then yesterday morning, I received a text from my buddy Max asking if anyone wanted to go to the show that night, free of charge. My phone happened to be right next to me, so I texted him back immediately. (Part of the benefits of having a full QWERTY keyboard phone is my lightning-fast texting skillz.) I was the first to respond, so I was going to the concert.   

The very first band (which we only caught 2 songs of) was Street Sweeper Social Club, fronted by Tom Morello and Boots Riley. Not really the style of music I usually go for, but they put on a damn fine show. During the break, we walked around DTE Theater, which I'd never been to. It has a giant lawn (those are the cheap seats) and lots of trees and plants. Quite a nice place, actually. (It used to be called Pine Nob, for any old-skool Detroiters out there.)

We came back to our seats in time for NIN. The sun was still out, and Trent Reznor made a crack about how these songs are written in the dark and meant to be performed in the dark, but here they are bright as day, so to speak. The only disappointment I had was that Trent cut his hair. I think it showed his age more and I preferred when he looked like Professor Snape.

Cameras were allowed, so I took full advantage of that, believe me. I've posted only a few here. The rest are viewable on my flickr account. (Link to come later today.) I also got a few videos. (Link also to come later today.)

NIN used a fog machine, and the effects were kind of lost in the daylight. But the brightness allowed some good pictures. (As always, click to enlarge.)

Jane's Addiction was much harder to photograph. Not only had the sun gone down, but they used a lot of blue lighting AND they were running around like crazy people, even though they mostly played mellower songs. It made for a really awesome show, but also a lot of blurry shots. Here are a few of the better ones. 

So that was the show. Thanks again to Max for bringing me along and giving me an early ( 2 weeks!) bday present. He didn't say it was for my bday, but I like to assume that it was. 

Here is the link to my flickr with the rest of the photos, and my Youtube for 5 videos (2 NIN / 3 Jane's).