Cultural Event #17

Bauhaus and Nine Inch Nails

So… we went to see these two classic bands a couple days ago. Got a late start, but got there in style in a 1986 blue limo. We missed the opening band, Peaches… too bad because I heard she’s actually quite entertaining.

Bauhaus was great… I’ve never seen Peter Murphy live before, so was appropriately excited. We were in the grass section, which is honestly not much worse than the back section of seats (plus you don’t have the problem of your view being obscured by a tall person standing in front of you). Peter Murphy – love that voice! He is so awesome… he’s showing his age, but the performance was still great.

Nine Inch Nails came on after they set up the lights and effects… which took a really long time… in the meantime we drank overpriced beer and got silly. I’ve seen Nine Inch Nails before, but this was a damn good show. He did tons of classics from Pretty Hate Machine, which surprised me, plus a bunch of stuff I hadn’t heard (from an upcoming album? It wasn’t from his last one, unless he quickly released one I don’t know about). The crowd got pretty riled up to see him. He looked great (not showing his age yet, apparently) – shaved head, and rocking some pretty serious guns.



Anyway, the only problem I had was the venue – it was a lovely night, but it’s weird to hear bands you love while in a Great America-type atmosphere. Overpriced beer, ballpark food, stupid touristy shit… endless parking lots… WAY too many random people, etc. Here’s a pic I took with my camera phone: Not the most aesthetically pleasing stadium (stage is the little square in center-left), and the obnoxious railing going across the middle of the entire building is the heavily guarded VIP section. Thanks for making the VIP section so central to the design, and making sure there are plenty of guards to keep the riff-raff out!