It’s true, Boys Noize is a top-notch beatmaker, but the crowd was chill. Turns out, they were just dancers-in-waiting, because when Trent made his way to the small stage in the middle of the arena’s floor to kick off with “Right Where It Belongs” by his lonesome at a piano, the audience came to life.
It was a cool way to get things going. Usually, those guy-and-his-piano moments are saved for little come-downs during the set, but this got the night in gear with that blend of angst and sadness that’s part and parcel of their whole shebang. Stripped down, shucked and a little despondent. Who can’t relate to that sometimes?
After a few numbers with that intimate set-up, the band (some who’d joined him by then), including longtime collaborator Atticus Ross, did a smooth and fast transition to the main stage, and then it was, as they say, on.
It was less of a move to a second stage and more of a fucking military coup, as they broke into “Wish” and got savage and frenetic with speed and their combination of styles that make their sound. Rock, goth, synth, and yes, even industrial.
I linger on that last word a second because I was around the same part the band hails from when they made their way onto the scene, and I was already a (snotty) fan of the industrial music I deemed worthy, aka Throbbing Gristle, Foetus, that ilk. And, I didn’t want my angry music to make me want to dance. I didn’t want to dance through my hate. I wanted to hate my way through it, and well, I had opinions.
I wasn’t always good at letting the wine breathe. I initially took a listen to NIN, swigged it like a bottle of Boone’s Farm, and decided it had a lot of nerve to be inserting itself into genres I was apparently defining. Oh well, live and learn. These days, I can pull the cork out and let something get some air before I put on the powdered wig of judgment. The group actually did serve as a gateway for many folks to investigate and create noisy music. And they did it with hook-laden songs, which is undeniable, whether you’re a fan or not.
In the midst of next-level video projections across three layers of towering, diaphanous scrims and on-stage camera work, they ripped through six songs, including “March of the Pigs,” “Heresy” and “Gave Up.” Those visuals were a show on their own. At one point, the projection on the scrims cloned Reznor in multiples that looked like a zombie army. Speaking of armies, Josh Freese is a monstrous, one-man infantry.
They took another trip back to the small stage where Boys Noize joined them for a handful of tunes, including “Vessel” and “Came Back Haunted,” before slipping back over to the big stage to wrap it up with seven more songs.
Though it started with a blasting energy that never let up, the last group of songs really emphasized the social issues they’re known for tackling. Religious hypocrisy, greed — you know, stuff that’s plenty relevant on a timeless basis. A well-done cover of Bowie’s “I’m Afraid of Americans” (a track on which Reznor shares a producing credit) drove home the entire mix of what’s especially exhausting the country at the moment.
“Head Like a Hole” was the “Pretty Hate Machine” song everyone wanted. Reznor backed off on parts of the chorus and let the collective crowd singing fill the space.
Before the curtain came down on the night, “Hurt,” the haunting number that Johnny Cash repopularized, was the wrap-up, and its sullen guitar twang mixed with the voice-crackling vocal desperation to land the final gut-punch of the evening.
A couple more photos from the show:
Nine Inch Nails brought the fire to PHX Arena on Sept. 16, 2025.
Jim Louvau
