MODMODMOD MUSIC BLOG

What if everything around you is an elaborate dream?

Posted by Joymode

Friday, October 27 2006

Well last weekend was one of the coolest experiences of my life. Last minute I grabbed tickets for day two of The Bridge School Benefit. This year’s lineup consisted of Devandra Banhart, Gillian Welch, Death Cab For Cutie, Trent Reznor, Foo Fighters, Pearl Jam, Brian Wilson, Dave Matthews Band, And Neil Young and Friends. I could write a four page blog entry on the entire show. Probably more actually. But I don’t have the time to do that, and I don’t think that anyone cares THAT much. So I'm going to talk about the highlight of the afternoon. Trent Reznor. A Piano and a Stringed Quartet. This has got to be one of the most amazing things that I have ever seen. Or heard for that matter. Around 5 pm, the quartet took their seats. The opening notes to The Frail (from The Fragile) played on a cello, floated across the venue. About halfway through... Trent appeared on stage... in a pair of jeans with a black hoodie and a beard and slightly grown out hair. He took his seat at his black grand piano and joined in near the end of the song. They worked thier way into the most refreshing and interesting version of Something I Can Never Have (From Pretty Hate Machine). Played mostly by the quartet, with little interference from Trent on the piano. It was probably the first time in years that I was actually interested in hearing this song in a live setting. I've heard it so many times before. It had become one of those tracks that I could take or leave. This version completely melted me. I found myself singing along with every word. The next highlight was a very coffee shop / loungy beat version of Piggy (from The Downward Spiral) Trent taking care of percussion with nothing more than two egg shakers in his right hand and the upright bass player Pablo Motta picking away at the bass line. The Cellists and Violinists adding temperamental ambience perfectly throughout. As Trent whispered "Nothing can stop me now". The crowd went insane. People who had no idea who he was... were bobbing thier heads to the awesome rhythm. I felt like I should have been wearing a beret and sipping some espresso. Not really a feeling I've ever gotten from listening to Nine Inch Nails. Following Piggy was Adrift and At Peace (from the Still EP, an acoustic CD that accompanied the deluxe version of the live album And All That Could Have Been) This found TR back at the piano plucking away at the keys, while reaching his hand inside the top of his piano, holding the cables to give them a muted effect. Normally, this would have been accomplished by adding some sort of electronic filter to the piano, But Neil Young has a very strict "No Electronics Allowed" rule for the Bridge school shows. Either way it was very impressive. Probably my favorite part of the performance was the recreation of The Fragile. (taken from The Fragile) This is already one of my favorite NIN tracks to begin with, and I've heard acoustic renditions of this track before, but there was something about this performance that caused me to get Goosebumps. Trent’s Voice was SERIOUSLY in top shape on this track. The way the piano worked with the quartet was just something so very beautiful. The entire venue seemed to be on another plane. When they weren’t cheering that is. After the Fragile, Trent mentioned that It was an honor to be playing for everyone, and went on to mention that "on the bright side of things, one of the good things about global warming is that we get a nice day like today" and of course the crowd laughed. He then turned around to the autistic children sitting behind the stage and informed them that the next song was for them. Right where it belongs. (From With Teeth) Trent turned his back to the audience for this entire song. And sang the entire song to them. I would be lying if I said that I didn’t tear up just a little bit. I found it extremely touching that someone like Trent Reznor would humble himself so much to sing such an extremely fitting song to a group of children who have had a horrible hand dealt to them. The lyrics "what if everything around around you, isn’t quite as it seems. What if all the world you think you know is an elaborate dream" seemed to take on an extremely different meaning than it had the first time I heard the song back in early 2005. Really something beautiful. It’s a hard thing to put into words how touching it was. Non-Entity. The next song was a song that first was shared with the world during a benefit that Trent performed at for victims of the Katrina disaster. I've heard two versions of this song, up until this point. The first time was on the Katrina special, which featured Trent playing piano to a boom box with a beat that was mic'd. And then I believe the other version was off of something that he did for Kroq in LA, with his current live band. The version for the bridge school is probably my favorite. The entire song was played by the quartet. I don’t seem to remember Trent playing piano at all on this one. I thoroughly enjoyed it though. After Trent mentioned that he was very nervous and very out of his element. But then thanked the musicians on the stage with him. Particularly Martin St Pierre for putting together the arrangements. Last but not least... Hurt. (From The Downward Spiral) I wasn’t really surprised that Trent chose to close his set with this one. It’s not the first time he’s done it and i'm sure that it won’t certainly be the last. Once again... the execution of this track in this acoustic live setting was impressive. A lull fell over the crowd as people sang along. I'm sure a lot of people were thinking "Oh he’s singing that Johnny Cash song" Other than the fact that the entire song was played by the quartet, not much was different about it than what we have heard in the past. Still... It was a beautiful rendition of probably the most famous Nine Inch Nails song... well other than the F**k you like an animal one ;) . I've always had a special place in my heart for this song. So it didn’t annoy me in the least that it was played. After that Trent simply got up and walked off stage. He did however receive a standing ovation. I'm sure he made a lot of new fans that day. I for one felt proud to be a fan of Nine Inch Nails. And I was proud of Trent for being willing to partake in such a charitable event. Even though he was out of his element. He was one of the most humble and respectful performers of the evening. And I'm so very glad that I decided to spend my sunday donating towards an awesome cause and witnessing one of the coolest performances that I've ever seen. I didnt write this blog right away, because I was waiting for a quality bootleg to surface from the show. I loved all of the songs so much, But I know not everyone is familiar with the selections that were played. So I picked my favorite out of the well known performances. This is taken from day two of the event. From what I understand, the performance was alot tighter on day two. So without further adeu....