This is a picture from the website of something that I could not actually see. Our seats were up and to the left of the stage, with a bank of speakers completely blocking my view of Josh Freese, which was a pity because he is an incredible drummer and I would have loved to see what he was doing. Also could not see Trent up on this platform while he screamed "I want to fuck you like an animal." Too bad.

We got a late start on our trip to Erie, and ended up arriving right in time to check in to the jacuuuuuuuzi suite. It was a great room, with a king sized bed, two TVs, a microwave, fridge, coffeemaker, sofa, desk...jacuuuuuuzi. A person could live in there. We wasted no time turning on the cable and hopping in the hottub. We boiled our troubles away with a bottle of lambrusco and VH1's 40 Least Metal Moments. Could it get any better? Had a little nap and then it was almost showtime! It was really cool to see a show in a coliseum type setting...it's been quite a while for me. We got patted down and passed security, then went to the merch table. Trent was very accomodating with the pre-bagged pin and bumper sticker selections. Thanks, Trent! I got a nice black t shirt to match the color of my soul, and we climbed into the rafters to our seats. It was a good view, actually---we were well positioned to see what was going on with the screens, as well as having a pretty decent view of everyone in the band except Josh Freese. Boo. Ended up being surrounded by people (some of them very nice, some of them totally retarded fuckheads, as you would expect at a NIN show) and we contemplated at one point trying to go and sit in the almost completely unoccupied back section directly across from the stage, but decided that walking around in the dark might suck and it would be awful if we missed something good. So we stayed put. There were even several times when I thought I should jave just braved the GA tickets....the floor was not even close to full and we certainly could have found some slam-free spot to stand. Oh well.....I'll know better for next time.
So, Saul Williams was the opener, and he was incredible. I was really impressed with his flow, and he said some things that were incredibly right on. I especially admire his bravery to spit that kind of truth in front of an audience with the potential to be completely hostile. They weren't COMPLETELY hostile, but there was some booing. Fuckheads.
Becky left at intermission to go and track down his CD. I watched as the GA filled up and the stage was set. It took a really long time, but finally the screens went down and the lights went down and the onslaught began. At first Trent sounded really stuffy (he's been very sick and cancelled a few shows in the last two weeks) but after a while he sounded a lot better. He played half of the Downward Spiral, including Eraser AND Reptile, melting me into a pool of jelly. Nothing at all from the Fraggle, which was kinda sad, but it was really a more high energy show with lots of jumping up and down from Trent and lots of spastic wailing and leaping about from the guitar player Aaron North. Splendid. The lightshow and projections were absolutely mindblowing. I think besides Reptile I was most thrilled with Gave Up...it was at that point while trying to thrash in stadium seating that I thought being on the floor would not be so bad. There was this great duder fratboy in front of us that was doing sort of white boy "rap" hand motions the whole time...it got more and more entertaining the drunker he got, and seeing him sing along at the top of his lungs to songs about inner torment and sensitivity was a bonus.
Hurt was just beautiful with Trent alone on a mini keyboard and everyone in the place singing along and holding their lighters. (thankfully, no one threw one at him!)
He said some nice stuff about how glad he was to see so many Pennsylvania people had stuck with him, and how the reason he is so full of angst and anger and sadness and depression is that he spent 18 years growing up here. Poor Trent. And then he launched into The Hand That Feeds with fury, and it was truly one of the highlights too. Yep, there were a lot of em.
It was a long show, but it felt like it was over way too soon. We walked to the top of the parking garage and then took about an hour to get OUT of it. Grr. And, bizarrely, could not find ANY Erie radio stations playing nine inch nails after the show. There didn't even seem to be any people blaring them in the parking garage, as you would imagine. Weird.
We drove a short distance and found Dominicks, an all night diner I had remembered from a previous visit, and had a great hot meal. The waitress was having her first night back after 8 years and totally freaking out about it, but we were both so very high from the concert experience that her incessant attempts not to bother us did not even bother us.
Then we finally got back to the hotel and fell into bed with Aqua Teen Hunger Force on the cable. It was like magic!
This morning we got up early and took advantage of the free breakfast buffet, then got back into the hottub for a little bit with E!s 100 worst fashion mistakes on, then watched a little charmed and then it was time to leave. Boo.
We drove around Erie a little bit and visited some thrift stores, then headed home. The rest of today was a big long nap and the Simpsons on TV and Ali Baba from Wheel Deliver.
Tomorrow we re-enter society. I feel incredibly RELAXED, despite the rock neck. The combination of thrashing and screaming along with Trent and several hours in the jacuzzi really did me right. I should do that more often.