NIN in Manila Setlist

I was in a roller coaster of emotions as I anticipated going to the Nine Inch Nails concert right here in Manila on August 5, 2009. Ever since I found out about it, I knew I had to do this one selfish thing for myself: enjoy the concert, feel the blastin’ beat in my chest and bleed my ears to death.

And so the ache began…

I scouted for old old friends who used to enjoy deep, dark and heavy music as much as I did back in the days. I contacted friends who watched Rage Against the Machine and Pearl Jam with me. One by one, however, they backed out because of work commitments…

Nine Inch Nails was not particularly in the shortlist of my all-time-favorite rock bands. But they were a pretty hard rockin’ band – the type that gave me a natural high. And I DID love a lot of their more popular songs like Piggy, Hurt, Head Like a Hole, Dead Souls and of course the wild and haunting Closer. Soren, another old friend who already had tickets, gave me a copy of the complete NIN discography. Listening to NIN music in full blast speakers and louder-than-loud earphones slowly drew me in, making me want nothing more than to witness the pure music of NIN live.

But even as I was willing to pay for the quite-expensive ticket, logistics just didn’t seem to work.

And so on that 5th day of August, I resorted to sulking and distracting myself with just playing online poker. But then Soren suddenly texted me: “You’re in luck! My friend can’t make it because of the heavy traffic in Las Piñas. So tag along with us, I have a lower box ticket with your name on it!”

It was already 7:00 PM and I was far away in Novaliches. But who’s gonna keep me from going?! NOBODY!!!!

And so I arrived just in time for the first NIN song, had a blast and bled my ears! Hell, yeahhhhhh!!!

I’m no expert and this is not a concert review. I’ll point you instead to interesting reads:

• Inquirer: Nine Inch Nails still a formidable force
• NIN Forum (comments and photos from fans who actually saw the show --> kakaadik basahin!)
  
• Nine Inch Nails in Manila! (by Pau Araos, includes some concert photos)
• Nine Inch Nails Live in Manila (a few more up-close photos)

More Links:

• NIN.com Photo Gallery of the Wave Goodbye Tour in Manila
  
• NIN.com Video Gallery of the Wave Goodbye Tour in Manila
  

Here's the NIN in Manila setlist (August 5, 2009, Araneta Coliseum):

1. Somewhat Damaged
2. Terrible Lie
3. Heresy
4. March of the Pigs
5. Piggy
6. Closer
7. Reptile
8. The Becoming
9. I'm Afraid of the Americans (David Bowie cover)
   
10. Burn
11. Gave Up
12. La Mer
13. The Fragile
14. Non Entity
15. Gone, Still
16. The Downward Spiral
17. Wish
18. Survivalism
19. Echoplex
20. The Day the World Went Away
21. Deadsouls
22. The Hands that Feeds
23. Head Like a Hole
24. Hurt (Encore)
    

I have uploaded these MP3s at my Multiply site, in case anyone's interested to listen.

Oh, and by the way, Pinoys are so lucky NIN played Closer. Apparently, Trent Reznor previously stated in an interview that the song is not included in the Wave Goodbye setlist. Now doesn’t it make you feel better?




Nine Inch Nails - Closer (UnCut)

these are the words

and they're MY words now...


you in the dark, you in the pain, you on the run
living a hell, living your ghost, living your end
whatever you say, it’s alright
whatever you do, it’s all good
whatever you say, it’s alright
but silence is not the way, we need to talk about it
if heaven is on the way, we’ll wrap the world around it

i don't want to be the one who has to fill the silence
the quiet scares me because it screams the truth
please don't tell me that we had that conversation
when i won't remember, save your breath, what's the use?

won’t you save me from this world of mine?
before i get myself arrested with this expectation
you are the one, look what you’ve done, what have you done?
this is not some kind of joke, you’re just a kid
you weren’t ready for what you did

i’ll have to try to find my way back to sanity again
though i don’t really know what i’m gonna do when i get there
take a breath and hold on tight, spin around one more time
and gracefully fall back to the arms of grace

i was hanging on every word you say
if you don’t want to speak tonight, i can't just sit outside heaven’s door
cause i don’t want to keep waiting for the scraps to fall off your table

this is not the way i'll let my story end...


[listen here]