Nine Inch Nails

I caught a show from the Nine Inch Nails / Jane's Addiction tour at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in May, and finally got around to posting my pictures. Unlike most bands, Nine Inch Nails has a very permissive photography policy, and allows DSLRs with lenses of reasonable size and stature. I got my D700 and 50mm f/1.4G past security without a problem, but they confiscated the beach blanket that I brought to sit on. (What the hell?) We were standing way too far away for such a short lens, so the pictures are nothing special. I like everyone's heads lit up by the stage lights, at least.

This was my first show in a long time. I went with Calista and her friends Nicole, Dan, and Camelia. We drank overpriced beer, shoved our way through the mob of fans, and claimed some territory on the lawn. (Cheap tickets.) To my surprise, most people with lawn seats stayed standing (and jumping, and dancing) throughout the show. This made sitting impossible (or at least dangerous) for anyone else. The show rocked, in spite of my sore feet.

Jane's Addiction was...odd. I hadn't listened to them since the 90's, but apparently they still have a pretty big following. I was surprised to discover that the lead singer is a flaming homo. As a homo-loving west-coast liberal, I mean this in the nicest possible way. But the man was pretty clearly gay. He told the crowd how big the drummer's cock was, and asked the drummer to show the crowd. (He didn't.) He told the crowd that they could take his corset over his dead body. (They didn't.) I think there may have been some drugs involved, as he also told the crowd how he wanted to transform them into animals with his Wicca magic. He said dolphins wouldn't work, since we were so far from water. (We were maybe 1-2 miles from the bay.) And he kept saying, "Hello, San Francisco!" (This was in Mountain View, a good 45 minutes south of San Francisco.)

A memorable night, for sure.