IT’S RARE TO see the same band at the same place two consecutive nights running and get not just a totally different show, but two entirely opposing experiences. But Nine Inch Nails really are unlike any other band. Their two-night residency at Cornwall’s Eden Project, an outdoor, orb- and wildlife-filled utopia that surely has to be in the running for the UK’s most aesthetically pleasing venue, is a reminder of what makes them one of the finest musical acts in history.
The first show, on the Friday, occurs on the hottest day of the year, and Trent Reznor and co deliver a party-starting, banger-filled set to the sunburned masses, with highlights coming from the first ever European performance of their classic 1997 single The Perfect Drug, a double hit of Bowie covers in the shape of I’m Afraid Of Americans and Fashion, and all the other biggies such as rapturously received versions of Closer and Head Like A Hole. It’s so blazingly sunny that Trent even grumpily enquires, in true goth style, “I love this place, but does the sun ever go goddamn down?”