On March 10, 2026, average lucky enough to attend Nine Inch Nails at The Honda Center in Anaheim. This is my 5th time seeing them and man what a show!!! Let’s take a look………
Nine Inch Nails are a band that I never really gave much thought to back in the day. I mean, sure I had obviously heard their hits and liked those songs but beyond those I never really bothered to listen to their albums from start to finish. Then of course I started reviewing bands and thanks to my podcast partner/cohost, I put them on the chopping block, gave them a review, and saw them three times (the first was at the 2005 KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas). Let’s take a look…….
Kicking things off again was the band Boys Noise and if you’re into DJ type music, then I think you’ll like this but it’s just not for me. Just like the last tour, the set up for this was (again) a smaller stage and a main stage. I will say for as much as I do not like Boys Noise, it was pretty cool seeing them end and immediately have the curtain drop on the small stage where Trent is playing “Right Where It Belongs” with the outro of “Somewhat Damaged.” Towards the end of that song, the rest of his band-mates joined him where they then proceeded to play the songs “Ruiner” and “Piggy.”
Heading over to the main stage, they proceed to continue with their set and then right after the song “Gave Up,” it was back to the smaller stage where they played a few remix songs with Boys Noise. I feel like now there are certain songs that I can appreciate more like the David Bowie song “I’m Afraid Of Americans.” I also liked that they played the How To Destroy Angels song “Parasite.” Finally, they would finish the rest of their set back on the main stage and I just have to say if you are a fan of big stage productions, you would definitely think that this is amazing (which it is). This is absolutely one of those shows that will make you a bigger fan of this band. Even if you’re just a casual fan, it will make you like them that much more. Again, as I said earlier, this is a band that I knew who they were, enjoyed their hits, and didn’t really think much about them. I mean, sure I had seen them live but it was always like “whatever that’s cool.” If this had been my first time seeing this band, I absolutely would’ve immediately thrown down a few hundred dollars on concert merch as well as going to a store like Amoeba and try to track down every single album. Now the last time I had seen this band was on their last tour when they did two nights at The Forum in LA and while that was great, they sounded a lot better at this show. I can see why there are fans that will go watch them play no matter where they are. When you go see this band play a show like this, you’re not only going for that but definitely for the experience. Next time they come through, I absolutely without a doubt recommend going to see them. I know I will.
Final Grade: A-
Setlist:
- Right Where It Belongs (Acoustic, with Somewhat Damaged Outro)
- Ruiner (Partially Acoustic)
- Piggy (Nothing Can Stop Me Now)
- Wish
- March Of The Pigs
- The Frail
- Reptile
- Heresy
- Copy Of A
- Gave Up
- Vessel (with BoyzNoize- Remix)
- Closer (with BoyzNoize- Remix)
- Parasite (How To Destroy Angels Cover- with BoyzNoize- Remix)
- As Alive As You Need Me To Be (with BoyzNoize- Remix)
- Mr. Self Destruct
- Less Than
- The Perfect Drug
- I’m Afraid Of Americans (David Bowie Cover)
- The Hand That Feeds
- Head Like A Hole
- Hurt
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