i have little time.

our train out of philly leaves at 5:15 tomorrow morning (it's 1 am now) so i really have very little time to do this. but i'm not sleepy.


i really liked philadelphia. i would totally come back here to hang out. everybody is nice and their accents crack me up. this crowd was one of the best crowds i've ever been in. worst and best in two shows. total opposite of new jersey. everybody was singing along, everybody was standing, nobody was smoking and people were sipping beers, not chugging. people were into it and the intensity of the show was CRAZY. trent seemed like he was going to burst. it was awesome. and when people were talking or being annoying, people had no trouble yelling at them to shut the fuck up. philly crowds have a reputation for being vocal (i hear them screaming when i watch flyers games on tv) so it's cool.

here are my very quick notes:

-MONSTER sound. i can't believe the sound system in that place. it was so fucking loud but not distorted. crystal clear and beautiful. wow.

-they played the wretched in the rotating spot after the frail. that's where they played reptile last time. i was SO EXCITED to hear wretched but then disappointed that i wasn't going to get reptile because it's one of my favorites and i LOOOOOOOVE the way robin plays the guitar part after "Devils speak..." ... but then SURPRISE! they played reptile in the encore after trent introduced it as one of their favorites. SWEET. also we got DOWN IN IT which is exciting because i've seen this band 22 times now and i've only seen down in it 4. robin did the rain rain go away part. he really can't sing. we also got me, i'm not. i've been dying to hear that live since i heard it on year zero. and we got the great destroyer. i wanted to laugh at it live. and i did. they skipped hand that feeds. this pleases me.

-trent totally fucked up the lyrics to the great destroyer. he sang the same verse twice. whoops.

-i noticed the philly crowd will cheer for ANYTHING. a loud chord, a jump, a pause, a bright light. WHOOOO!!!

-after "Gave up" as the big screen comes down robin stays out by himself messing around with the guitar like trent did during the last tour. it's awesome.

-during the greater good, when they do that projection of trent's mouth, he got really saucy with it. he was licking his lips and stroking his face. i always like saucy trent.

-at the end of survivalism trent was moaning and panting. i didn't really get it. survivalism is really good live. like so fucking full of energy. i don't love the song on the album but live it's great.

-hockey arenas make the best concert venues because they have such wonderful air conditioning systems. after izod in nj i was sweating like crazy but here i was going just as nuts but wasn't sweating. fabulous.

-trent said "here's some really REALLY old shit"... and down in it came on. i know i said that already but whatever.

-some guy crashed the stage during down in it and robin kind of paused for a second, seemed to approve and kept playing. trent pretended it wasn't happening. it took 5 guards to tackle this guy down. homeboy was on a mission.

-ok, i notice robin a lot when i'm watching the show regardless of what's going on, so i didn't notice this last time but tonight i realized that he gets lots and lots of solo attention. lots of spotlights just on him. JMJ doesn't really get any special attention. but robin must have had at least 8 spotlights on just him. maybe he demanded more attention? because that's kind odd. i don't recall aaron getting much solo attention. whatev, though. robin milks it.

-trent was ridiculously chatty. he said that he's starting a very bad trend of talking at shows and he plans to stop. he mentioned like, growing up in pennsylvania and stuff like that. then he mentioned that when he first started, the crowd was full of sweaty vampire dudes "but now there's a lot of hot chicks in the front." that was followed by some chick throwing panties onstage. i never thought i'd hear trent reznor say "hot chicks" in concert and i never thought i'd see panties thrown onstage at a nin show. robin picked them up and looked really grossed out and tossed them back.

-after he was done talking he said "let's get all dark again shall we."


overall i couldn't have asked for a better birthday show. this crowd was awesome and that fed the band. and this city was good to us, too. i wish the whole vacation had been here instead of wasting my time and money in ny/nj.

ok. long travel day tomorrow.

ooh but i got first class for the way back.

my plan?

get a few drinks in my system and pass out. i won't have time to get anxious if i'm asleep.