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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tNine Inch Nails perform at Smoothie King Center in New Orleans on Feb. 5, 2026. Photo: John Crawford.\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
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Nine Inch Nails perform at Smoothie King Center in New Orleans on Feb. 5, 2026. Photo: John Crawford.<\/p>\n
SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 It\u2019s not uncommon for concertgoers to want to temporarily abandon their lives\u2019 concerns when going to hear live music. With a Nine Inch Nails performance, like its full house show at Chase Center on Sunday, fans discovered that the band\u2019s music can helpfully amplify or be empathetic to one\u2019s anger and anxiety.<\/p>\n
The San Francisco leg of the Peel It Back tour that started its North American leg last August at Oakland Arena<\/a> certainly returned to the Bay Area \u2014 for the tour\u2019s penultimate show \u2014 under remarkably changed international and even national circumstances. But NIN\u2019s vast song catalog and broader-than-most-realize explorations of musical styles can make roughly the same set list from seven months ago feel remarkably different in different times.<\/p>\n NIN founder and frontman Trent Reznor has written, recorded and performed songs for more than 35 years that have helped comprise personal mixtapes and playlists alike. In that time, he\u2019s grown from a charismatic senfant terrible to a quiet elder statesman\u2014albeit a younger one.<\/p>\n While most arena- and stadium-sized artists go to a secondary stage later during a concert, that\u2019s where the first act of Sunday\u2019s show began with Reznor unaccompanied at a piano, singing and playing \u201cRight Where It Belongs.\u201d The move displayed a vulnerability that was only somewhat lessened as he was joined by others including keyboardist Atticus Ross, who\u2019s been a band member since 2016 and is a frequent film-scoring collaborator with Reznor.<\/p>\n At the completion of the first three songs, prodigal drummer Josh Freese kicked off \u201cWish\u201d with an impressive drum solo on the \u00a0main stage as the other members walked over. Once together, Reznor \u2014 who alternated throughout the night between guitar, keyboards, mic and tambourine \u2014 briefly led the audience in a furious clap-along. A dark, translucent curtain surrounded the main bandstand and acted as both a barrier to full transparency and screens for real-time performance video and graphic projections. The first of several mini-mosh pits, largely fueld by Freese\u2019s playing, started in front of the main stage toward the end of the second act.<\/p>\n Returning to the smaller stage for a four-song third act, Reznor and Ross were joined by opener Boys Noize (Alexander Ridha).\u00a0A square lighting rig descended from the rafters to make the smaller stage look like an enclosed space without any walls. Remixed versions of \u201cVessel,\u201d from NIN\u2019s\u2019 2007 album, Year Zero. and fan favorite \u201cCloser\u201d gave Chase Center a hedonistic club feel.<\/p>\n Nine Inch Nails\u2019 early years parallel the rise of the modern rock format in the late \u201880s, and Reznor and company reminded the Chase Center audience of its string of early musical successes as the night came to a close during a final act on the main stage. The curtain was drawn, and the five-member band was finally in full view as different audience sections head-banged and slam-danced.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Perfect Drug,\u201d from the Reznor-produced soundtrack to David Lynch\u2019s underappreciated 1997 film, \u201cLost Highway,\u201d started off the dark hit parade. It served as a showcase for Freese\u2019s flawless timekeeping, including a recreation of the crisp drum-machine-sounding outro heard on the original.<\/p>\n With a song title that\u2019s unfortunately as topical as ever, a cover of David Bowie\u2019s \u201cI\u2019m Afraid of Americans\u201d from 1997 continued to be a poignant cover on the Peel It Back tour. The intensity of 2005\u2019s \u201cThe Hand That Feeds,\u201d the band\u2019s last top-40 single, was wholly appropriate for a room-full of devoted fans who may have been a bit weary of late stage capitalism. Its emotionality set up \u201cHead Like a Hole,\u201d NIN\u2019s early signature hit, masterfully.<\/p>\n For a certain segment of the population, \u201cHead Like a Hole\u201d is as much of a Gen X anthem as Nirvana\u2019s \u201cSmells Like Teen Spirit.\u201d And the crowd, which included a broad demographic, responded in kind as spotlights shined on the entire room during the chorus. You could see your neighbors cathartically singing the familiar lyric \u2014 \u201cBow down before the one you serve\/ You\u2019re going to get what you deserve\u201d \u2014 with a passion.<\/p>\n Nine Inch Nails finished with the initially dirge-like \u201cHurt.\u201d Though the late Johnny Cash\u2019s version is now better known, Reznor and his bandmates placed it back in its original musical setting as phone flashlights lit up for the first time and the band eventually took its well-deserved bows.<\/p>\n Earlier in the evening, Hamburg, Germany native Ridha (Boys Noize)\u00a0laid out a nearly hourlong DJ set from a booth set up at the opposite end of the floor that included familiar yet tweaked elements of Depeche Mode\u2019s classic \u201cEnjoy the Silence\u201d and LaTour\u2019s \u201cPeople Are Still Having Sex.\u201d<\/p>\n About The Author<\/p>\n ![\"Nine](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/unnamed1-300x200.jpg\")
<\/a>Nine Inch Nails perform at Smoothie King Center in New Orleans on Feb. 5, 2026. Photo: Jenn Devreaux.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Yoshi-Kato-round-150x150.jpg\")
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