This evening marked the comeback of a major star – the sun made its first appearance at an outdoor concert this summer. How ironic that it should shine down on a performance by Nine Inch Nails, a band for whom gloomy weather would have been actually quite appropriate.
This is the first Dublin show for NIN in many a year, and the anticipation is at fever pitch as the ominous chords of ‘Pinion’ thunder out from the speakers. The band make their entrance one by one until, finally, Trent Reznor arrives and the group kick into a pulverising ‘Wish’.
Mindful of the fact that they haven’t visited Ireland in so long – Reznor at one point apologises for not coming to the country enough – the band opt for a crowd pleasing greatest hits set that covers all phases of their career. Industrial pop classics like ‘Closer’, ‘Only’ and ‘Down In It’ dovetail nicely (well, nastily) with teeth rattling stompers such as ‘March Of The Pigs’ and ‘Survivalism’.
They close with an incendiary ‘Head Like A Hole’, by the end of which the stage is an atrocity exhibition of mangled guitars and smashed mic stands.
The Foo Fighters, by comparison, are a somewhat less exciting prospect. In terms of stage presence and sometimes sound, they hark back to the ’70s arena rock bands like Led Zep and Aerosmith that the nascent Grohl was weaned on (the singer intermittently dashes out to the wings and pulls iconic guitar hero poses). Having said that, they undeniably have a few cracking tunes in their repertoire (like NIN, they favour a hit-heavy set) and Grohl himself remains their ace card.
Possessed of a jovial demeanour, the former Nirvana rhythmatist is a hugely likeable performer and he effortlessly wins the crowd over with his good-humoured banter. At one point, he informs us that his mother “is an O’Hanlon” and recalls visiting the Ring of Kerry with her in 1992. Later, in a very funny moment, he refers to the unusually clement weather and says, “I hear you guys have had, like, three months of rain… look at it now!” Then he quips, “It’s in the rider.”
One particular highlight is a powerful (and, as usual, extended) take on ‘Stacked Actors’, while for the encore the band are joined by Pat Smear and guest violinist Petra Haden for a wonderful rendition of Arcade Fire’s ‘Keep The Car Running’, after which they crack out a climactic ‘One By One’. It’s a suitably rip-roaring conclusion to a night of high octane rock action.