Show Date: August 27, 2025

Full disclosure: Trent Reznor is my personal hero, and Nine Inch Nails is my all-time favorite artist. With that out of the way, I can now freely gush about all things NIN. You’ve been warned...

I’ve seen NIN numerous times across five different states over the last twenty years. And while each time has been a genuine treat, and occasionally life-changing, I can definitively say that with the Peel It Back Tour (leg one in 2025, leg two now officially underway in 2026), Trent has never sounded better. It’s honestly baffling. Seeing some of the greatest artists from my youth on a slow, but reasonable decline (on account of the whole "humans aging" thing) can be a little heartbreaking. But with NIN, there seems to be only forward momentum and new heights to reach. I imagine the biggest challenge at this phase of his career is determining how to pack 36 years' worth of excellence into a two-hour show.

When this tour began, long-tenured drummer Ilan Rubin had unceremoniously left in order to go get that Foo Fighters pay. And, as fate would have it, my personal favorite NIN touring drummer and the busiest man in all of music, Josh Freese, answered the call just days before the North American leg began as Rubin’s replacement. The behind-the-scenes drama was such: Freese, who had given the Foo Fighters a year touring, had just been surprise-fired following their 2024 tour via an out-of-the-blue and seemingly highly impersonal phone call. He was the first person to officially get behind the kit since Taylor Hawkins tragic and unexpected passing in 2022. There was no warning, and all of us out of the loop were shocked and disappointed. I guess the vibes just weren’t right with Dave Grohl. Either way, ‘Drummer Swap 2025’ seemed to work out in everyone’s favor.

I digress. The tour’s lineup consisted of Reznor, Freese, Atticus Ross (the only other person ever dubbed a permanent member, now more than a decade ago), as well as long-time touring collaborators Alessandro Cortini (replaced by Stu Brooks for the 2026 leg) and Robin Finck. Additional support was rendered by electronic artist Boys Noize, who served as the unseen opening act and joined Trent and co. on the B-stage in the middle of the arena floor for a segment of the set.

I arrived at doors opening, pocketed a couple of the freebie commemorative ticket stubs scattered around the concourse, got my wristband, and headed down the steps to the pit to await what would be another unforgettable night of Nine Inch Nails giving their all and blowing our collective minds. The main stage and B-stage were both covered in curtains while the dance beats of Boys Noize filled the speakers for about 45 minutes preceding the main event. Most onlookers seemed a bit perplexed, with some getting down and dancing like they were in an arena-sized club, and others clearly not in the mood for electronic dance beats before seeing a famously industrial-tinged goth rock band of the 90s. 

As the DJ set ended and ambient noise replaced it, the growing excitement on the floor became palpable. We scanned back and forth between stages, waiting to see where they would appear. And then, the curtain for the B-stage finally dropped. Trent Reznor sat alone at his piano and began the night with a somber rendition of “Right Where It Belongs” before being joined by fellow band members during “Ruiner.” By “Piggy,” the transition was ready, and the band engaged in their first stage swap, seamlessly diving into “Wish.” While the intimacy of the B-stage was uniquely mesmerizing, the main stage featured layers of sheer-like curtains projecting various visuals across each row, creating a 3D depth effect. There’s quite honestly no way to articulate the absolute visual feast that Nine Inch Nails consistently provides on their headlining tours, and this one was no exception. Maybe it’s because I was in the pit, but this one felt bigger and bolder than ever. This is where I fail as a writer and become a NIN–evangelist, pleading for you to go see for yourself. It’s genuinely mind-bending stuff.

The night went on with four total stage swaps, most notably a B-stage segment featuring Boys Noize, which brought the energy from an 11 to entirely off-the- scales. The extended, remixed version of “Closer” made it sound fresh, and I think I had a religious experience; even after that, the momentum kept snowballing. How deftly Reznor is able to maneuver his world of influences and his mastery of so many genre styles within the confines of sounding like his irreplicable self is why he sits atop the throne of my all-time greats, untouched. While the show ended with “Hurt,” as is tradition, the highlights were too many to name (check out the setlist below). Each band member got their moment to shine, but unsurprisingly to any long-time fans, the most impressive was easily Josh Freese’s drum break on “The Perfect Drug.”

The crowning moment of the night for me, however, was their rendition of David Bowie’s “I’m Afraid of Americans.” Not only did Reznor famously co-star in the music video (Reznor and Bowie were good friends–Bowie being a catalyst in Reznor’s road to sobriety) and produce the most popular version of the single, but it was also a prescient performance in such a volatile sociopolitical climate as now. Reznor wrote 2007’s “Year Zero” as a concept album warning against the dangers of authoritarianism, fascism, and the loss of constitutional rights as a response to the Bush administration. I cannot imagine how he’s feeling now–I imagine just like the rest of us. “Year Zero Part II,” when?

While the Bowie cover was my personal favorite performance of the night, I’d be remiss not to end with the most notable occurrence. The penultimate closer, “Head Like a Hole,” came with a crowd-surfing Santa Claus, seemingly materializing from nowhere. While this, in and of itself, is just vaguely novel (and apparently a regular occurrence here in Philly), it’s noteworthy because it completely caught Reznor and company off guard. A man famous for being the dark, brooding embodiment of gothic suffering laughed. It’s rare to even see the man smile (except in candid photos that escaped deletion), but he broke to the point that he flubbed a line in the verse.

It was a moment that humanized him, which for me is a pretty big deal considering the whole top-of-Mount-Olympus-of-Musicians thing. I’m still firmly in the camp of “never meet your heroes,” but that tiny glimpse of a guy who has meant so much to me over my lifetime being an actual human being was nice to see. From the depths of depression and addiction to finding love, a family, recovery, and artistic heights, there’s a laundry list of reasons I classify the man as my hero. But at the end of the day, he’s just a guy doing what he loves and doing it better than most. And I think that’s the level of inspiration we could all use right now.

After all of this, Reznor went on to win another Grammy for “As Alive as You Need Me to Be” from last year’s Tron: Ares OST. He’s just kicked off leg two of this tour in New Orleans, and he appears to have a whole bunch of secretive projects in the works.

So much for “safe in here, irrelevant.” 

Setlist

B-Stage

Right Where It Belongs (acoustic piano, with "Somewhat Damaged" outro snippet)
Ruiner (Trent solo piano, eventually joined by Alessandro and then Atticus)
Piggy (Nothing Can Stop Me Now) (with “Getting Smaller” tease outro from Josh)

Unpeeled Main Stage

Wish
March of the Pigs
Reptile
Find My Way
Copy of A
Gave Up

B-Stage

w/ Boys Noize
Vessel (Remix)
Closer (Remix)
As Alive as You Need Me to Be
Sin (Remix, with elements of “Cerebral” by Boys Noize)

Peeled Main Stage

Mr. Self Destruct
Less Than
The Perfect Drug
I'm Afraid of Americans (David Bowie cover)
Burn
Head Like a Hole
Hurt