# NIN alumni R&R Hall Of Fame Q&A + reunion set



## charlieclouser (Sep 27, 2022)

Last weekend I had the honor and privilege of participating in the Nine Inch Nails Q&A event at the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in Cleveland, which celebrated the band’s 2020 induction after the conventional ceremony was cancelled due to Covid shutdowns. Here's a long but often entertaining video of that event:



Following is a description of what happened the next day:

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On Saturday, NIN played to a sold-out crowd of more than 22,000 fans at Blossom Music Center, a striking modern-architectural amphitheater set in lush green woods outside Cleveland. The city of Cleveland has a special resonance for NIN, as that was where the band first got started in the late 1980's,_ (and it was where I played my first performance with the band in 1994 at the Odeon nightclub in "The Flats" - CC)_ and Blossom was where Trent Reznor saw Depeche Mode in 1986 on their Black Celebration tour, a performance which he has said helped to galvanize him to create the music that would be Nine Inch Nails' triple-platinum debut album, Pretty Hate Machine.

After a throbbing opening set by Nitzer Ebb and a truly blistering set by industrial metal pioneers and legends Ministry, Nine Inch Nails took the stage for the final show on their Cold, Black and Infinite tour. At the end of their set, as "The Frail" blended seamlessly into "Eraser", a second drum kit was secretly wheeled onto the stage behind a cloud of fog, and as the drums kicked in and the fog dissipated, original member Chris Vrenna was revealed behind the kit to thunderous applause and the complete surprise of the audience. As the song's bendy, woozy guitar part began, Danny Lohner was revealed to be playing, followed by Charlie Clouser on keyboards and theremin, and finally original member Richard Patrick (now of the band Filter) emerged from the fog and sang lead vocals, to the utter astonishment of the crowd. Richard's departure from NIN in 1993 was somewhat acrimonious, so to see him join his old bandmates on stage once again represented some serious fence-mending.

Following "Eraser", the band, now consisting of the current five-man lineup as well as the four alumni, crushed their way through "Wish", "Sin", "Gave Up", and a totally unexpected version of Filter's biggest hit "Hey Man, Nice Shot". NIN's hit "Head Like A Hole" closed out the set with Richard Patrick singing lead. All in all, a raucous and satisfying end to an epic tour, and a fitting milestone in the band's thirty-plus year career - all hatchets buried, all audience heads exploded, closure achieved, mission complete.

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Here's a video of "Wish" from that night:



... and here's Rolling Stone Magazine's article on the gig, with some additional fan-shot video and photos:









Watch Nine Inch Nails Reunite With Former Members, Cover 'Hey Man Nice Shot' at Cleveland Concert


Trent Reznor welcomes back Filter frontman Richard Patrick, Chris Vrenna, Danny Lohner and Charlie Clouser at Rock Hall event




www.rollingstone.com





... and that concludes this member's professional update and self-promotion!


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## jaakkomet (Sep 27, 2022)

Tuned into the live Q&A and I was very pleasantly surprised to see you up there. Looks like you killed it on the stage as well!


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## Geoff Grace (Sep 27, 2022)

Hey, that’s great, *Charlie*! I’m so glad you finally got to enjoy your well deserved induction ceremony.

Best,

Geoff


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## sean8877 (Sep 27, 2022)

Most awesome, congrats!


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## kgdrum (Sep 27, 2022)

Wow i missed my NIN wet dream 😩
I would have loved to be at that show!
I will watch this later.
Thanks for posting this 😘@charlieclouser


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## mjsalam (Sep 27, 2022)

Amazing. 👏👏👏


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## D Halgren (Sep 27, 2022)

You looked like you were having a blast Charlie! Did it feel good to be a rockstar again? Danny is hilarious! That guy is a maniac!


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## sourcefor (Sep 27, 2022)

Great interview saw it on YouTube and watched the whole thing!


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## charlieclouser (Sep 28, 2022)

D Halgren said:


> You looked like you were having a blast Charlie! Did it feel good to be a rockstar again? Danny is hilarious! That guy is a maniac!


Weirdly, even though it's been 20+ years since I was last on stage, it was like riding a bike. Took zero getting used to, just jumped back in the saddle and away we go. The insanely high level of production expertise and crew made it way easier than it was back in the day! NIN's backline is insane and the whole thing is beyond belief under the hood.


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## davidson (Sep 28, 2022)

Awesome! I had the fragile blasting in my car yesterday whilst I was driving through to visit family, absolute classic.

Did Trent not get the 'all black everything' memo?


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## Nico (Sep 28, 2022)

Great interview (I wish it had been much longer)! and very cool to see you all on stage. I was very jealous not to be in the US :D


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## Michel Simons (Oct 1, 2022)

davidson said:


> Did Trent not get the 'all black everything' memo?


My thoughts exactly. 

Looking forward to watching the interview.


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## Trash Panda (Oct 1, 2022)

Man that must have been a trip to be at that concert. I still remember seeing NIN and A Perfect Circle at The Summit in Houston in 1999. Humorously, that venue is now Joel Olstein’s mega church. 😂

The Fragile was a few months away from release and APC’s inaugural album literally came out at midnight after the concert. 

It was truly awesome to see what elements of every song were guitar parts versus synthesizers (I was way too young and inexperienced to figure it out yet).

My friend and I managed to sneak our way past security into the pit right as Terrible Lie started to queue up. I’d say that moment blew the roof off, but there were so many moments in that show where you could say that. 

Can’t say any concert I’ve been to since has topped that show. 

@charlieclouser were you still touring with the band at that point?


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## charlieclouser (Oct 1, 2022)

Trash Panda said:


> @charlieclouser were you still touring with the band at that point?


Yup. I formally joined the band during the Self Destruct tour in 1994, and continued through the NIN+Bowie tour in 1995 all the way up through the entire touring cycle for The Fragile in 1999-2000. Can't believe The Summit is now a mega-church.... sacrilege! blasphemy! heresy!


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## SyMTiK (Oct 1, 2022)

So awesome!! Great to see all you guys get the recognition you deserve. I have been doing some work with Richard these past few months and got to hear all about it leading up to it, was really exciting to see it finally all come together, you guys put on one hell of a performance!!


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## charlieclouser (Oct 1, 2022)

SyMTiK said:


> So awesome!! Great to see all you guys get the recognition you deserve. I have been doing some work with Richard these past few months and got to hear all about it leading up to it, was really exciting to see it finally all come together, you guys put on one hell of a performance!!


Richard's scoring work lately is pretty impressive, and he's got a great studio setup lately. What could be more perfect than a studio in the projection booth of a screening room? Jealous.


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## D Halgren (Oct 1, 2022)

charlieclouser said:


> Yup. I formally joined the band during the Self Destruct tour in 1994, and continued through the NIN+Bowie tour in 1995 all the way up through the entire touring cycle for The Fragile in 1999-2000. Can't believe The Summit is now a mega-church.... sacrilege! blasphemy! heresy!


I saw you guys on that NIN+Bowie tour in Atlanta! Loved Outside!


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## SyMTiK (Oct 1, 2022)

charlieclouser said:


> Richard's scoring work lately is pretty impressive, and he's got a great studio setup lately. What could be more perfect than a studio in the projection booth of a screening room? Jealous.


The screening room is so sick, when I first met him he was nerding out about the history of the place. Such a cool spot to have!


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## rnb_2 (Oct 1, 2022)

I found out about this show via Twitter as it was happening, via composer (and PhD, and podcaster) Melissa Dunphy. Sounds like it was quite the reunion!


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## baptiste_palacin (Oct 4, 2022)

Great version of Wish! I wish I could have been in that crowd! And Congratulations for the induction ceremony.


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