Music
Nine Inch Nails: August 22 2025
On August 22, 2025, I saw Nine Inch Nails at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit Michigan.
I bought the ticket on opening day and I was shocked at the demand. I couldn’t get two tickets. I couldn’t get one ticket anywhere other than the upper decks. I had to settle for an upper deck seat and couldn’t even get the end seat.
After the tariff war stuff I lost my appetite going to America and considered selling my ticket. I looked around and apparently if you’re Canadian and trying to sell an American ticket purchased with Ticketmaster? You can’t resell your ticket without an American chequing account. So even if I bought the ticket with a credit card? They won’t credit your card. Absolutely stupid.
Luckily, the tunnel bus in Windsor decided to run until the end of August so I at least had a way there. I just worried the show might run long like the last time I went and I’d have to leave early. Last time I didn’t. This time I couldn’t afford the cab ride.
I’ve been to Little Caesars Arena twice prior for All Elite Wrestling shows but my tickets in those shows were around the middle bowl. The seats were very comfortable and I didn’t feel squished. Up in the upper deck? Uncomfortable seats. Way too tight next to the other people, and it wasn’t due to anyone being huge.
My other big problem with Little Caesars Arena? Most of the concessions wouldn’t take cash and there wasn’t water stations. I don’t care if this is a 1990s band. Give us free water to drink. I was so dehydrated at the end of the show. I had to slam 2L of water before sleeping just to avoid cramps.
But with all of that whining out of the way? Nine Inch Nails time.
The Show
I have seen Nine Inch Nails four times. It’s my first major concert and most recent concert. If you were interested in the setlists of those shows:
October 8, 2005 at Joe Louis Arena
August 23, 2008 at The Palace of Auburn Hills
October 23, 2018 at Fox Theatre
August 22, 2025 at Little Caesars Arena
I oddly remember the show in 2005 better than the 2008 and 2018 shows. The 2008 show I remember more the fact I was in the general audience and had to stop people from being crushed. The 2018 show I remember going to it but I actually forgot a lot of the songs played. When I heard I’m Afraid of Americans and Mr. Self Destruct at the 2025 show I thought it was the first time I heard them. They were both done at the 2018 show.
It’s interesting to look back and see that the 2018 show only had one song from Hesitation Marks but the 2025 show had two with Copy of A and Came Back Haunted. I’m not a fan of that album and I wasn’t alone as a lot of people used Came Back Haunted as a bathroom/concession break.
But let’s get into the show. This wasn’t the first time I’ve seen an artist do the whole “centre set/stage set” as The 1975 did it at the show I saw them at. I was prepared for the B-Stage but I didn’t expect the show to begin there. Nine Inch Nails started with a rendition of Right Where It Belongs, which in 2005 came with a video of George W. Bush dancing in a ballroom. It also included a snippet of the one song I haven’t seen live which I wish I could: Somewhat Damaged. It’s arguably my favourite Nine Inch Nails song and I’ve never seen it live.
Ruiner then played, a first for me to hear, especially the way it was being done with more piano. The B-Stage performance ended with Piggy (Nothing Can Stop Me Now) which isn’t the Downward Spiral version but Further Down The Spiral, the Halo 10 remix album originally remixed by Rick Rubin with guitar from Dave Navarro of Jane’s Addiction. I was pretty satisfied hearing this version of Piggy over the Downward Spiral version.
Things then moved back into the main stage with who might have been considered the second biggest star of the show: Josh Freese. Freese just came back to Nine Inch Nails after Ilan Rubin left to join Foo Fighters. Rubin replaced… Josh Freese, so people called it a sports trade which I thought was funny. I consider Josh Freese to be the best drummer alive and I missed him by like two weeks back in 2005 getting Alex Carapetis instead. I did get Josh Freese at the 2008 concert. Freese struts his stuff immediately with Wish and March of the Pigs.
We then get March of the Pigs (I got March of the Pigs at every show except the 2018) and the first time I saw Reptile live. We then got The Lovers (eh), Copy of A (I loved the Trent shadows in this one) and Gave Up. They went back to the B-Stage after this to play with Boys Noize.
Oh yes, Boys Noize opened the show with a set. I have never had an opener not be a band. It was weird that they didn’t have much in terms of visuals for Boys Noize. He just popped up at some point then disappeared. Now he’s right on the B-Stage with Trent and Atticus Ross. They do Vessel from Year Zero, Closer (you gotta do Closer), and then they did the brand new As Alive As You Need Me To Be. It’s weird for Trent and Atticus to be doing this TRON: ARES soundtrack as Nine Inch Nails instead of Trent and Atticus, but it’s well appreciated since the song is fantastic. I absolutely love it. It was fantastic live as well. They finished with Came Back Haunted.
The Best Part
This led them going back to the main stage where they did Mr. Self Destruct, Less Than (which was new for me and I love that track), and then they finally did Perfect Drug. You see, when I saw them in 2018? They did two shows. That first show? It had Somewhat Damaged. It had Reptile. And it had Perfect Drug. The Perfect Drug was my great whale for Nine Inch Nails songs at the time and they played it on the encore. I didn’t get that show.
I’m still missing Somewhat Damaged, but I finally got Reptile and Perfect Drug. Seeing Josh Freese do the Amen Break drums on The Perfect Drug was incredible. The biggest highlight of the show for me. Trent pointed out after the song that he did The Perfect Drug for David Lynch, and then said the next song was for another David. That being David Bowie and I’m Afraid of Americans. I did see him do that in 2018, but I thought this one was actually better. I was also flying high on the past three songs.
The final three of the show ended up being arguably the biggest hits of Nine Inch Nails career. The Hand That Feeds, Head Like a Hole, and Hurt. When I saw Nine Inch Nails in 2005, they also closed with these three but in a different order (Hurt, Hand, Head) while in 2008, they ended the regular set with Hand and Head but had Hurt in the Encore (they closed with In This Twilight which was like a religious experience for me at the time.) 2018 had Hand and Head finish the regular set with Hurt as the closer.
Like most Nine Inch Nails fan I cringe a bit whenever someone says the Johnny Cash version is better. I get the love for the Cash version. My personal favourite is actually Bowie and Reznor doing Hurt, but the best version is the original version. It’s the absolute best. When Nine Inch Nails performed it in 2005, Trent Reznor was taken aback at how Detroit sang every single lyric back to him he said, “I think I got my song back” at the end of it.
It wasn’t that kind of performance this time. I think there’s too many young people at the show. Nothing against it! I loved seeing so many younger people at the show. I saw parents with their children and that was really cool. But a lot of them just shouted how they loved Trent in the silence or screamed and cheered instead of singing the words. Heck, might have been people my age or older who were just too tired to sing.
End Show
I really appreciated when the show ended (before 11PM) not because I’m an old who needs his sleep but because the Windsor tunnel bus (no longer running in a week) only had one more bus running and I had to catch it for 11:40. I was worried what would happen in 2018 would happen here, where the last bus left and I missed it to catch the encore and had to pay $50 for a cab to get back to Canada.
So how was the show overall? I mean it’s Nine Inch Nails. They can’t do wrong for me. I am happy I didn’t sell my ticket, even if I’m annoyed that I couldn’t sell it. That might be the last time I ever see a show in Detroit through Ticketmaster due to that stupidity. Was it the best I’ve seen them? No, I’d go with 2005 followed by 2008 on the music quality.
But I will say? Even with the Hesitation Marks songs? This was the best setlist. The run of Mr. Self Destruct, Less Than, Perfect Drug, and I’m Afraid of Americans? It might be the best four song run of any Nine Inch Nails concert I’ve been to. I loved the addition of Boys Noize. I liked the mix of the sets. The visuals were incredible. It’s hard to beat 2005 since I also got Queens of the Stone Age and it was my first major concert. It’s not my all time favourite concert I’ve seen (that’s The Naked and Famous with Chain Gang of 1974 the eve of the 2016 U.S. Election) but it’s definitely my favourite Nine Inch Nails concert. I think this was my second favourite.
When I saw Nine Inch Nails in 2018 I had been saying it was the final time I saw them. It felt like the band was winding things down and focusing only on film soundtracks. When I saw this tour go up and the excitement it just got me caught up and I had to buy a ticket. Will I see them again after this? Trent is 60. I’m 40. I don’t know. Probably. But it won’t be in the United States.
It also won’t be at Little Caesars Arena. Those upper deck seats? They were so uncomfortable my legs hurt for days. Yes, I can still feel.
Photos by Me