Every act craves that strong connection with their audience – but how do you achieve this in a cavernous space like The O2 Arena, filled to the brim with around 20,000 fans (all, naturally, dressed in black)? Well, in typical belligerent style, Nine Inch Nails meet this challenge head on – treating us to a set by turns poetic and punishing, and despite the odd technical hiccup, really delivering that all important connection.
Nine Inch Nails @ Scala
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross have recently taken a break from composing award-winning film scores and teamed up with their old touring band for a whistle-stop tour of Europe’s arenas and rock festivals – their first live shows of any kind since late 2022 – so the anticipation is palpable amongst the crowd.
Following the pounding beats and red lighting display of the support act, German producer/DJ Boyz Noise; suddenly a curtain drops in the centre of the arena, revealing a small B-Stage ‘in the round’. Trent Reznor sits alone at a piano, and plays the first bars of Right Where It Belongs from the 2005 album With Teeth – the crowd are hushed and we are all dragged into the moment, a truly unexpected and astonishing start. He stays at the piano with a stripped down version of Ruiner, the first of tonight’s seven cuts from classic 1994 album, The Downward Spiral. Having been joined by the rest of the band by the end of this short opening ‘in the round’ section of the show, a fully formed Nine Inch Nails now take to the more conventional main stage at one end of the arena – this is an awesome start.
Nine Inch Nails @ Scala
The band proceed to rip through a selection of their back catalogue surrounded by drapes with ghostly figures projected onto them. March Of The Pigs, with it’s jarring loud-quiet refrain sung back by the rapt audience, then onto Reptile during which are the first inklings of a few technical glitches – guitarist Robin Finck ends up having to deliver the vast majority of the vocals as Trent’s microphone isn’t working – more on this later. Ross’ Swarmatron analogue synthesiser is broken out to perform Copy Of A – an ode to the repeatable nature of our digital lives – with drummer Ilan Rubin’s stick work immaculately replicating the drum machine on the original.
Nine Inch Nails @ Scala
The atmosphere in the arena shifts again as the band stride around the seething crowd to enter the central B Stage once more. This time they are joined by support act Boyz Noise and his endless banks of gear, the beat and those red lights kick in again and we’re now transported to the biggest club night any of us in the crowd have ever been to – it’s like the goths have invaded Ibiza, and we are loving it. The band remix three hits into club bangers, including a fantastic Came Back Haunted. I’ve never seen an act so skillfully change the vibe in such a massive arena – it’s huge, then intimate, then back to epic again throughout the entire 100 minute set. Nine Inch Nails have been performing live for over 35 years now and all of that experience is showing in this amazing production.
Nine Inch Nails @ Scala
A final visit to the main stage includes all the songs we have come to hear, including a brilliant cover choice: in 1997, Reznor collaborated with David Bowie to remix I’m Afraid Of Americans. Bowie also appears in the amazing, claustrophobic video where Trent pursues Bowie through the streets of New York. After a brief rant about having to ‘kill time’ between songs due to the mic problems, they launch into a big, bouncy rendition of Bowie’s song; fitting in his hometown of London. The song concludes with Reznor throwing his mic to the ground in disgust – a bit of showmanship, or a verdict on his stage crew?
The set wraps up with breakthrough hit Head Like A Hole – a guitar the latest item of equipment to be thrown 10 metres by Trent at the climax – and finally with Hurt, Reznor’s song written in the depths of heroin addiction, which also closes album Downward Spiral.
Stagecraft, production, some incredible songs and noise all contribute to an excellent night’s work from the band. Although they don’t tour too often these days, they REALLY know how to work an (enormous) room. They won’t be doing it forever – but whilst they still perform as Nine Inch Nails, I highly recommend you try to catch these masters at work.
Nine Inch Nails @ Scala
Live review of Nine Inch Nails @ The O2, London on 18th June 2025 by Alex Kavanagh. Photography by Kalpesh Patel @ Scala, London on 20th August 2013.
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