Weekend Concert Goodness!

Holy Attack of the Living Goths, Batman! I saw Depeche Mode Friday and Nine Inch Nails Saturday night.

Friday (Happy Goth Night): Noelle scored some excellent seats in the center close to the front where she, Carl, and I got treated to Dave Gahan, Martin Gore, Andy Fletcher, and those other guys. Pretty cool set. They had this orb (it reminded me of the fake planet from the opening of Mystery Science Theater) that mostly displayed random relevant lyrics and song titles. The guys in the back did their keyboard stuff in these weird doughnut shaped panels. Dave Gahan's voice is still excellent. The sound was quality, although loud (I didn't put my right earplug all the way in and my ear was ringing for a couple hours thereafter.). High points were "Enjoy the Silence" and "Everything Counts". They trotted out most of the hits (missed "Master and Servant", alas) and a lot of stuff from the new album (I think). Very happy, enthusiastic crowd. I don't think I saw anyone sitting in the crowd, which is pretty unusual for a large venue.

Saturday (Dark Goth Night): Dave drove Wendy, Noelle, and me to the Oakland arena, which is growing on me as a venue. Autolux and Queens of the Stone Age opened. I really like QotSA, but I don't particularly like their latest album. And that was about half of their hour longish set. I did get to see the beautiful Bel Aire guitar that I've been coveting since I saw the video for "Little Sister." (Hmm, there might be profit sharing coming up, hmm.) Of the songs that I liked, I thought their performance was excellent. However, the NIN show was unquestionably the highlight of the evening. The sound was good. The lighting was good. The crowd was (mostly) really into it. And Trent was fucking on, baby! I liked it so much, I'm going back to see them in Santa Cruz on the 6th. :-) Cool looking tix, too. :-) Mucho thanks to Dave and Wendy for inviting me along!