Nine Inch Nails Rejuvenated At Mohegan Sun

By JACK CORAGGIO

Last year, Trent Reznor publicly registered his disgust at the high prices his now former record company, Universal Music Group, charged for his band's albums. Reznor successfully fought to free Nine Inch Nails from the company's contractual shackles.

At Mohegan Sun on Thursday, the rejuvenating liberty of this indie band's newfound freedom came through deftly. A spry, yet sturdy, drug- and record company-free Reznor led an obliterating set of pulsating, synthesized industrial rock for his most loyal core of fans.

Reznor did not perform like a hardened, 20-year veteran of the music business. For two hours and 26 songs, Reznor was more reminiscent of a young musician with limitless horizons, who could tirelessly bang around the stage without missing a cue. (This responsive performance came from a man who is battling a recurring throat ailment that caused the band to cancel its scheduled show in Worcester Friday.)

The night opened with the hammering "1,000,000" off the band's latest completion, "The Slip," an album which, in yet another defiance of the record industry, can be legally downloaded for free off NIN's website.

But even from these opening moments it was hard not to notice how vacant the oversized stage seemed.

For the next nine songs, which included lust-crazed numbers like "Closer" and one of NIN's earlier anti-authority songs, "March of the Pigs," the band utilized instruments, synthesizers and brilliantly blinding and synchronized spotlights to fill any perceived gaps.

But that changed drastically after "Gave Up," when three layers of interactive, digital light and audio-sensor touchscreen technology lowered from the rafters and essentially caged the band below.

For the next hour, a three-dimensional illusion of NIN performing in a rainy swamp, or on rolling sand dunes, or behind a screen of blue, pulsating clouds, dominated all senses.

Eventually, the images shattered and the band broke free of its digital cage, and into a five-song encore, which featured the self-destructive "Hurt." And they did it their way, with Reznor, a man of few words, leading the charge.