HOW TO DESTROY ANGELS with DIIV at the Sound Academy, Thursday, April 25. Rating: NNNN
Nine Inch Nails played one of the last shows of their Wave Goodbye tour as headliners for Toronto’s final V-Fest in 2009, but we suspected we’d see Trent Reznor again. And last night we did, at the Sound Academy, but to the chagrin of the fans that dug out their black NIN hoodies, How To Destroy Angels is a far fling from the ear-ringing aggression of Reznor’s former (and soon-to-be-future) band.
How To Destroy Angels’ live show was originally going to be a one-off (or, actually, two-off) experience for Coachella, but so much time, energy and money went into the concept that they decided to take it on an abbreviated tour. The five band members played behind a semi-transparent curtain that framed them in silhouette in front of a giant LED screen and behind ever-morphing translucent projections controlled live onstage by creative director Rob Sheridan. The stealth star of the show, Sheridan synched shimmeringly abstract digital static to the music’s glitchy atmospheric pulse, lending it the feeling of a living art installation.
It was a more mannered and subdued performance than we’ve come to expect from Reznor. Rather than shred his vocal chords or destroy instruments, he stood back on keys and guitar, leaving lead vocal duties to his wife, Mariqueen Maandig. Lyrics like “sometimes the hate in me is keeping me alive” were pleasantly less intense coming from her, but many fans were still obviously there to see Reznor, erupting in applause every time he joined her for a harmony.
