My original intro to this was “Twenty years after Trent Reznor started Nine Inch Nails…” but I had to stop and think about that. It’s mindblowing as a 20-something to think that Nine Inch Nails has been making music since the ’80s. I think of them as being one of the most important bands making music today, but they’ve been in that situation for twenty years. But hey, that’s great for me. That means he’s had decades to write some of the best music out there.

The show was amazing — even better than their Lollapalooza appearance. Trent and his band (including the returned Robin Finck who replaced Aaron North) were right on point through the whole thing. Unlike most other bands where there’s a legendary frontman (like, uh, Bob Dylan), each member of Nine Inch Nails played like all eyes were on them. The drummer was phenomenal, Robin’s guitar sounded like lightning grinding through metal and Trent’s voice was gripping.

The new songs sounded really incredible live. “Letting You Get Away” came out early and felt like it could really become a live staple like “Wish.” “Echoplex” also felt like a song Billy Corgan would have killed to have written in 1999 — and I mean that in a good way.

Speaking of “Echoplex,” I’ve got a weird story that happened during that song. Before the song, they lowered one of the incredibly advanced video screens behind the band. Trent started tapping the screen where these white squares were. After a few taps, I realized that he was actually programming a drum sequence. Eventually he filled out the whole drum pattern for the song and my jaw had started threatening to drop. An interactive light feature that actually programmed a part of the song? No way.

It was about this time that a woman fell on my head.

Yup, that’s right. Just as I was realizing how far beyond everyone Nine Inch Nails is in terms of their live show, a woman jumped off the balcony and onto my head. I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt and say that she was aiming for the covered trash can I was leaning on, but she made contact a little bit more on my head. Dazed, I watched her dodge a security guard and climb on stage until she was standing next to Trent. He handled it a lot better than his buddy Maynard.

More photos after the jump.