“I admit,” Trent Reznor told the the teeming crowd at the Hollywood Palladium on Wednesday night, “we’re tired!”

Would that everybody could power through their fatigue like the 53-year-old Nine Inch Nails frontman. Playing their fourth show in a six-day span — with two more to go — NIN blasted through a 22-song set spanning 14 albums, along with one very special cover. They wrap their Cold and Black and Infinite Tour with sold-out Palladium shows tonight and Saturday.

Opening the festivities were the kings of South Lanarkshire, Scotland, the Jesus and Mary Chain, who roared through their 12-song, hour-long set shrouded beneath a heavy cloud of stage fog. Though leaning heavy on hits such as “Just Like Honey,” “Head On” and “Reverence” (but no “April Skies”), the gents included three tracks from their underrated 2017 release, “Damage and Joy.” They were a perfect opening act for NIN, having once influenced a much younger Trent Reznor and lending some old school post-punk credibility to the evening.

NIN’s staging required an entirely different lighting rig (Reznor was inspired by the staging of LCD Soundsystem’s 2017 Palladium shows) after JAMC, giving concert-goers ample time to cavort, drink and smoke between sets. Speaking of smoke, a thick pungent haze of fog, weed and body odor descended over the crowd, giving the venue a certain “Foghat circa 1973” vibe. And speaking of time, apparently this was an issue for one woman in the middle of the crowd. Just before NIN took the stage, unwilling to give up her spot, she proceeded to drop her trousers, crouch down and urinate on the floor while her drunk friend howled with laughter.

Opening with the obscure “Branches/Bones” from 2016’s “Not the Actual Events,” NIN immediately followed with a scorching rendition of “Wish.” Hearing 5,000 people shout “Fistfuck” in unison is something to behold. This was a show, mind you, a tour designed around taking risks, of pushing boundaries. Every night, NIN presented a different set, each an individual foray deep into a 30-year career, where most middle-aged acts have long resigned themselves to flogging their hits for an aging crowd craving sentimentality. Reznor went so far as to omit the band’s biggest hit, “Closer,” off of 1994’s “The Downward Spiral” from the set. The night wasn’t without the familiar however, as “Head Like a Hole,” “March of the Pigs,” “The Perfect Drug,” and “Only” all reared their pretty little heads.

But perhaps the highlight of the evening was when Reznor dedicated “I’m Afraid of Americans” to David Bowie, the jagged pulse of the song capturing perfectly the nation’s current Zeitgeist. It must be noted that while NIN is considered the most successful band of the industrial genre, they’ve moved further and further away from the one-dimensional sturm und drang that defined their beginnings. They’ve morphed into a band merely flavored with “industrial” seasonings. 

Lauded as vanguards, the more successful NIN became, the more elaborate their stage productions became. But this tour was decidedly different from a technical standpoint. In fact, it was downright spartan by NIN standards. Gone were the massive screens, the light sculptures, and other than some lasers, pretty much everything visually associated with a typical NIN show. Truth be told, the technicolor frenzy wasn’t missed, as Reznor delivered a curated set heavy on muscle and grace. It was a night that saw the eclectic, fan favorites and some surprising omissions.

With the next two shows, Nine Inch Nails finish off a 55-date world tour that saw them criss-crossing the globe since June. Near the end of Wednesday’s concert, that realization prompted Reznor to state that these were the “last shows.” As a hush fell over the crowd, he quickly took a reassuring tone: “Not the last shows forever, just this tour.”

The band closed with the ever poignant “Hurt,” the only mainstay to carry from night to night, and as the crowd sang along softly a sense of calm descended over the room. Catharsis had been achieved.

Photos by Samuel C. Ware