NINE INCH NAILS/

QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE

Newcastle Entertainment Centre

March 8

THROWING out a challenge to festival promoters everywhere, Nine Inch Nails and Queens of the Stone Age shunned the traditional summer circuit and instead co-headlined their own antipodean tour.

Newcastle was fortunate enough to have been included on the list – some might even go so far as to say ‘‘blessed’’.

Trent Reznor and Josh Homme in Newcastle. On the same night. It was enough to make the most seasoned of rockers revert to giggling adolescent fans as they greeted each other outside Newcastle Entertainment Centre. Backslapping, high-fiving, even hugs – it was a common sight, and a sign of the esteem with which both bands are held.

Homme’s Australian-born wife Brody Dalle opened, apologising to the crowd for a  ‘‘shit voice’’ she blamed on illness. Her already gravelly voice was even rockier than usual but she didn’t let it slow down the fast and loud punk-rock riffs she honed with The Distillers and Spinnerette. 

Then it was Trent Reznor’s turn. He is Nine Inch Nails. Magnetic rather than charismatic, the eye is drawn to him. The intensity of his songs was reflected in his face, his voice, the way he prowled the stage and lunged back and forth, mic stand in hand.  The lighting, primarily dim with pulses of blood red and fluorescent white, added to the sense of dystopia created by his thought-provoking lyrics and musical compositions. 

In an ideal world Reznor would have played a set list weighted heavily in favour of industrial songs from The Downward Spiral, Pretty Hate Machine, The Fragile, With Teeth and Year Zero – however played live, the electronica-slanted songs from 2013’s Hesitation Marks are as hard-hitting as anything in Reznor’s back catalogue. It was a pleasant surprise.

The intricacy of the compositions, the layers of sound and the poignancy of the lyrics are amplified on stage. It was a spellbinding performance, and Reznor appears more comfortable with his craft than he did on the band’s 2009 tour. All Time Low, Copy of A, Find My Way, March of the Pigs, The Hand That Feeds,  Head Like a Hole and Hurt were highlights. 

Queens of the Stone Age share a left-of-centre approach to songwriting with Nine Inch Nails. There is nothing predictable about their music and it doesn’t follow a set rock formula.

 Homme, like his wife, was ill, and said he had been advised by his doctor to cancel the show.

In words that can’t be repeated here, he said he told his doctor he didn’t agree. 

Unlike Reznor, he engaged with the audience verbally. His self-deprecating humour and down-to-earth manner was endearing, as was his sensible long-sleeved shirt and hair-do, and amusing hip-swinging dance moves, while playing the guitar (in true Ginger Elvis style). 

Homme has textbook rockstar charisma and the talent to back it up. His voice is like honey (even with the flu), he’s spellbinding on the strings and a tighter, more professional band you’d be hard pressed to find.

And the background cartoons were mesmerising.

Highlights were  My God Is the Sun, Monsters in the Parasol, In the Fade, The Vampyre of Time and Memory, Little Sister, Make It Wit Chu (crowd singalong included), Sick, Sick, Sick, Better Living Through Chemistry, Go With the Flow and, for the encore, No One Knows and A Song for the Dead.

Is that the entire set-list? Almost.

A rare and memorable night in Newcastle for rock fans of all ages.