Good Listening: Nine Inch Nails – Woodstock ’94

Posted on by Matt Wardlaw

NIN - blue screen of death.

So, Nine Inch Nails were in town over the weekend at Quicken Loans Arena, which got me thinking a bit about something. But first, you can check out a few reviews of the Cleveland show here, here, and here.

Still with me?

Good.

Billboard Magazine has a feature online celebrating 20 years of Nine Inch Nails, with a recap of 20 key moments from NIN history.

One of the moments is of course, the legendary performance at Woodstock ’94.

Jane Scott, Cleveland’s “oldest living rock critic,” was at the show.

I wasn’t.

Self, why the heck wasn’t I at this show?

I can’t give you all a good excuse, or any excuse at all, actually. I can tell you this though: It is my belief that anyone that was a music fan in the 90s, has an audio or video copy of this show somewhere. Brian and I were at Virgin Festival, at the hotel where I had my Nine Inch Nails playlist playing on my Ipod, and he let me know that he had the Woodstock show on his Ipod, in case I wanted to hear it.

No need, as I let him know that I too, had the Woodstock show on my Ipod.

Doesn’t everyone?

It was then, that I began to face the horrifying and very real possibility that there might be some that still do not have this necessary piece of 90s rock history.

If there is a god, perhaps Reznor will put this sucker out in 2009 on Blu-Ray, DVD or platinum VHS to celebrate the 15th anniversary, complete with widescreen visuals, super-snazzy 5.1 audio, and the works.

I’m dreaming and hoping here.

For now, I’ll enjoy the audio (and maybe unpack/find my *cough* DVD *cough*) of this legendary show.

Now you can too!

Nine Inch Nails
Woodstock ’94
Saugerties, NY
8/13/94

A review from someone who was there.

complete zipped download

1. Intro
2. Terrible Lie
3. Sin
4. March of the Pigs
5. Something I Can Never Have
6. Closer
7. Reptile
8. Wish
9. Suck
10. Burn
11. The Only Time
12. Down In It
13. Dead Souls
14. Help Me, I’m In Hell
15. Happiness in Slavery
16. Head Like A Hole

P.S. – if you dig this….or perhaps you were even at the show, leave a comment, story, whatever!

Relevant Links:

Nine Inch Nails official website

Purchase The Downward Spiral from Amazon

Purchase Pretty Hate Machine

10 Comments on “Good Listening: Nine Inch Nails – Woodstock ’94”

  1. Woodstock ’94 will always be a sore subject for me. I was only 17 when Woodstock was announced and even though my folks were staying just miles away from the venue on vacation they would not allow me to go. Thanks to pay-per-view (cough cough where’s my copy?) I was glued to the festival and saw the most amazing NIN performance. Covered in mud head to to and playing their depressed little hearts out Trent and company were awesome. I still listen to tracks from the CD I managed to find from that show.

    I never saw them live until Matt and I went to V-Fest a few weeks ago. I am so mad I missed out all these years seeing them live. They are amazing.

    I really hope NIN released their 94 show…one of my former friends had it on VHS as he taped the entire Woodstock…I think I will be shooting him an email…

  2. Harumph. My technical difficulties have rendered me useless in posting my NIN photos and video.

    *sigh* I’ll be old blog news in another day or two.

  3. excellent usage of “harumph!”

    Sorry about your ongoing computer woes – hopefully they’ll be fixed soon!

    Brian – I think I might find my DVD of that show, sooner rather than later. I’m hoping.

    I keep forgetting that V-fest was your first NIN experience. That’s crazy!

    When were you 17?

  4. Matt – I was 17 in 1994, when I saw NIN on the tee vee. haha….

    Yes, V-Fest was my first NIN experience. I was supposed to see them at CSU when I still worked for that angry record store with you but I was so sick I passed up a free ticket.

  5. Pingback: Good Listening: Pearl Jam - Tivoli: Utrecht, Holland - 3/4/92

  7. OK, so I am so NOT a tru fan because no, I do not have this in my NIN collection. To be honest, up until about 2-3 years ago, I had no clue recordings outside of the actual CD’s even existed (shut up).

    Ahhhh the memories this brings back. And even though I’ve never been to a NIN concert, I had an awesome NIN t-shirt back in ’93-94 that made it LOOK like I HAD been to one… and I wore it around campus ALL the time… with my black beret (shut up again). I felt so bad ass.

    Thank you for pointing me to this. Good stuff!

  8. KAP – you crack me up. Great stories….I definitely have some of my own from that same time period.

    So much fun. Enjoy…..this is one of the greatest and most legendary performances, bootlegs, etc. etc. etc.

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