By Rory Archer
Nine Inch Nails’ Josh Freese seen playing a live drum solo on the main stage’s screen projection as the rest of the band exits the B Stage.
PHOENIX —It’s been an exciting time for anyone in the industrial metal-rock scene. Nine Inch Nails and opening act Boys Noize finished up their Peel It Back tour with a show in Phoenix on Tuesday, Sept. 16, before their final two Los Angeles shows later in the week. It’s the first time the band has toured in three years—and the first time in Arizona since September 2018, during their Cold and Black and Infinite tour.
Last Friday, the final day of the tour, marked the release of the band’s latest album, the soundtrack for the upcoming film “Tron: ARES”. This is the second soundtrack album they’ve released under the Nine Inch Nails title; however, band members Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross have scored several other movies as a duo, with soundtracks for 18 different productions available on Spotify. Reznor and Ross formerly collaborated with Boys Noize on the soundtrack for Luca Guadagnino’s “Challengers” in 2024, setting the scene for their current tour and collaboration on Nine Inch Nails’ latest album.
The “Tron: ARES” soundtrack comes after a seemingly long-awaited break for Nine Inch Nails, having last put out an album under their band name in 2020, “Ghosts IV: Locusts,” and a single in 2021, “ISN’T EVERYONE.” The “Tron: ARES” soundtrack includes one pre-released single, “As Alive As You Need Me To Be,” which was released earlier this summer on July 17.
Nine Inch Nails have big shoes to fill, as internationally acclaimed artists scored the preceding two Tron movies: French EDM duo Daft Punk, having worked on 2010’s “Tron: Legacy,” and synth-electronica pioneer Wendy Carlos, who created the score for the original 1982 “Tron.” While Reznor and Ross have composed for Disney before, working on Pixar’s “Soul,” the president of Walt Disney Music had asked them to score “Tron: ARES” not as Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, but as Nine Inch Nails. A request made for good reason: the industrial sound Nine Inch Nails is known for—loud, gritty, and intense—utilizes their telltale distorted noise and mixes well with the more electronic expectations that prior “Tron” soundtracks have upheld.
Much like the previous two artists, Nine Inch Nails have set their sights on redefining the genres heard in movie scoring. “I’ll give a few spoilers: there’s not one second of orchestra in our score,” Reznor said during an interview with Empire Magazine in June. Ross adds, “It’s different [from other “Tron” scores], and in places, perhaps takes a bigger swing for what music can do in cinema.”
Like the rest of the shows on the tour, the Tuesday concert at PHX Arena was sold out. The venue opened its doors to approximately 12,500 people at 6:35 p.m. local time. Many were dressed for the occasion, wearing band shirts for Nine Inch Nails or other avant-garde, metal-rock bands—Tool, Primus and Puscifer among others, were a loud minority among the sea of Nine Inch Nails merchandise. If not in band shirts, several concertgoers were adorned in stylized goth makeup and dark clothing, with various chains and accessories that emphasized their outfits.
One of these many people was Katja Means, a local university student. “I’ve been a fan of Nine Inch Nails for the past seven years or something; this is my first time seeing them. I’m very excited,” Means said. “[I saw that] they’ve been opening with ‘Somewhat Damaged’—the outro to the song, at least. I don’t know exactly what they’re doing, but I’m excited to hear that.”
Means had been using the website setlist.fm to predict the concert’s trajectory. “I hope they play ‘I’m Afraid of Americans,’ but they performed it last night, so I don’t think they’ll play it again.”
Katja Means seen in PHX Arena wearing a black crop top and fishnets, with additional accessories and makeup.
Boys Noize began their set at 8 p.m. on the C stage, bathing the arena in a sea of red as attendees made their way to their seats. Their set consisted of techno covers of songs, including Nine Inch Nails’ “Down in It” as Boys Noize DJ Alexander Ridha stood on a platform behind the tech booth, beacons of red light illuminating the corners of the stage. Subwoofers rattled through the crowd, leaving a vibration passing through each and every listener.
Alexander Ridha, better known by his stage name Boys Noize, performing behind the tech booth on the right side of the image. Red overhead lights flicker and oscillate over the pit audience.
Boys Noize performed for an hour, ending their set with a cover of the band CoH’s “Near You,” pointing ahead to the B stage as the song abruptly ended and with it, a curtain drop. In the center of the arena sat Trent Reznor, a single golden spotlight on him and a piano, playing a solo version of “Right Where It Belongs.” With each song on the B stage, another band member came out—bassist Alessandro Cortini first, followed by guitarist Robin Finck and finally Atticus Ross. As the set on the secondary stage finished, the lights lowered and a projection of Josh Freese took to the center stage curtain, playing through a drum solo as the band discreetly moved to join him on the main stage. As the curtain came up, the united band launched into “Wish.”
Besides the multiple stages, Nine Inch Nails has been consistent in using translucent stage sets to project images throughout the tour, most noticeably during “Copy of A,” when multiple projections of Trent Reznor dancing are projected across the stage, echoing his every move as he bounds across the stage, leaning in and out of his microphone. As the set continues, many in the crowd don’t notice the fog beginning to emit from the B stage. As the next part of the set ends, Reznor makes his way through the crowd, joining Boys Noize on the middle stage. Ridha does live mixing, taking control of the synths as the band plays a new, revived version of songs like “Vessel” and “Closer,” before their tour debut song “As Alive As You Need Me To Be.”
The band moved back to the main stage one more time, diving into a series of both deep cuts and greatest hits, before closing off the concert with a live rendition of “Hurt.” In the moments that Reznor whispers into the mic, the undercurrent of audience singing can be heard, united by a series of phone lights that dot the crowd and leave the arena in a haze of white.
Trent Reznor singing “Copy of A,” surrounded by copies of himself made by projections.
“It was incredible,” Means said after the concert. The former lighting technician delved into the tour’s special effect choices, saying, “They had a lot of scrims on the main stage, which are these clear-layer, translucent sheets they can project light images onto. I thought it was really cool because I’ve never seen another band do that before. They took advantage of the massive space they had, even [utilizing the arena’s] disco lighting. I thought it was really unique.”
The “Tron: ARES” soundtrack debuted the Friday morning after the tour ended in Los Angeles at midnight and for fans on the West Coast, it meant getting access to a whole new album Thursday evening. Some of Means’ friends from other campuses got together to listen to the album over video call.
“I’m really feeling the Wendy Carlos in this one,” said University of Alaska Fairbanks student Kendall Scott regarding “Forked Reality,” the second song on the new album. “[The album is] very consistent and introduces Nine Inch Nails’ sound while keeping up a general ‘Tron’ feel.”
A Pima Community College student in the group, Leo Acosta, added, “These have all been really intense so far. I really liked it.”
Western New Mexico University student Azlan Kozimor likened the album to other synth-focused scores, including the soundtrack for the hit video game “Oxenfree” and the cartoon “Infinity Train.”
Nine Inch Nails’ “Tron: ARES” soundtrack is now streaming on all platforms. “Tron: ARES” is in theaters on October 10.