The Fragility Tour was a
concert tour in support of
industrial rock
Industrial rock is a fusion genre that fuses industrial music and rock music. It initially originated in the 1970s, and drew influence from early experimental and industrial acts such as Cromagnon, Throbbing Gristle, Einstürzende Neubauten a ...
band
Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails, commonly abbreviated as NIN and stylized as NIИ, is an American industrial rock band formed in Cleveland in 1988. Singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Trent Reznor was the only permanent member of the band ...
' ''
The Fragile
''The Fragile'' is the third studio album by American industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, released as a double album by Nothing Records and Interscope Records on September 21, 1999. It was produced by Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor ...
'' album, which took place in late 1999, running until mid-2000, and was broken into two major legs, Fragility v1.0 and Fragility v2.0 respectively. Destinations included Europe, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, and North America.
The tour featured increasingly large production values, including a
triptych video display created by contemporary video artist
Bill Viola.
The images displayed on the triptych focused on storm and water imagery. "I don't want to do the standard 'rock band in a hockey arena' show", said
Trent Reznor
Michael Trent Reznor (born May 17, 1965) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and composer. He serves as the lead vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, and principal songwriter of the industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, wh ...
. "I want to up the par a little bit. I think our stage show has had a lot of thought put into it. It's not like a
Korn
Korn (stylized as KoЯn, or occasionally KoRn) is an American nu metal band from Bakersfield, California, formed in 1993. The band is notable for pioneering the nu metal genre and bringing it into the mainstream.
Originally formed in 1993 ...
or
Rob Zombie
Rob Zombie (born Robert Bartleh Cummings; January 12, 1965) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, filmmaker, and voice actor. His music and lyrics are notable for their horror and sci-fi themes, and his live shows have be ...
show where they just go into the prop cupboard and pull out as much shit as they can. I hope, when people see our shows, they go, 'Fuck, that was smarter than that Korn tour I saw, but not in a pretentious way – it kicked ass.' On
our previous tour the audience was our enemy but, this time around, we're best friends with the audience at the end of shows. Everyone's connected."
''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'' magazine named Fragility v2.0 the best tour of 2000.
The Fragility v2.0 North American leg was filmed and recorded for the
live album
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...
and double
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...
tour documentary ''
And All that Could Have Been'', which was released in 2002.
On May 20, 2000, Nine Inch Nails performed their 500th gig (in count) at the
Lakewood Amphitheater
The Cellairis Amphitheatre at Lakewood is a concert venue located in Atlanta, which opened in 1989. The amphitheatre seats 18,920 (7,000 seated; 12,000 on the lawn). It was designed to offer a state-of-the-art musical experience for both music fa ...
in
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
.
Nine Inch Nails Tour Dates (see Fragility v2.0 section)
/ref>
Before several of the later performances, Recoil's 2000 album ''Liquid
A liquid is a nearly incompressible fluid that conforms to the shape of its container but retains a (nearly) constant volume independent of pressure. As such, it is one of the four fundamental states of matter (the others being solid, gas, a ...
'' was played over the PA system.
On July 9, 2000, the rest of the tour was cancelled due to "band illness". The most notable "illness" was eight days earlier when the band went to London for a concert, and Reznor almost died from a heroin
Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a potent opioid mainly used as a recreational drug for its euphoric effects. Medical grade diamorphine is used as a pure hydrochloride salt. Various white and brow ...
overdose, mistaking the heroin for cocaine
Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechuan languages, Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly recreational drug use, used recreationally for its euphoria, euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from t ...
, which he was addicted to at the time. He went into and completed rehab in 2001.
Personnel
*Trent Reznor
Michael Trent Reznor (born May 17, 1965) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and composer. He serves as the lead vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, and principal songwriter of the industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, wh ...
– Lead vocals
The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...
, guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...
, keyboards
Keyboard may refer to:
Text input
* Keyboard, part of a typewriter
* Computer keyboard
** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping
** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware
Music
* Musi ...
, bass guitar
The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...
, Prophet VS synthesizer
* Robin Finck – Guitar, E-bow
The EBow, short for electronic bow or energy bow, is an electronic device used for playing string instruments, most often the electric guitar. It is manufactured by Heet Sound Products, of Los Angeles, California. It was invented by Greg Heet i ...
, lap steel synthesizer
A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...
, backup vocals
* Danny Lohner – Bass guitar, guitar, synthesizer, backup vocals
* Charlie Clouser – Synthesizer, theremin
The theremin (; originally known as the ætherphone/etherphone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox) is an electronic musical instrument controlled without physical contact by the performer (who is known as a thereminist). It is named afte ...
, vocoder
A vocoder (, a portmanteau of ''voice'' and ''encoder'') is a category of speech coding that analyzes and synthesizes the human voice signal for audio data compression, multiplexing, voice encryption or voice transformation.
The vocoder was ...
, backup vocals
* Jerome Dillon – Drums
A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...
, samples
Tour legs
Europe ()
Typical set list
# " The New Flesh" / "Pinion"
# "Somewhat Damaged"
# "Terrible Lie"
# "Sin
In a religious context, sin is a transgression against divine law. Each culture has its own interpretation of what it means to commit a sin. While sins are generally considered actions, any thought, word, or act considered immoral, selfish, s ...
"
# "March of the Pigs
"March of the Pigs" is a song by American industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails from their second studio album, ''The Downward Spiral'' (1994). It was released on February 25, 1994 as the album's lead single.
Composition
"March of the Pigs" has ...
"
# "Piggy"
# "The Frail"
# "The Wretched"
# "No, You Don't"
# "Gave Up"
# "La Mer"
# "The Great Below"
# "The Way Out Is Through"
# "Wish
A wish is a hope or desire for something. In fiction, wishes can be used as plot devices. In folklore, opportunities for "making a wish" or for wishes to "come true" or "be granted" are themes that are sometimes used.
In fiction
In fiction a ...
"
# " Into the Void"
# " Down in It" or "Get Down, Make Love
''News of the World'' is the sixth studio album by the British Rock music, rock band Queen (band), Queen, released on 28 October 1977 by EMI Records in the United Kingdom and by Elektra Records in the United States. ''News of the World'' was t ...
"
# "Head Like a Hole
"Head Like a Hole" is a song by the American industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, released as the second single from the group's debut album, ''Pretty Hate Machine''.
Although one of the more rock-oriented tracks on the album, many elements of ...
"
# "The Day the World Went Away
"The Day the World Went Away" is a song by American industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, released on July 20, 1999, as the lead single (music), single from their third studio album ''The Fragile (Nine Inch Nails album), The Fragile'' (1999). ...
"
# "Starfuckers, Inc.
"Starfuckers, Inc." (known as "Starsuckers, Inc." in its censored form) is a song by American industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails from their third studio album '' The Fragile''. Although the song does not have an official halo (the numbering s ...
"
# " Closer"
# " Hurt"
Support act
* Atari Teenage Riot
Atari Teenage Riot (ATR) is a German band formed in Berlin in 1992. Highly political, they fuse left-wing, anarchist and anti-fascist views with punk vocals and a techno sound called digital hardcore, which is a term band member Alec Empire use ...
Dates
Asia
Typical set list
Same as above.
Support act
* Skingame
Dates
Oceania ()
Typical set list
These shows featured shorter and more aggressive set lists.
Accompanying acts
* Red Hot Chili Peppers
* Foo Fighters
Foo Fighters are an American rock band formed in Seattle in 1994. Foo Fighters was initially formed as a one-man project by former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl. Following the success of the eponymous debut album, Grohl (lead vocals, guitar) re ...
* Atari Teenage Riot
* Blink-182
* The Chemical Brothers
The Chemical Brothers are an English electronic music duo formed by Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons in Manchester in 1989. They were pioneers (along with the Prodigy, Fatboy Slim, the Crystal Method, and other acts) in bringing the big beat genre t ...
* A Perfect Circle
A Perfect Circle is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1999 by guitarist Billy Howerdel and Tool vocalist Maynard James Keenan. A Perfect Circle has released four studio albums, the first three during the early 2000s: ' ...
Dates
North America ()
Typical set list
# "The New Flesh" / "Pinion"
# "Somewhat Damaged"
# "Terrible Lie"
# "Sin"
# "March of the Pigs"
# "Piggy"
# "The Frail"
# "The Wretched"
# "Gave Up"
# "La Mer"
# "The Great Below"
# "The Mark Has Been Made"
# "Wish"
# "Complication"
# "Suck"
# "Closer"
# "Head Like a Hole"
# "The Day the World Went Away"
# " Just Like You Imagined" or "Even Deeper"
# "Starfuckers, Inc."
# "Hurt"
Support act
* A Perfect Circle
A Perfect Circle is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1999 by guitarist Billy Howerdel and Tool vocalist Maynard James Keenan. A Perfect Circle has released four studio albums, the first three during the early 2000s: ' ...
Dates
Europe ()
Typical set list
These shows featured shorter and more aggressive set lists.
Dates
Canceled dates
References
External links
Official website
{{Nine Inch Nails
1999 concert tours
2000 concert tours
Nine Inch Nails concert tours