this is the long, harrowing tale of my adventures on May 18th, 2005. This was the day when my friends Brendon, Matt, Zane, and myself took a roadtrip from Athens, Ohio to Philladelphia, Pennsylvannia, to see Nine Inch Nails at a small club called The Electric Factory.
We left Athens at 9:20, after a quick stop at the Oasis to pick up a bunch of energy drinks (between all of us, we bought 5 cans of Sobe No Fear, and 7 cans of Amp). The trip started with a listen through of the NIN album, With Teeth, which seemed appropriate, because we were going to see NIN: Live, With Teeth. Brendon brought a small digital video camera with him, so he was able to record portions of our misadventures. The first few hours of the trip were lengthy, and boring. Driving through West Virginia was kinda fun though, what with the 70 mph speed limit, and everybody going at least 80, through those crazy, winding roads, and the steep downhill slopes. But yeah, it was still boring.
Eventually, we became hungry, and started to decide on a place to eat. It came down to a choice between Waffle House and Denny's. Denny's is more of an evening place to go to, what with the crazy goth kids hanging out, eating breakfast food, especially after a concert. So we chose Waffle House. The problem being that there were no Waffle Houses to be found. In the entire first four hours of the trip (it's an eight hour trip, one way), we saw naught a single Waffle House. Just a slew of Roy Rodgers. We saw, easily, a dozen or more Roy Rodgers on our way to Philly, and we still have no idea what a Roy Rodgers is. Any ideas? Well, eventually, when we lost hope, we resigned ourselves to eating at Wendy's. Fortunately, I'm a terrible driver (apparently), and I missed the exit. We were all saddened by this, but low and behold, the very next exit had a sign for Waffle House. It was such a wonderful sign. And so lunch was had at said Waffle House, and it was good. It's kinda funny, because once we got onto the road again, the next exit had a sign for Denny's. And for the remained of the trip, we saw many Waffle Houses, and Dennys. So we knew we would be good for dinner/breakfast/whatever on the return trip.
Eventually, many CD's, and stilly conversations later, we finally entered Pennsylvannia. On a tanget, Maryland and Pennsylvania are crazy. They have many left-hand exits, and left-hand merge ramps. It was nuts. And we ran into massive amounts of construction. And then right around 4:30 PM we hit a HUGE traffic jam (multiple ones, actually) due to rush-hour traffic. It made the next two hours crawl by incredibly slow. But it was all good, as we eventually exited the crazy traffic jam, and continued our journey.
When we arrived in Philly, there was much rejoicing ("yay..."). It was relatively easy to find a parking space, and cheap too (only $5). And it was right across the venue to boot. That is... we thought it was. We went to the address given to us by MapQuest, and found it to be the box office, which was nowhere near the venue. So we walked around town for a little while, and eventually asked for directions and found the venue. We saw many interesting sights. I had no idea you could have that many "exotic dancing" bars in such a little area, holy crap. It was ridiculous. We also saw an elderly woman, in a wheelchair (maybe in her early 60s), wearing a fishnet shirt, which we found endlessly amusing. It was definitely a bad part of town though, and we were glad that we didn't have to spend much time there. Or at least, so we thought...
At the venue itself, there were so many goth kids and people that it would make you want to puke. So much angst and depression in one space can't be healthy (says the goth man with bi-polar disorder... lol). After being patted down, we entered the Electric Factory, where the opening band, the Dresden Dolls were playing. They were quite good. I had bought their album online a few weeks prior, to see what they were like, and it was very eclectic. Their music is based heavily on German burlesque music from the 1920's and early 30's. It also has punk and rock influences, as well as some jazz. It consists of one woman singer, who also plays keyboard/piano, and a drummer that also occasionally plays the classical guitar. Both performers were fantastic. The woman had so much energy, and so much passion... and the drummer was completely and utterly insane. I've never seen a drummer so fantasitcally involved with his music, and this is including footage of drummers I've seen on television. He was fantastic. And because it was just he and the girl, he had plenty of drum solo time, which was all very tasteful, and perfectly fitting for the songs. It was impressive. I had my reservations about Trent Reznor's choice of opening band, but after seeing them, I have no doubts whatsoever. They were incredible.
During the Dresden Dolls, my friends and I worked our ways closer to the stage. We made it to the sound booth, which was roughtly 40 feet or so from the stage (it was a very small venue, maybe 400-500 people max). There were some goth guys and girls around us, and we all seemed to be eagerly awaiting Trent and his band to take the stage. We waited for what seemed forever, and then eventually, the lights went out, and the hum of amplifiers began to fill the venue.
The opening chords of "Every Day is Exactly the Same" began, and the crowd rushed forward towards the stage, and I and a few others stayed back, because we knew how crazy it was going to get up there. The lights began to fall upon the members of the band. When Trent himself took to the stage, and he opened his mouth to utter the first few lines, I began to cry. I was seeing my idol perform, finally. I had waited for 9 years for that moment. I have a lot of patience. I'm used to waiting for things. But I finally saw him. It was awesome beyond measure, and I couldn't stop crying. I began singing along, occasionally choking back tears, and eventually regained my composure. He played for about 1 1/2 hours, and some of that time was a blur. I was so enveloped in the music that the world seemed to fade away. The performance was nigh flawless, and the amount of emotion Trent put into the songs. Saying I was awed is such an understatement. He played a lot of songs off of the new album, but curiously, he didn't play "The Collector", or the title track "With Teeth". Those seemed like they'd be good live songs, but whatever. He played a lot of his "hits", the crowd pleasers, whatever you want to call it. But it was all so genuine. I could feel such a closeness to the emotion within those songs.
And about six or seven songs in, the band left the stage, except for the keyboardist, and the light fell upon Trent. The first three notes of "Something I can Never Have" sounded, and I instantly collapsed into tears. I couldn't stop throughout the entirety of the song. I felt so alone, so lost, so confused. He poured out his heart during that song, and so did I. He sung with such sadness, and I was brought right down with him. It is such a brutally simple song, musically, and the lyrics are not outstanding. But the emotion, and the way it is composed. It is unbelievable. If you have never heard the song, you should find it somewhere, and give it a listen. Maybe you'll be able to understand what I"m talking about. The song itself is about loss. About something you can never attain. About something that you so desperately yearn for, but can never have, no matter how hard you try. It fits my situation with The Other to a t. And I couldn't stop thinking about her. Maybe I really shouldn't say anything to her. Maybe I should let her go, as I will never have any place in her life. This is so useless, no point to continue. I can only hurt myself through this. These thoughts raced though my mind as I continued to cry, and faintly singing along. It was terrible, but beautiful. It allowed me to get out a lot of emotion that I had pent up inside for so long.
The remainder of the performace was amazing. It was everything that I had hoped it would be, and more. I will remember that concert for a long time, if not the remainder of my natural life. But anyway, I could continue to go on and on, and maybe I will in a future entry, but this post is very long as is, and I still have the return trip to cover (if you've made it this far, I thank you, and congratulate you for your patience and interest).
After the concert, the four of us walked back to our car. I opened the doors and played Tool rather loudly, as we stood outside of the car, talking ferverently about the concert, and consuming many energy drinks for return trip stamina. After about 15 minutes, a tweaked out, middle-aged black man in baggy clothes approached us, and began talking. He asked us about the concert, and then began to talk about how he had "seen the world" by selling magazines door to door. He had been only through the Us, and he considered that the "world". Kinda sad, but I digress... We noticed that he was kinda jittery, and his eyes were bloodshot. His pupils were so large that I don't believe that he had irises. He also kept shifting his weight, and never touched his right side. He then proceeded to talk to us about doing crystal meth, and smoking weed, and drinkking liquid e that had been pourded into Hawaiian Punch. We were invited to come with him back to his friend's place to get high, stoned, drunk, and what have you and then just chill or hang out with some women ("hang out".. ha...). We declined, giving reason that we had to return to Ohio for class. At this point we were kinda nervous, as we finally realized that this tweaked out meth head was carrying a gun (the reason he never touched his right side), and we wanted to do everything we could to appease him so that he'd leave us alone and just go away. Seeing as we were not interested in any drugs or women, he just straight up asked us for change or spare cash. We explained that we didn't have any spare cash, but we did have change, of which we gave him everything (about $1.50ish in total). He was hungry, and just wanted to go get something to eat apparently. So he went on his merry way, and we promptly got into the car, and "got the hell out of Dodge" as it were.
After being on the road for an hour or so, we stopped at a Denny's were we all had a sizeable meal, which was quite tastey. We had a very friendly, large, black woman as a waitress, and she was very cool. Because we were the only customers for about half an hour, she talked to us about the concert, and stuff like that. She also had a good feel for what food was good (which makes sense seeing how large she was). But the food was good, and we continued on our way back to Ohio University. The hours ticked slowly by, and Brendon and I traded off driving every now and again, allowing one another to take short naps, which were somewhat effective. Eventually, we were able to see the sun rise behind us, and it was beautiful, as we were in West Virginia by this time, and saw the sunrise over the rolling hills, and vast landscapes. We tried taking some video of it, but the light was too funky for it to take, unfortunately. We had all gotten a chance to talk about so many things, that I can't even remember. It was a fun trip, although stupendously long. Eventually, after stopping for gas one final time once we crossed the West Virginia/Ohio border, we arrived back at our home sweet home in Athens. I've never been so happy to be back at OU. Going on that trip was so incredibly stupid, but so worth it, just to see Nine Inch Nails live, in a small venue. The only other band that I'd ever do that for is Tool.
I'm sure that I missed a lot of things, but the trip was awesome. I'm glad I had three good friends to go with, as that made it even more memorable. Definitely a fun experience, as it was one of those really stupid college road trips that everyone hears about. Well, that's about it. Thanks to those who have read this in its entirety
I don't know what might have possessed you to do so, but eh, whatever. take care everyone 
We left Athens at 9:20, after a quick stop at the Oasis to pick up a bunch of energy drinks (between all of us, we bought 5 cans of Sobe No Fear, and 7 cans of Amp). The trip started with a listen through of the NIN album, With Teeth, which seemed appropriate, because we were going to see NIN: Live, With Teeth. Brendon brought a small digital video camera with him, so he was able to record portions of our misadventures. The first few hours of the trip were lengthy, and boring. Driving through West Virginia was kinda fun though, what with the 70 mph speed limit, and everybody going at least 80, through those crazy, winding roads, and the steep downhill slopes. But yeah, it was still boring.
Eventually, we became hungry, and started to decide on a place to eat. It came down to a choice between Waffle House and Denny's. Denny's is more of an evening place to go to, what with the crazy goth kids hanging out, eating breakfast food, especially after a concert. So we chose Waffle House. The problem being that there were no Waffle Houses to be found. In the entire first four hours of the trip (it's an eight hour trip, one way), we saw naught a single Waffle House. Just a slew of Roy Rodgers. We saw, easily, a dozen or more Roy Rodgers on our way to Philly, and we still have no idea what a Roy Rodgers is. Any ideas? Well, eventually, when we lost hope, we resigned ourselves to eating at Wendy's. Fortunately, I'm a terrible driver (apparently), and I missed the exit. We were all saddened by this, but low and behold, the very next exit had a sign for Waffle House. It was such a wonderful sign. And so lunch was had at said Waffle House, and it was good. It's kinda funny, because once we got onto the road again, the next exit had a sign for Denny's. And for the remained of the trip, we saw many Waffle Houses, and Dennys. So we knew we would be good for dinner/breakfast/whatever on the return trip.
Eventually, many CD's, and stilly conversations later, we finally entered Pennsylvannia. On a tanget, Maryland and Pennsylvania are crazy. They have many left-hand exits, and left-hand merge ramps. It was nuts. And we ran into massive amounts of construction. And then right around 4:30 PM we hit a HUGE traffic jam (multiple ones, actually) due to rush-hour traffic. It made the next two hours crawl by incredibly slow. But it was all good, as we eventually exited the crazy traffic jam, and continued our journey.
When we arrived in Philly, there was much rejoicing ("yay..."). It was relatively easy to find a parking space, and cheap too (only $5). And it was right across the venue to boot. That is... we thought it was. We went to the address given to us by MapQuest, and found it to be the box office, which was nowhere near the venue. So we walked around town for a little while, and eventually asked for directions and found the venue. We saw many interesting sights. I had no idea you could have that many "exotic dancing" bars in such a little area, holy crap. It was ridiculous. We also saw an elderly woman, in a wheelchair (maybe in her early 60s), wearing a fishnet shirt, which we found endlessly amusing. It was definitely a bad part of town though, and we were glad that we didn't have to spend much time there. Or at least, so we thought...
At the venue itself, there were so many goth kids and people that it would make you want to puke. So much angst and depression in one space can't be healthy (says the goth man with bi-polar disorder... lol). After being patted down, we entered the Electric Factory, where the opening band, the Dresden Dolls were playing. They were quite good. I had bought their album online a few weeks prior, to see what they were like, and it was very eclectic. Their music is based heavily on German burlesque music from the 1920's and early 30's. It also has punk and rock influences, as well as some jazz. It consists of one woman singer, who also plays keyboard/piano, and a drummer that also occasionally plays the classical guitar. Both performers were fantastic. The woman had so much energy, and so much passion... and the drummer was completely and utterly insane. I've never seen a drummer so fantasitcally involved with his music, and this is including footage of drummers I've seen on television. He was fantastic. And because it was just he and the girl, he had plenty of drum solo time, which was all very tasteful, and perfectly fitting for the songs. It was impressive. I had my reservations about Trent Reznor's choice of opening band, but after seeing them, I have no doubts whatsoever. They were incredible.
During the Dresden Dolls, my friends and I worked our ways closer to the stage. We made it to the sound booth, which was roughtly 40 feet or so from the stage (it was a very small venue, maybe 400-500 people max). There were some goth guys and girls around us, and we all seemed to be eagerly awaiting Trent and his band to take the stage. We waited for what seemed forever, and then eventually, the lights went out, and the hum of amplifiers began to fill the venue.
The opening chords of "Every Day is Exactly the Same" began, and the crowd rushed forward towards the stage, and I and a few others stayed back, because we knew how crazy it was going to get up there. The lights began to fall upon the members of the band. When Trent himself took to the stage, and he opened his mouth to utter the first few lines, I began to cry. I was seeing my idol perform, finally. I had waited for 9 years for that moment. I have a lot of patience. I'm used to waiting for things. But I finally saw him. It was awesome beyond measure, and I couldn't stop crying. I began singing along, occasionally choking back tears, and eventually regained my composure. He played for about 1 1/2 hours, and some of that time was a blur. I was so enveloped in the music that the world seemed to fade away. The performance was nigh flawless, and the amount of emotion Trent put into the songs. Saying I was awed is such an understatement. He played a lot of songs off of the new album, but curiously, he didn't play "The Collector", or the title track "With Teeth". Those seemed like they'd be good live songs, but whatever. He played a lot of his "hits", the crowd pleasers, whatever you want to call it. But it was all so genuine. I could feel such a closeness to the emotion within those songs.
And about six or seven songs in, the band left the stage, except for the keyboardist, and the light fell upon Trent. The first three notes of "Something I can Never Have" sounded, and I instantly collapsed into tears. I couldn't stop throughout the entirety of the song. I felt so alone, so lost, so confused. He poured out his heart during that song, and so did I. He sung with such sadness, and I was brought right down with him. It is such a brutally simple song, musically, and the lyrics are not outstanding. But the emotion, and the way it is composed. It is unbelievable. If you have never heard the song, you should find it somewhere, and give it a listen. Maybe you'll be able to understand what I"m talking about. The song itself is about loss. About something you can never attain. About something that you so desperately yearn for, but can never have, no matter how hard you try. It fits my situation with The Other to a t. And I couldn't stop thinking about her. Maybe I really shouldn't say anything to her. Maybe I should let her go, as I will never have any place in her life. This is so useless, no point to continue. I can only hurt myself through this. These thoughts raced though my mind as I continued to cry, and faintly singing along. It was terrible, but beautiful. It allowed me to get out a lot of emotion that I had pent up inside for so long.
The remainder of the performace was amazing. It was everything that I had hoped it would be, and more. I will remember that concert for a long time, if not the remainder of my natural life. But anyway, I could continue to go on and on, and maybe I will in a future entry, but this post is very long as is, and I still have the return trip to cover (if you've made it this far, I thank you, and congratulate you for your patience and interest).
After the concert, the four of us walked back to our car. I opened the doors and played Tool rather loudly, as we stood outside of the car, talking ferverently about the concert, and consuming many energy drinks for return trip stamina. After about 15 minutes, a tweaked out, middle-aged black man in baggy clothes approached us, and began talking. He asked us about the concert, and then began to talk about how he had "seen the world" by selling magazines door to door. He had been only through the Us, and he considered that the "world". Kinda sad, but I digress... We noticed that he was kinda jittery, and his eyes were bloodshot. His pupils were so large that I don't believe that he had irises. He also kept shifting his weight, and never touched his right side. He then proceeded to talk to us about doing crystal meth, and smoking weed, and drinkking liquid e that had been pourded into Hawaiian Punch. We were invited to come with him back to his friend's place to get high, stoned, drunk, and what have you and then just chill or hang out with some women ("hang out".. ha...). We declined, giving reason that we had to return to Ohio for class. At this point we were kinda nervous, as we finally realized that this tweaked out meth head was carrying a gun (the reason he never touched his right side), and we wanted to do everything we could to appease him so that he'd leave us alone and just go away. Seeing as we were not interested in any drugs or women, he just straight up asked us for change or spare cash. We explained that we didn't have any spare cash, but we did have change, of which we gave him everything (about $1.50ish in total). He was hungry, and just wanted to go get something to eat apparently. So he went on his merry way, and we promptly got into the car, and "got the hell out of Dodge" as it were.
After being on the road for an hour or so, we stopped at a Denny's were we all had a sizeable meal, which was quite tastey. We had a very friendly, large, black woman as a waitress, and she was very cool. Because we were the only customers for about half an hour, she talked to us about the concert, and stuff like that. She also had a good feel for what food was good (which makes sense seeing how large she was). But the food was good, and we continued on our way back to Ohio University. The hours ticked slowly by, and Brendon and I traded off driving every now and again, allowing one another to take short naps, which were somewhat effective. Eventually, we were able to see the sun rise behind us, and it was beautiful, as we were in West Virginia by this time, and saw the sunrise over the rolling hills, and vast landscapes. We tried taking some video of it, but the light was too funky for it to take, unfortunately. We had all gotten a chance to talk about so many things, that I can't even remember. It was a fun trip, although stupendously long. Eventually, after stopping for gas one final time once we crossed the West Virginia/Ohio border, we arrived back at our home sweet home in Athens. I've never been so happy to be back at OU. Going on that trip was so incredibly stupid, but so worth it, just to see Nine Inch Nails live, in a small venue. The only other band that I'd ever do that for is Tool.
I'm sure that I missed a lot of things, but the trip was awesome. I'm glad I had three good friends to go with, as that made it even more memorable. Definitely a fun experience, as it was one of those really stupid college road trips that everyone hears about. Well, that's about it. Thanks to those who have read this in its entirety
I don't know what might have possessed you to do so, but eh, whatever. take care everyone VIEW 4 of 4 COMMENTS
thats so awesome
trips like that is what you're going to remember for the rest of your life
YAY