Concert review: Nine Inch Nails still challenging and rewarding

The makers of Trent Reznor's microphone stand can be proud: Tuesday's visceral, pummeling concert by Reznor's band Nine Inch Nails proved their product can withstand just about anything.

The bulldog-size but pitbull-tempered frontman alternately pounded his mike stand into the floor, tossed it around the stage or gripped it like it was Excalibur in the rock -- all in keeping with the impact of his music. Even though he writes and records a lot of NIN's songs all on his own, he used that stand as his main instrument of choice Tuesday.

Reznor's 20-year-old group proved almost as resilient in the mostly frantically paced 2 1/2-hour set. For one thing, the crowd of 7,817 was modestly impressive on a weeknight and in this economy (although, since it was a makeup date for a show canceled in August, fans had plenty of time to buy tickets).

More impressive, though, was how NIN steered clear of becoming strictly a nostalgia act. Where most hard-rock bands would be resting on their laurels two decades in, these guys continue to put on challenging but rewarding, innovative shows.

The set list relied heavily on the three albums NIN has put out over the past two years. That's right, three -- including two just this year. Newly freed from his record-label contract, Reznor has become hyper-productive, even issuing his songs for free online before they're available for purchase.

The practice seems to be paying off, as the crowd screamed and howled along through the first six songs of the concert, four of which came off the latest of those records, "The Slip." The juggernaut "1,000,000" made for an explosive opener, and the arena erupted twice over a few songs later as the band lit up with the '90s hit "March of the Pigs."

The fans were even tolerant of the mid-show segment of moody, atmospheric songs from this year's all-instrumental CD, "Ghosts I-IV." Reznor had great help there, though, from the visual effects, as the band eerily performed behind a curtain-like Jumbotron-type screen.

Throughout the concert, the crowd was subjected to a seizure-worthy array of strobes and whirring, flashing lights. With that hi-fi of a setup, it seemed a little hokey for Reznor to be singing into a mini-cam during the mega-hit "Closer," but the crowd ate up that gimmick, too. By the time he got to the pre-encore finale, "Head Like a Hole," Reznor returned to the front of the stage to take it out on his mike stand once again -- still the best visual effect of the night.

Chris Riemenschneider • 612-673-4658