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Sonic Flashback: David Bowie with Nine Inch Nails (October 19, 1995 at Thomas & Mack)

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David Bowie during his Hartford, Connecticut, tour opener, a month before the ’95 Vegas show.
Photo: Bob Child/AP
Dennis Mitchell

The news of David Bowie and Nine Inch Nails touring on the same bill in 1995 was met with the kind of anticipation you’d expect, especially when word came that part of the show would involve them performing together. The concept represented the merging of a performer whose name had become synonymous with the ability to assume different personas, with a band that had become important by delivering its own brand of powerful drama, visually and aurally. It was a brave pairing of huge artists bridging two very different generations.

I had also thought of it in terms of a changing of the guard, with Bowie having slowed the frequency of his tours while Nine Inch Nails’ popularity was still surging. Just as those transitions had taken many years, the concert at the Thomas & Mack had its own gradual evolution, with NIN taking the stage first. The openers blasted through a mini-retrospective of the first three records, as Trent Reznor pled, writhed and punched the air. As the show unfolded it was hard to imagine how Bowie would meld with the dark intensity of a fog-filled, strobe-flickering arena reverberating with “Closer.”

I had only seen Bowie once before, at the 1983 US Festival with an exhausted audience of more than 100,000, so even a second-tier seat at the T&M was intimate by comparison. As NIN wrapped up its set, I couldn’t believe my ears as tones shifted to those of “Subterraneans” from Bowie’s haunting Low album. Wearing a stylish trench coat, he walked out with NIN still onstage, starting a gradual changeover of musicians between the two bands, barely noticeable because of the smoke machines.

The big moment proved well worth the wait. Bowie and Reznor traded vocals on each other’s songs—“Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps),” “Reptile” and newer Bowie song “Hallo Spaceboy,” as the moshing came to a stop with all eyes forward. The joint set ended with Reznor, Bowie and guitarists Carlos Alomar and Reeves Gabrels delivering a stunning “Hurt.” A smooth lyrical trade-off evolved and intensified into a mesmerizing duet that proved to be the single most memorable moment of the evening.

Bowie and his band followed with mostly newer material and none of his major hits, though he did include a few vintage album tracks and an encore of “Under Pressure.” Moshers moved away from the stage en masse as soon as the Bowie/Reznor set ended, as middle-aged Bowie fans shuffled down to take their spots—a sort of low-level reverse changing of the guard.

Twenty years later, both artists are still with us, still producing new music. Since sequels almost always suck, it’s a good thing this impressive double bill remains a one-of-a-kind experience.

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