Trent Reznor has been a busy man with the seemingly endless amount of material he has been working on. All that material, however, has kept Nine Inch Nails from hitting the stage. Until last night that is.
The group played their first show in over three years when they took the stage at Rabobank arena in Bakersfield, CA. The concert came as surprise, in advance of their headlining appearance at the FYF Fest in L.A. this weekend. While a NIN show is enough reason to get excited, the band had a few goodies in store. First and foremost was the new material they played from their 2016 EP Not the Actual Events as well as some from the very soon-to-be-released follow-up Add Violence.
But that’s not all that got fans excited. In addition to new material, Reznor also performed for the first time a cover of David Bowie’s “I Can’t Give Everything Away,” from his last and final masterpiece Blackstar, and yeah, he does Bowie justice.
While fans thought that the cover was a one-time live performance, it turns out that’s not quite the case. Apparently, Reznor released the remix way back in January via an anonymous Soundcloud account, and it is identical to the live version.
For fans of Reznor, covering Bowie should come as no surprise. During the performance, Reznor explained that the cover was a way to process Bowie’s tragic passing. Reznor and the Star Master had collaborated extensively, and toured together in 1995, as well as recording the track “I’m Afraid of Americans,” in 1997. Beyond music, Bowie helped Reznor overcome his own struggles with drug and alcohol addiction. The death was clearly hard on Reznor, who even wrote an essay on their relationship. Check out the live and studio version below along with few of their more recent tracks, and get ready for Add Violence.
Photo Credit: Raymond Flotat
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