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Nine Inch Nails played the last of 2 dates scheduled at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago, IL last night which are said to be the last NIN concerts ever for that region of the country. The band has already made their way to Toronto, ON for a headlining performance at the Virgin Festival ’09 at the Molson Amphitheater tonight (the final international date for Nine Inch Nails) … but here is a shot taken by NIN photographer Rob Sheridan of the fans filing out of the Aragon Ballroom after last night’s performance:

Next up for Nine Inch Nails, the last 4 dates of the Wave Goodbye Tour which will all take place at different venues in Los Angeles, CA (The Palladium, The Henry Fonda Theatre, The Wiltern and Echoplex). Trent Reznor gave an interview to The Los Angeles Times about these final, final shows … here is a portion of that interview:

There was something about a Nine Inch Nails show in the daylight that just felt wrong. “Maybe,” Trent Reznor said in a sly murmur, “it was the fact that it wasn’t dark.” Reznor, the angst auteur behind Nine Inch Nails, toured this summer with Jane’s Addiction with every intention of retiring from the road. The plan, Reznor had said, was to put the band’s concert life on hiatus for a decade or so and to say farewell with a twist, as the opening act for the elder Jane’s latest reunion. But there was all that sunshine. “I chose for us to play first; I thought it would be a respectful thing for Jane’s and also be interesting for us to have the challenge of playing often and in daylight,” Reznor said. “But then, well, these were the last shows we were doing. We could pull off something better than that, something that leaves a better taste in our mouths.” That something is now the hottest ticket in town — four sold-out L.A. shows in the next eight days, all in venues that vary from small to tiny in comparison to the band’s usual arena settings. On Wednesday, it’s the refurbished Hollywood Palladium; the next night, it’s the Henry Fonda Theater. On Sept. 5, Nails will play the Wiltern Theatre and Sept. 6, the EchoPlex, the downstairs dance hall below the Echo club. The 44-year-old music star said the goal was “a very, very limited run of shows and that each would be special and more fan-orientated and not in cavernous arenas, but places where you actually like to see bands. It seemed like a way for fans to wish us off.”

After the jump, read another portion of TR‘s interview with The LA Times and see the full set list from last night’s performance at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago, IL …

The four L.A. concerts follow a similar four-show run in New York and a two-show stop in Chicago. (Nails also will appear Sunday at the Virgin Festival in Toronto.) Reznor said it was appropriate to finish up here, the place he now firmly considers home. “I’m excited about unpacking my suitcase and burning it,” Reznor said, clearly weary after too many months on the road, both with the summer tour with Jane’s and the Nails arena tour that began in 2008. After the final note is played at the EchoPlex, he will turn his attention to his pending nuptials (he is marrying singer Mariqueen Maandig next month) and songwriting, as well as many other pursuits across today’s digital entertainment landscape. He is not giving up music, just the grind of touring and perhaps, he has hinted, taking an emotional break from his older material, much of which serves as a document of his grim days in a dungeon of drugs and booze. In New York, however, at Webster Hall, Reznor and his band (guitarist Robin Finck, bass player Justin Meldal-Johnsen and drummer Ilan Rubin) connected with classic Nails material in an energizing way. The band played the entirety of its 1994 landmark, “The Downward Spiral.” “It was the first time we had ever done that, and it was cool; we didn’t announce it or anything,” Reznor said. “It was incredibly fun to play, and judging from online, people thought that was a pretty special thing to do.” He brought out Peter Murphy of Bauhaus during the New York shows (Murphy actually was lowered into the venue on a cable and, like a dour bat, performed part of the time while suspended upside down), and Reznor promises more guests and surprise sets in Los Angeles. “Every show will be different and unique,” he said.

The full interview HERE is a must read … it gives a bit of a TR retrospective over the course of his career and is very well-written. As anxious as I am to bear witness to the next round of shows, I’m growing more despondent over the finality. Even tho there is the promise of more music in the future and no 100% guarantee that NIN won’t ever tour again, I can’t help but start to feel the loss. I cannot even explain fully how lucky I feel to be able to attend the coming shows here in LA. Plus, I’m really looking forward to my sit down interview with Trent Reznor on the last date of the tour. Here is the set list from last night’s show at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago, IL:

Home
The Beginning Of The End
Survivalism
Heresy
March Of The Pigs
Piggy
Metal
Ruiner
I’m Afraid Of Americans
Burn
Gave Up
La Mer
The Frail
I Do Not Want This
Gone, Still
Right Where It Belongs v2.0
The Way Out Is Through
Wish
Mr Self Destruct
Suck
Echoplex
The Good Soldier
Dead Souls (Joy Division)
Reptile (with Peter Murphy)
Strange Kind Of Love / Bela Lugosi’s Dead (Bauhaus) (with Peter Murphy)
Final Solution (Pere Ubu) (with Peter Murphy)
The Hand That Feeds
Head Like A Hole
Hurt

It turns out that TR almost canceled the show last night since he got suddenly sick. Here is his message to fans that was posted on the official NIN forum today:

Nice to see you enjoyed the show – I did too.
I’ll tell you a secret – we almost canceled because I woke up sick and unable to talk complete with chills, etc. I spent all day sleeping trying to shake it but still felt terrible walking to the stage… then something happened and by the end I felt great. Weird.

By all accounts, TR sounded great last night and no one knew that he was feeling under the weather. I hope he’s feeling better today tho … I cannot wait to hear how tonight’s performance in Toronto goes … and, of course, to see the LA shows this coming week. Remember if you have ideas for questions for my upcoming interview with TR (keeping in mind I want the focus to be on the Wave Goodbye Tour), please send them along or message me on Twitter using the hashtag #ninterview.

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