NIN: Vegas Last Show - Cortini + Freese

The Nine Inch Nails concert in Las Vegas at Planet Hollywood last night [12/13/08] was incredible. The energy was intense, and the band played a great set for the last concert of the Lights in the Sky tour. The visuals were amazing, and I'm glad I got to see them from a distance instead of near the front, where I usually prefer to watch a show.

During the encore, Trent Reznor announced that both drummer Josh Freese and synth/guitar player Alessandro Cortini were playing their last NIN concert and leaving the band. The news about Josh Freese had already been announced a couple months ago, but the departure of Cortini was a surprise.

Both will be missed, but I'm looking forward to hearing what they do in their respective projects. Freese has no shortage of bands to play in. Cortini will likely record and tour with his band [Modwheelmood] and continue to experiment with his recent Buchla 200e project [Blindoldfreak].

Alessandro Cortini on modwheelmood.com - myspace + blindoldfreak.com:

"thank you.

It's been exactly 4 years since i joined Nine Inch Nails and the time has come for me to move onto new things.
I feel a need to explore other paths in music and life which leads me to leave the tour at this stage.
I am grateful of the chance i was given: it doesn't happen every day to be able to work next to some of the most talented people on this planet.

Trent & Co. have been aware of this decision of mine for a while now and are prepared to take the band to the next step.

Thanks to all the fans who welcomed me at the beginning of my journey and supported me through the years: I hope to see you around here or there.

Alessandro"

Reznor said that he will rebuild NIN as a 4-piece band. The Nine Inch Nails live touring lineup has been a 5-piece for years. The last time NIN played as a 4-piece was in 1991. Last month Reznor announced Ilan Rubin as the new drummer who will replace Freese. If guitarist Robin Finck and bassist Justin Meldal-Johnsen remain in the group, who is going to play keyboards? Meldal-Johnsen has been playing keyboard on a few songs this tour, and Finck played a bit of keys on previous NIN tours. Will the synth element remain in the next incarnation of NIN?

NIN is scheduled to premiere the new band on February 17, 2009, in Auckland, New Zealand. The tour will go through Australia through the beginning of March and then back to the States in April. A European tour will follow and then "that's it... for now..."

Nine Inch Nails Las Vegas Planet Hollywood setlist 12/13/08:

999,999
1,000,000
letting you
discipline
march of the pigs
head down
the frail
closer
gave up
the warning
the great destroyer
21 ghosts III
28 ghosts IV
19 ghosts III
piggy [ghost]
the greater good
pinion
wish
terrible lie
survivalism
the big come down
31 ghosts IV
only
the hand that feeds
head like a hole

echoplex
reptile
the good soldier
hurt
in this twilight

Update: Check out the video interview with Trent Reznor at pink is the new blog recorded right before the Vegas show on Saturday. He talks about how the next NIN tour will be "the opposite of what we're doing, a kind of all-white light, just about the band playing" with radically different setlists from night to night. An amphitheater tour of the US with a surprise big band starts in mid-April, then after a European festival tour ends next summer, Reznor plans to record a new album and work on non-musical projects, including the Year Zero TV series and new software.