Review Summary: This is a powerful and energetic performance coming from one of the most intense groups out there. The quality of the DVD is superb as well and makes a nice addition to any fan's collection.
Nine Inch Nails – Beside You in Time
First off, I want to say this is the only Nine Inch Nails DVD I’ve ever seen so in comparison to the band’s other DVDs, I don’t know how if fares. On its own though it’s a great DVD with some stellar performances. Trent shows why his group his one of the best live groups out there with his intense and relentless energy. I should also mention this DVD is composed of the
With Teeth North American Winter Tour.
Sound Quality:
The sound quality is great for the most part. Trent sounds more angst filled than ever. He pours so much emotion into every song and it never sounds artificial. Especially on songs like
Terrible Lie and
Burn . He sounds just as good live as any he does on any of his studio albums. He rarely improvises, but when he does it’s always welcome. The backing vocals sound surprisingly good as well. They never take away from the original sound. They actually add a great deal into certain songs like
Head like a Hole . All the instruments can be heard well as well. Sometimes the guitar seems a little overpowering, but that’s probably to expect since the
With Teeth album had a lot of driving guitar. My biggest gripe is probably that some of the cool electronic effects can’t be heard as well live as they do normally. For example at the end of
Terrible Lie we can barely pick up on those ending sound effects. The same goes for
Wish . However this is very common for live shows so I can’t complain too much. Overall the sound is pretty dang good.
Visuals:
The visual is pretty good. There is always a great deal of flashing and lighting going on. It’s enough to give some a seizure at times, but never too distracting. We can always see the band members and the camera is never hyperactive. While there isn’t a huge amount of on screen footage there is enough, and it always comes at the right time. For example at the beginning of
Eraser, with the absence of vocals we are left to watch some cool visuals. Also during
Right Where it Belongs we see some pretty gruesome but interesting footage as well. However like I said it is not shown on most of the tracks. My only problem was the crowd was not shown enough. Personally one of my favorite aspects of live DVDs is seeing the huge crowd. For most of the show we only see a small portion, although we do see some brief glimpses of the entire crowd. This issue is most likely due to the fact that the venue is so dark.
Performance:
What can I say? Nine Inch Nails is one of the most well respected live groups out there, and this is no exception. Trent is so amazingly consistent with his emotion. He sings every song like he’s singing to the entire world. I mean he’s probably performed
Closer over ten thousand times but we wouldn’t know. The other band members get in on the fun too though. The guitarist Aaron North throws around equipment like the band has an endless supply of funds (which they probably do.) And any drummer knows the amount of energy Josh Freese brings to the table during a live show. While Nine Inch Nail’s music isn’t the best to showcase this beast of a percussinist we still experience his intensity just fine. Everyone does an outstanding job performing and that’s all that can really be said.
Features:
There are some pretty cool features on this DVD. We get a couple extra live songs from the Summer Tour which just adds more to the bag. We also get to see a rehearsal of
Every Day is Exactly the Same and
Love is not Enough which are O.K. but not as enjoyable as the live renditions. Theres a cool photo gallery and this feature called “Body of Work” that gives little samples of all the halos put out by the group. The best features are probably the additon of the
Only and
The Hand that Feeds music videos. These are two of Trent's more poppy (but better) songs and
Only has a particulary good music video to acompany it. One thing I wished to have seen is some interviews or behind the scenes footage instead of those reahearsals which are just sort of like a lesser version of the live songs. Not bad though.
Overall:
So in conclusion, like most live DVDs, this is a must have for die hard fans. Everything is great and the group puts on a great show. The features were a little lacking but not bad. Even if you own another live DVD of the group I would still recommend this because there are some pretty entertaining performances from the
With Teeth album. Any Nine Inch Nails fan should this add this to their growing collection.
Superb Tracks:
Terrible Lie
Burn
Eraser
Right Where it Belongs
Only
The Big Come Down
Hurt
