With the benchmark setting ‘…And all that could have been’ documenting the massive tour that followed on from ‘The Fragile’, Trent had to be careful on any follow up DVD not to be outdone by his own previous effort. Of course, being Trent, perfectionism was the only answer and after taking the novel decision to send his crew off into the venue (and seemingly any and every available space on stage) with handheld HD recorders, the NIN main man spent an age stitching all the footage together to come up with the visceral ‘Beside you in time’ set.
While the album ‘with teeth’ was a mixed bag and probably NIN’s least coherent effort, the ensuing tour was a monster. A massive, audience destroying juggernaut that straddled the globe and saw Trent and his merry misfits reworking material from ‘With Teeth’ into huge metallic tsunamis of noise, the live: with teeth tour gave birth to ‘Year Zero’ and featured the talents of Josh Freese on drums, Jeordie White (formerly of Marilyn Manson fame), Allessandro Cortini and Aaron North all of whom perform excellently on the DVD. The track listing features a wealth of familiar tracks (many of which appeared on the previous DVD although ‘Closer’ is substantially different) as well as a selection of new cuts which often work far better than their recorded counterparts – particularly the room-shaking ‘You know what you are?’ and the droning monster that is ‘the line begins to blur’. It also features the almost unbearably poignant ‘right where it belongs’ which is filmed with the band hidden behind a massive video projection (similar to ‘Eraser’ from the Closure box set) and which is utterly heartbreaking in its broken honesty.
Technically the DVD is a work of art with some of the best picture quality yet seen on a DVD (and I’m told the Blu-ray is even more spectacular) while the audio is of such a high standard that it even occasionally eclipses past studio efforts – clearly Trent spent plenty of time fiddling the mixes and adding missed notes and beats but with a band like NIN the whole point is to witness a rose-tinted version of the real thing and if Trent did exert quality control then it was only to everyone’s benefit. Generous extras also include footage from other legs of the tour (including a vicious rendition of Fragile opener ‘Somewhat damaged’ performed behind as massive metal mesh and the fascinating music videos for ‘The hand that feeds’ and ‘only’ (the latter being of particular interest) and some rehearsal footage including With teeth highlight ‘everyday is exactly the same’ which didn’t make it to the main concert itself.
All in all, particularly as NIN is now a past tense proposition, ‘Beside you in time’ is a mighty reminder of the sheer force of a NIN performance. The lighting is adequately portrayed and the music is crystal clear, with highlights provided in the form of a vicious ‘burn’ a heartbreaking ‘something I can never have’ and a stunning ‘head like a hole’ although in truth this is more like a dream set list with no real bad choices to destroy flow or mood. Ultimately Trent is a masterly entertainer who knows what his audience wants and with a quality product like this he makes sure that we get it. First rate.
Tracklist:
1. Love Is Not Enough – Live (winter tour)
2. You Know What You Are? – Live (winter tour)
3. Terrible Lie – Live (winter tour)
4. The Line Begins To Blur – Live (winter tour)
5. March Of The Pigs – Live (winter tour)
6. Something I Can Never Have – Live (winter tour)
7. Closer – Live (winter tour)
8. Burn – Live (winter tour)
9. Gave Up – Live (winter tour)
10. Eraser – Live (winter tour)
11. Right Where It Belongs – Live (winter tour)
12. Beside You In Time – Live (winter tour)
13. With Teeth – Live (winter tour)
14. Wish – Live (winter tour)
15. Only – Live (winter tour)
16. The Big Come Down – Live (winter tour)
17. Hurt – Live (winter tour)
18. The Hand That Feeds – Live (winter tour)
19. Head Like A Hole – Live (winter tour)
20. Credits
21. Somewhat Damaged – Live summer tour)
22. Closer – Live (summer tour)
23. Help Me I Am In Hell – Live (summer tour)
24. Non-Entity – Live (summer tour)
25. Only – Live (summer tour)
26. The Collector – Live at rehearsals 2005
27. Every Day Is Exactly The Same – Live at rehearsals 2005
28. The Hand That Feeds – Album Version, Closed Captioned
29. Love Is Not Enough – Live at rehearsals 2005
30. Only – Dirty Version, Closed Captioned
31. Body of Work
32. Stills Gallery
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