Nine Inch Nails Live: Beside You in Time

This was a great concert DVD, but at the same time, some of it seems like it's already been done before. The fact of the matter is, the version of "Closer" performed during this concert is almost the same as the version performed on the And All That Could Have Been tour, aside from the additional expletive. However, the band manages to kick a good amount of their line-up in high gear. Beside You In Time has one of the best live versions of "Something I Can Never Have" that I've ever seen. Also, his new material seems to have a new life that you didn't hear on the With_Teeth album, most notably in "Love Is Not Enough" and "The Line Begins To Blur." In addition to this, the concert isn't as much of a blur of metal and rage you'd think it might be. There's a good variety of songs here, just what you might expect to see on a Greatest Hits album. It's not all dull-sounding, like And All That Could Have Been. As lively as the hard rock songs are, the ballads like "Something I Can Never Have," "Right Where It Belongs," and "Hurt" are just as vivid. All in all, this concert DVD is nothing new, especially in the way of concert DVDs. At the same time, with the band kicking it up in high-gear, it's a good choice to get, whether you're a NIN enthusiast or just an average fan.

Gratingly satisfying, NIN: Beside You In Time brings back an amazing collaboration between industrial rock legend Trent Reznor and underground filmmaker Rob Sheridan in the bands third Video Album chronicling the 2006 With Teeth Tour, featuring songs like Terrible Lie, March Of The Pigs and Wish etc.

Though one gripe, it's Head Like A Hole they end on instead of HURT, a staple tradition in all majority of their live performances but it's still great to hear those angry darker synths, violent guitars and Trent's anti-establishment lyrics.

Such visceral performances all around, the ferocity and harmonic qualities that are represented in this film are just epic and grand combined with 'on the fly' cinematography, featuring crane arms, hidden crowd cameras, extreme close-ups, serve to cement NIN's discography and influence over generations of music to come.

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 percussionist 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. There's 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 addition 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 particularly good music video to accompany it. One thing I wished to have seen is some interviews or behind the scenes footage instead of those rehearsals 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, Closer

It's February 27th and Trent Reznors new DVD just hit store shelves. Needless to say this surpasses his previous film releases Closure and All that could have been. Visually "Beside you in time" is flawless, every second is crystal clear and enchanting. Trent Reznors sweat has never looked so good on camera. The DVD does fall behind with it's choppy audio mixing however. There are deliberate parts that just don't explode like they should ( Eraser) and some parts are just far to loud to be enjoyable. This DVD is absolutely worth its price (12.99) for 2 and a half hours of Nine Inch Nails fun. The Audio can be frustrating in parts but the visuals redeem these faults. I Highly recommend this to any NIN fan, casual or hardcore.

Musically it's fantastic. Now flaws. However at times Reznor's voice sounds a little weak on tracks like "Hurt" or "March of The Pigs". And I'm annoyed at the extra f-words added. But despite some weaknesses, Trent still pulls off a stunning performance. Best songs: "With Teeth", "Closer" (love how they use the keyboard from their 1989 classic "The Only Time) and "Help Me I'm in Hell". Don't forget to check out the bonus features as well! It has some great music videos, and a live in-studio version of "Everyday is Exactly the Same" Plus a picture gallery, and five more live performances. I would recommend this to not only die-hard fans, but to NIN fans in general. And people new to the group will probably enjoy this as well, despite some weak vocals.