Episode 35 of All You Need Is Hops is the first of the annual two-part Halloween shows. There really isn't much mystery as to the theme, its about Vampires, which are oh so trendy these days.
in DC and an awesome spot to catch show. While we waited in line to get into the venue, we saw Clarence Greenwood, aka Citizen Cope getting into his car. He is a local celebrity and musician we love. So the night was off to a good start. We watched the show with a couple we are close friends with, which is always fun. Afterwards, we hit the iconic DC restaurant Ben's Chili Bowl for a snack. And you thought Taco Bell was a bad idea before bed!
and since this is NIN's last tour, my final show ever! Again we had presale tickets. As we left for the show the sun was shining and all was well. However, as we approached the venue the skies suddenly darkened. As we parked in the lot we could hear NIN doing their soundcheck in the venue - they were playing Metal. As the skies quickly grew darker Hops 
joked that Trent Reznor had angered the weather gods. So we decided to wait out the weather in the car. It was a wise choice, as about a half an hour of major rain, lightening, hail and storms followed. In the pictures you can see the clouds rolling in, the rain through 
the skylight in the car (that lamppost had a "The Fray" flag attached to it, which we thought was hilarious), and Hops not looking to happy about the situation.
pure spectators. Plus Hops was excited about returning to a venue that he frequented for shows when he was in highschool. Our only tactical error here was that we failed to reserve a hotel room in the Holmdel area until just a few days before the show. We ended up at a Best Western about 20 minutes south of the venue. In retrospect it was probably not as bad as we thought it was - it was fairly clean, convenient and inexpensive. However, we were both a little disturbed to find that the shower/whirlpool was located in the bedroom rather than the bath. Needless to say, we wore flipflops when we showered.
a brewery called River Horse - a stout for me and a wit for Hops. Then it was off to the venue. Upon arriving we had no problems parking and picking up our presale tickets. Unlike in Camden, the weather was gorgeous so we set up a couple of camper chairs in the shade under some trees by our car and ate some sandwiches we had picked up before leaving Philly that morning (from DeBruno bros. specialty foods market - which you should check out next time you are in Philly if you like good food). The venue is unique because its a very park-like setting and was a perfect spot to enjoy a few cold ones before the show. The crowd was an interesting mix - most were blasting NIN, with a few Jane's and, not shockingly given we were in NJ, some Bruce. Hops was happy. Around 6:30 we decided to go into the venue. The picture to the right best describes the luxury that is being a presale ticket holder - you get to go in a separate entrance without the big line. The picture is from inside the venue looking back at all of the non-presale people waiting to get in. Ha-ha (simpson's style).
way too old and rickety to go into the pit, this is just about as close to the stage as we can get these days. With our presale tickets were were in the fourth row, on Justin's side. The other cool part about Holmdel is that the the actual structure is really sculptural. You can see this from the picture, it is looking back towards the lawn from our seats as the crowd is starting to roll in. Also pictured is Hops himself, doing some pose that apparently all his friends from his NJ days will get and find hilarious...
could you not?) then you really, really must check these guys out. That means you Phoofy! We struggled to get a good picture of these guys because Boots is always running around and Morello never stops moving. This is the best we could muster. This is a picture of me after their set - that is how good they are!
throughout the show the guys will throw plastic water bottles out to people in the pit area. Usually these are open so that the crowd gets sprayed with the water as it flys through the air. Aside from catching Trent's tambourine, getting a water bottle is a pretty cool souvenir. So when I saw Trent was getting ready to throw one I was jumping up and down. I must have looked exhausted (I was!) and he sent it our way. It was still half full and I proceeded to drink every last drop! Here is a picture of me with the bottle after the show. Hops keeps saying he might accidentally throw it away, which I keep explaining would clearly be grounds for divorce (no worries - I have it safely hidden away).
charismatic. And watching Dave Nevarro pick out which nasty chicks from the audience was pretty funny. Seriously, these girls would fight their way up to the front of the aisle to our left and start dancing and doing other things that I will not mention here because this blog is PG, all in efforts to get Dave's attention. He would point and nod at the ones he liked. Towards the end of the show when Perry went to introduce the rest of the band, Dave was almost too busy consulting with his guitar tech on which girls he liked to actually do his wave to the rest of the crowd when his name was called out. It was hilarious. After the show, all those girls stayed at the front of our section waiting for that guitar tech to come back out and let them know which ones were getting backstage. I felt bad for the guitar tech. The following is a picture of the look that Dave gives the lucky ladies in the running to be selected. Please do me a personal favor and double click on this one so you can really see it up close and personal. its priceless.
idea after midnight?) and crashed at the hotel after showering in flip flops. The next morning we headed east to the beach for a few hours of R&R and a quick lunch before hitting the road for the 4 hour drive back to DC. I wore my new shirt from the tour:
left and those that would be on the right of the stage (we were on the right, Justin's side). This is where we got really lucky. I was first in the line for the people going to the right side of the stage, and we ended up being the first group to get escorted out there. This is key, as you will see in a minute. So there was a crew member who led us from the room through the venue, which was crowded, then through a "authorized personnel only" door, then down a hall. At the end of the hall was another door, and when we went through it we are on the back of the stage. It was totally pitch black and my eyes were having a really hard time adjusting to the sudden change. I just kept walking forward. Hops snapped a photo at this point which gives you a pretty good idea of what it was like - basically walking into darkness. If you look really hard, you can see the silhouette of Bill (the production guy who did the push-ups in Post 1) to the left of my head.
So after the meet and greet, we were sent over the pit in front of the stage where 
we waited for the other groups to do their meet and greets so that the band could come out for the sound check. While we waited we chatted with some of the other fans and showed each other our pictures with the band. I almost accidentally deleted ours, after which I decided not to play with the camera anymore! This was the third time we got to see a NIN sound check (during the days of the Spiral fan club occasionally you would get in for a sound check before the show as one of the perks of membership). Still, every time it seems surreal to be in an arena or amphitheater when it is basically empty. Hops and I had a couple of pictures taken of the two of us – this one shows the empty venue behind us.
The first member of the band out for sound check was Justin. We were standing on the rail right in front of him. He came over and said something like “I hope you guys like the soundcheck…its actually pretty boring”. I think that is true for a normal soundcheck, but this was really more like a mini private show. Trent, Robin, and Ilan came out next and Trent said that since they were running behind (the soundcheck was supposed to start at 5:30 but by this time it was more like 6:00) and so they would only play a couple of songs. We got to hear The Good Soldier first, then Dead Souls. Dead Souls was particularly cool for Hops and I because the very first soundcheck we went to for NIN back in 2005 they also played that song. It is a favorite of mine - its a cover of the Joy Division song and was released with The Crow soundtrack. Here are a few pics from the soundcheck:
After soundcheck we were all hearded to another waiting area where we could finally sit down and take a load off while they opended the venue up to the presale ticket holders. We checked out the merchandise stand and chatted with some of the other fans. Once the presale folks were in the venue, we were escorted back to the room where we had met the band. There they had set up a catered dinner for the 60 of us. There were tables to sit at and of course the living room style seating with the shag rugs. The speakers were playing NIN's All that Could Have Been. Dinner was actually really tasty. In honor of Philly they had brought in cheesesteaks. There was also soda, chips, and salad. Here is a really fantastic photo of me eating a cheesesteak.
Next up, watching the show from backstage...
Alright, now for the really fun stuff. So as I mentioned before, I had a ton of things with me to sign, which I had to narrow down to two items - one for me and one for Hops. I had ticket stubs, cd booklets, my original NIN Spiral (fanclub) membership card, and some special lithographs that were issued to Spiral members back in 2006. The lithos are the size of album covers, and were from various releases. I ended up choosing to go with two lithos - one for The Fragile, and one for Broken. I chose Broken because this was next major release after Pretty Hate Machine and represented a departure from syth style electronic music to more industrial and harder sound. The Fragile is probably my favorite NIN album (if I was forced to choose). Its really tight, impressive because it is a two disc release, and has a broad range including some of Trent's best instrumental stuff (at least prior to the release of Ghosts I-IV in 2008).
Once the band had arrived and was set up, we were led back to a large room where they had a table set up, which the band was sitting behind. There was music playing - but I didn't recognize it. One thing I did recognize...those white shag rugs! Across from the table they had these little sitting areas set up like in a living room. With the rugs and all the gray leather furniture. So at the table the order of the band was Robin, Justin, Trent, then Ilan. There was one couple ahead of me in line so I was the third person at the table. This was good because they were talkative and I think it forced me to stay at each band member's station longer than I would have otherwise. Not that I said much - I was way too nervous. In fact, Hops did most of the talking. Basically I would go to each guy, introduce myself and shake their hand. But Hops was all talkative with each guy. He asked Robin how he was feeling (he had been sick earlier in the tour) and advised him to get hand sanitizer. He talked to Justin about the traffic in NJ, which Justin described as "thick". Hops said that they like everything "thick" in Jersey...I'm not sure if Justin got the joke or not.
Then came Trent. I had planned on telling him how I had been listening to his music since I was in my early teens and how it has grown with me and how he is the one band that I have consistently admired. Instead I just introduced myself and just stood there while he signed my lithograph. To break the silence Trent said "So I want to thank you for donating to this cause" or something like that. So I said "Well I want to thank you for giving us this opportunity". He smiled and gave me back my lithograph. As I moved down the line to Illan, Hops said "What she is trying to say, but is too nervous, is that she has been listening to your 
music since before she could drive". This got a big laugh. Then Hops said "Its been with her from awkward adolescence..." and I finished his sentence with "...to an equally awkward adulthood". So I guess my original intent was in there somewhere. At least we got a laugh out of it.
Ilan was nice and I introduced myself and got his signature too. Then Hops decided to chime in with a comment about Pink Floyd being superior to Zepplin - "Floyd by day and Zepplin by night". I guess Ilan had been Twittering with Mariqueen (Trent's fiancee) debating which band was better and Hops felt he had to get his two cents in. Well of course Ilan, being a drummer, was favoring Zepplin in the debate. So he and Hops discussed this at length as the rest of the autograph line started to back up behind him. Eventually Leo, one of the crew members, tapped Hops and let him know he needed to move along!
After getting the signatures, we waited for the rest of the people in our group to go through the line. Then it was time for each person to get their photo with the band. Again, we had just one couple in front of us. I gave our camera to Leo, who was going to take the picture for us. When it was our turn I walked up and stood next to Robin, thinking that Hops and I would each go on one side of Trent. I told Robin that he was going to really make me look short. Then I looked to my left and Trent was over there with his arms out like - what you don't want to stand next to me? - so I asked him for a hug. He was kind enough to oblige me. So Hops ended up next to Robin - I think he made a joke that Robin was getting stuck with him. Here is the picture.
After that I thanked Trent again and Trent actually went out of his way to go over to Hops and shake his hand. Although I was a little disappointed that I hadn't handled myself better when we were at the autograph table I though the picture and hug were great, and I was on cloud nine.
Now, off to the soundcheck!
and early for the drive up from DC. It was raining the whole time and we were fully prepared to have to spend hours in the wetness waiting to get into the venue. In order to provide some pre-show nourishment, we stopped at a Nathan's when we arrived in Camden. Can you imagine a better meal to start out your afternoon - especially when the nerves of meeting your long-time idol are already making your stomach churn? In any case, the poster did not disappoint.
thrilled that there was an overhang at the entrance so we were able to get reprieve from the pounding rain. We met some very cool fans while in line and generally had a nice time despite the cold and wetness. We also watched a truck unload several white shag rugs and gray leather furniture, which was weird. It will come up again later...
. She was there to hand out presale tickets and gather the people with backstage passes to let us inside. We checked in with her and anxiously awaited the time when we would get to go in. At this point I was incredibly nervous. I had brought about ten different items that I thought I might like to get signed and still hadn't firmly decided on which to do (both Hops and I could get only one item signed). Not to mention the pressure over not knowing what to say to a man whose music you have admired for over 15 years. Hops was less nervous and was keeping me in good spirits. Here is a picture of him wearing his backstage pass.
covered even though it is an amphitheater. So we were finally out of the rain. There were about 60 of us that had passes for backstage, and we were divided into groups of about 20. We were in the first group, so we had the shortest wait before getting the backstage tour. During the tour we got to meet the guys in the production office for NIN, Jane's Addiction, and Street Sweeper Social Club. They guy pictured here is Bill - he does the production for NIN and was there to answer any questions we had. He and the other guys in the office wanted to do push-ups with us, so of course I volunteered. 
Apparently during long days on the road this is how they keep their energy up. Anyway, I hadn't really thought through the whole push-ups in a short skirt scenario. Thankfully my tights were pretty dark- and Hops was kind enough to cut my backside out of the photo. That's me on the bottom right. Just look at that form! :-)
SSSC dressing room we looked in and Boots Riley (lead singer) was hanging out in there. Hops shouted "Boots" and Boots replied with a very chill "Alllright!". It was cool. At the end of the hall we went out the doors to see the loading dock were all the trucks with the equipment are located. At this point, I was pretty nervous because they didn't tell you where you were going before you got there, so each time they would open a door I thought Trent Reznor was going to be there. Very nerve wracking! Anyway, here is a shot of the loading dock truck with a picture of Mr. T on it. After this we returned to a holding area to wait for the band, which was apparently stuck in traffic.
Mrs. Hops backstage at the Nine Inch Nails show.
I was in Chicago Memorial Day weekend to celebrate my friend Brad's wedding. This Bob Dylan line was in my head all weekend:
Episode 32 of All You Need Is Hops is the cure to your 401K blues. Economy got you down? Need a job? Looking for a bailout? Well Episode 32 is perfect for you. With a wide range of genres and songs spanning over 150 years this Hopscast has it all.
Mrs. Hops' and I use a modern Seder plate.
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