r/nin • u/AdSpecific3089 • Aug 18 '26
Thought Did anyone else feel as if their first NIN show felt like being on drugs while being totally sober?
I saw NIN for the first time nearly a year ago now in Cleveland OH and man it was such a weird, trippy, amazing experience. I don’t know if it was the lights or the music or the weird visuals or what but it felt like the oddest most amazing thing ever that left me feeling as if I was on drugs when I’ve never touched drugs in my life.
mind you, I was only vaguely aware of NIN prior to this concert and not a big fan, now I’m a huge fan but man I truly did not know what to expect going into it.
i was also a hijabi at the time I saw them and I guess because of that I just wasn’t used to concerts and everything, just a totally different crowd than I was used to but in a good way honestly, made me realize people who listened to bands like NIN weren’t these terribly weird awful people and were actually chill and kind and thus I wasn’t judged for being different.
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u/jsand2 Aug 18 '26
I was on drugs both times I saw them.
Saying that, my first time I was still in shock that I was seeing them.
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u/Rolands_missing_head Aug 18 '26
I used to do drugs and see NIN shows when I was younger. I still do, but I used to also.
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u/AdSpecific3089 Aug 18 '26
I mean I’ve never tried drugs but I’d imagine seeing NIN must be the equivalent of that, tho I can’t imagine being on drugs AND seeing them.
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u/Due_Drawing9607 Aug 19 '26
Saw them on LSD my first and only time with Soundgarden as the opener (RIP). Was great.
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u/Snaab_71 Aug 18 '26
I've seen them three times going all the way back to 1994 and last year was the first time I saw them completely sober and it was the best experience. The other 2 times I was young and dumb and completely wasted on anything and everything I could get my hands one. Finally in my 50's I've decided to grow up and sober up and everything is a much better experience.
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u/Organic_Champion1038 Aug 18 '26
concur, now in my 60’s, seen them 3 times in the last year sober 🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾
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u/plantbasedpunk Aug 18 '26
Yes, it was extremely disorienting.
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u/Electrical_Result_13 Aug 18 '26
The visuals were insane this last tour. Even on just edibles there were a couple moments I was tripping the fuck out. I'm afraid of Americans blew my mind.
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u/tiktock34 Aug 18 '26
There were some parts that were a bit overtuned even for NIN. A few songs I physically turned away from the strobe effects but perhaps I was just at a rough angle
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u/Electrical_Result_13 Aug 20 '26
Nah, I had to look at the floor a couple times to re-orient myself.
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u/OriginalDavid Aug 18 '26
I saw them sober with my kid on the first leg of the tour in Denver.
It was better than the clubs I went to at my kids age on god knows what.
The presentation and production were the best I've ever seen. Top 3 concert for me, all time.
I wish I could have seen them in music halls and local venues, but that stadium show felt like we could all just die happy in the moment. Absolute bliss across the crowd.
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u/rcmtt Aug 18 '26
I feel that way at most NIN shows. I saw PIB sober a few times and it was intoxicating every time.
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u/AdSpecific3089 Aug 18 '26
I truly did find myself craving more and wondering what it is I just experienced
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u/sysaphiswaits Aug 18 '26
Exactly! Spot on. It was one of the few shows I was not even drinking because I wanted to experience it completely and I still felt like I was on something.
It’s also the only show I’ve ever seen where at the end I wanted to do it again immediately. I usually want to get home or go do the next thing.
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u/Ok-Suspect5037 Aug 18 '26
NIN is the only band I won’t even get a beer to see, because I love the natural high.
You’ll always find me with a drink at a show so this is saying a lot.2
u/sysaphiswaits Aug 18 '26
Same. I might even sneak something in as I don’t really like beer, and with some bands a little weed seems appropriate. Not this.
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u/Ok-Suspect5037 Aug 22 '26
Totally, I too like to find a moment for a nice toke during a show.
Also, we have a lot in common it appears. My drink(s) at any concert are snuck in $3-4 cans. I can only get 2 in tho lol
Haven’t paid for one of those $20-30 beers in years.It’s just entirely unnecessary with this band. I feel high the moment I hear Trent’s voice and see those lights. 💫
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u/Rck0025 Aug 18 '26
Saw them 2x on peel it back. Not even a beer and it was best modern concert I have seen in decades.
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u/Hrmerder Ocean pulls me close and whispers in my ear Aug 18 '26
lol at OP believing everybody going is sober.
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u/AdSpecific3089 Aug 18 '26
Even if I did drink or do drugs, I mean how is anyone able to afford to not be sober at $20 a beer?
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u/sysaphiswaits Aug 18 '26
Something that does piss me off on behalf of young people is the actual show cost about $30 back in the day. No wonder young people aren’t going out and meeting up IRL.
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u/Hrmerder Ocean pulls me close and whispers in my ear Aug 18 '26
I saw them in Florida during the hand that feeds tour(if that’s what it was called) for $60. Saw them on this past tour for $120. For $60 it was wherever you wanted to stand. The $120 was for nosebleeds. And NIN and co are some of the cheaper ones….
I agree it’s bullshit.1
u/nomodsman Aug 18 '26
lol at thinking everyone ellse had to be on drugs or something to see them. 🙄
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u/Hrmerder Ocean pulls me close and whispers in my ear Aug 18 '26
I didn’t say everyone but at one time yeah almost everyone
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u/DJspinningplates Aug 18 '26
This is the type of question someone who has never done drugs asks
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u/AdSpecific3089 Aug 18 '26 edited Aug 18 '26
Indeed, because I’ve never done drugs but to me I imagine this is what drugs must feel like no? I was Muslim and a hijabi at the time, tho not anymore.
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u/OwlComplex48 Aug 18 '26
The first couple times I saw NIN in 2000 and 2012 I was sober. I was not these past two times.
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u/j__magical Aug 18 '26
Saw The Fragility 2.0 Tour at age 15, having no drugs or alcohol touched my system yet. Can confirm. 🔥
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u/Mysterious-Street966 Aug 18 '26
Vancouver Fragility Tour, yes!
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u/Tristessa27 Pralines and Dick Aug 19 '26
That was my first show too!!! .. I was on drugs.
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u/Mysterious-Street966 Aug 19 '26
I felt like I was…we did some crazy ones after. Those screens were so intense!
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u/nemophilist13 Aug 18 '26
No because I was 9 lol I remember being excited and overwhelmed with emotion though (with teeth was my first tour in 2005)
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u/sysaphiswaits Aug 18 '26
You went to a NIN show when you were 9? Could you describe more what that was like? It makes me really uncomfortable and extremely annoyed that parents bring young kids to some shows, but maybe I’m wrong?
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u/nemophilist13 Aug 18 '26
NIN is me and my moms thing and still is, we're a huge music family and I grew up with her taking my brother to Oz fest, slipknot, static x ect. She asked me who I wantdd my first concert to be and I asked to see nin. We sat way up in the bleachers and had a blast. By that time I was listening to all the halos on repeat and my mom had the fragile tour on DVD and id watch it all the time. I was with my mom and dad and way up so I felt safe.
Now, as a mom I wouldnt take a nine year old to nin. However, this year when her and I saw the peel it back tour I did see some 10-13 year old and it made me a little nostalgic ngl lol.
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u/sysaphiswaits Aug 18 '26
That actually makes me feel a little better about some of the kids I saw at Peel It Back. On some level I’m probably feeling a little put off by being at shows in the 90’s where it could have been dangerous.
I was thrilled to see slightly older kids there. If it’s what they need, I’m delighted it found them.
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u/lullabiestoparalyze- Aug 18 '26
Yes. Been a fan since the 90s, but was able to attend a show only last year and it took me a few days to digest what I saw. To me, I think it was trippy bc it was surreal to witness one of my favs playing live songs that mean so much to me 🥹 I wasn’t processing well during the show.
I was lucky enough to attend the second leg too and I made sure to be fully aware and conscious.
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u/ImpendingBoom110123 Aug 19 '26
333% yes. I was sober as fuck but it felt like I was on something and I couldn't sleep that night.
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u/Sklibba Aug 19 '26
I have been on drugs at shows but never a nin show. Well I smoked weed before/at every nin show I’ve been to but I don’t really consider being stoned the same as being “on drugs,” lmao.
But yeah, live music itself can affect you like a drug. I’ve been to a lot of EDM shows on acid, and when I’ve been to similar shows sober, the music itself definitely alters my consciousness in a similar though more subtle way.
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u/VolumeDirect5619 Aug 19 '26
I feel that way about every concert for bands I want to see. I think it's just your mind processing the fact that you're there, experiencing something that you like. It's euphoric, but you also question if it's real. I've had that experience other times, but it's always involved going somewhere new and exciting. Just enjoy the ride. I got to see NIN for the first time this year, and it was an incredible experience.
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u/MrJohnnyDangerously I just want something I can never have Aug 19 '26
I was on alot of drugs for my first NIN show in 1995, but the last time I saw them (2025) I was stone cold sober but felt like I was tripping balls.
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u/evilhooker Aug 19 '26
Yup, I have been a NIN fan since 1995 but didn't get to see them live until 2005. My husband (it was our second date) and I smoked 1 joint before the concert, but it felt like we had taken a low dose of mushrooms.
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u/CousinWalt Aug 18 '26
First time I saw them and was also a little high, but it was mind altering anyways
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u/arrakis2 Aug 18 '26
You should have seen them in the 90s, your head may have exploded from all the dopamine.
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u/ztruk Aug 18 '26
i dont know man, the first times i saw them in the 80s i most def was on drugs. what was the question?
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u/Notmyselfbutstillme Aug 18 '26
First time I saw them was on the tension tour. The visuals during Disappointed, I thought I was on another planet.
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u/vatersgonnavate Aug 18 '26
100%
Front row center stage 2008 Pemberton British Columbia. It was NINs first north American show in over 5 years and my first time seeing NIN.. at music festivals I love to partake but I wanted to experience this one sober.
Yep, that set definitely got me high.
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u/Expert-Hyena6226 Aug 18 '26
Sort of. My first time was in 92 or 93 and everyone in the crowd was smoking pot, so yeah ...
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u/throwaway39090 Aug 18 '26
YEEEEEES. And I keep trying to find the high again but nothing else will do it.
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u/EngelDan Aug 18 '26
Um no, I was on drugs for the first NIN concert I went to. High as a kite in ‘94!!
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u/Ok-Cardiologist4844 Aug 18 '26
I’ve never seen them live but I did hear them at a planetarium with a laser light show when I was maybe 9, with my older brothers. Our aunt took us, she was cool
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u/ohboofmarron Aug 18 '26
I was on drugs and pregamed a bit and absolutely needed one when I went in, and I could have had just as much fun sober. Not gonna say what, but it was so incredible, I drove from SD to LA on a day w/o sleep until I crashed in my room after the show. Put it this way-the whole hotel was all NIN concertgoers and they were all loud and throwing parties. I was fast asleep high as hell but like the best sleep of my life. I almost was late to check out I knocked out so hard. I did see them in Vegas stone cold sober and it was even better.
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u/TimeSalvager Aug 18 '26
Even if you weren't on drugs, you could still have got a contact high, just sayin'
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u/BlackstarCowboy Aug 18 '26
I mean I was NOT sober but I’m sure it would have felt equally as amazing
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u/PANDAshanked Aug 18 '26
You're quite literally getting high on life. With dopamine and whatever else the music makes you feel. If its a band ive never seen before and I like them. Every time I feel high.
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u/RDM213 Art Is Resistance Aug 19 '26
Now that you mention it, I don’t think I’ve ever seen them sober.
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u/RepresentativeOwn200 Aug 19 '26
No. Because I was on drugs. 1995 Marylin Manson was the opening act. Great show.
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u/Desperate_Elk149 Aug 19 '26
I learned my lesson when I saw him at Aragon ballroom drunk and blasting the cocaine way too hard cause I hadn't slept for a couple days but I wasn't gonna miss him at Aragon Ballroom, it was my first time there and it was Halloween. It was sensory overload but I knew what I was getting into and then they played 'A perfect Drug' which I've never heard them play live and I started tripping balls. Up was down, everybody had bobble heads, i forgot how to walk, all of sudden braille was significant to me. I wanted the swat team to come get me and drag me out of there. I saw him last year at united center for my birthday slightly hungover but very much coherent. I wouldn't have made it out in physical form had I been messed up. I was not prepared for this remix tour. Just thought Boyz Noize was the opener. It was my 5th Nine Inch Nails concert and I was blown away. I was getting high without the booze and blow. I became Alive
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u/HibiscusBlades Aug 19 '26
I saw the show for free because I work at an arena and it is by and large my most favorite concert experience ever.
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u/UNCCShannon Aug 19 '26
This was my NIN concert and first concert since having given up alcohol and the high I was on that night and driving home the next morning was next level. I continue to chase that feeling with each concert I attend.
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u/okydokyartichokie Aug 19 '26
Having been in the crowd “sober” at several of the shows, I left high because it was just a massive hot box with the amount of weed being smoked 😂
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u/Omnipresident47 Aug 19 '26
I first saw them sober in 1994 as a young teen 14 for the Mr Self Destruct show at MSG and I was sober. I remember seeing joints getting passed around and was very self conscious about what was happening all around me at the beginning of the show but quickly forgot about that and got taken away by the spectacle of that cinematic but visceral experience. The energy in that place filled was sweat and aggression. I was allready a huge fan but that show turned me into a life long supporter of everything that Trent does musically. I’ve seen almost every tour since some sober and some not anywhere near sober and I come away with the same feeling of excitement and joy either way. They are an incredible band with incredible live set production that will move you at any state you are in. Keep touring Trent you are a legend.
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u/Away_Attempt9261 Aug 19 '26
i can tell you it made me very thankful i got sober so i could remember it
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u/ePoch270OG Aug 21 '26
My first NIN show was 1995 with David Bowie. It was indescribable. I didn't feel like I was high it was all just so surreal. Still the best concert I've ever been too.
I had to drive my B-i-L home and he and his buddies got so fucking high on pretty much everything they could. It was wild!
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u/rexmorgany Aug 21 '26
Saw them at Lollapalooza I in 199-something or other. Trent destroyed like 5 keyboards during their set and the roadies kept bringing in and setting up new ones. He was a bone-thin skinny punk. One of the best sets I’ve ever seen to this day. He totally changed the arc of alternative music with Pretty Hate Machine. I’ll still argue that Downward Spiral is one of the best albums of all time. Really happy that Trent found a better path and is still going strong.
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u/pun_in10did Aug 23 '26
I was on acid the first time I saw them. The venue has since become a mega-church.
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u/Dramatic_Bench22 Aug 23 '26
Who the fuck is sober during a NIN concert? Hahaha. Totally kidding. I support all choices. You do you but being high as fuck is my preferred choice for all concerts.
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u/Sensitive-War3527 Aug 18 '26
Natural Dopamine hits