Nine Inch Nails bring blinding light and blistering energy to their Mad Cool 2018 set

Trent Reznor and co. brought the weekend to a close in incomparable style

If there were any lingering hangovers as Mad Cool 2018 came to a close, Nine Inch Nails made it their task to blast them away. Closing out the weekend’s final evening, Trent Reznor and co. brought a career-spanning set of their heavy-as-hell industrial rock and a stage set-up comprised of blinding white lights to the festival’s main stage, delivering one of its most punishing appearances in the process.

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Nine Inch Nails Mad Cool Festival

Nine Inch Nails Mad Cool Festival

Led by the incomparable Reznor, all hulking muscle and howled vocals, NIN’s appearance was surely a festival season highlight.

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Nine Inch Nails Mad Cool Festival

Nine Inch Nails Mad Cool Festival

‘Somewhat Damaged’ and the surprisingly low-key ‘The Day The World Went Away’ opened proceedings in gloomy, captivating fashion.

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Nine Inch Nails Mad Cool Festival

Nine Inch Nails Mad Cool Festival

Crafting an unnerving atmosphere through their swirling electronics and stabs of blinding white light, their set was impossible to turn away from.

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Nine Inch Nails Mad Cool Festival

Nine Inch Nails Mad Cool Festival

Storming through a bovine one-two of ‘March Of The Pigs’ and ‘Piggy’, NIN upped the ante at every turn.

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Nine Inch Nails Mad Cool Festival

Nine Inch Nails Mad Cool Festival

The newer likes of ‘Shit Mirror’ slotted in perfectly alongside their more classic material – further evidence, were it needed, of NIN’s staunch staying power.

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Nine Inch Nails Mad Cool Festival

Nine Inch Nails Mad Cool Festival

Drenching the stage in red, the seedy likes of ‘Closer’ were the perfect backing for a weekend of hedonistic delight.

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Nine Inch Nails at Mad Cool Festival

Nine Inch Nails at Mad Cool Festival

After ditching their last Bowie cover at their recent Royal Albert Hall show, they brought out another classic by the songwriting great – the appropriately-titled ‘I’m Afraid Of Americans’.

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Nine Inch Nails Mad Cool Festival

Nine Inch Nails Mad Cool Festival

As things came to a close, the energy was amped up once more, ‘The Hand That Feeds” serrated riffing bringing things to a stomping conclusion.

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Nine Inch Nails at Mad Cool Festival

‘Head Like A Hole’, meanwhile, ignited mosh pits across the astroturfed floor.

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Nine Inch Nails at Mad Cool Festival

Nine Inch Nails at Mad Cool Festival 2018

Closing out with a wrought rendition of fan-favourite ballad ‘Hurt’, they finished Mad Cool in impeccable, incomparable style.

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