It would go against the trail-blazing spirit of Trent Reznor to use him as any sort of guideline, but it must be said that any arena rock band should turn to Reznor’s live show for inspiration. Every aspect of Sunday night’s show at the DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts, was flawlessly executed, a well-conceived blend of the wants of both Reznor and his audience.

Dubbed the Lights in the Sky Tour, after a track on his recent release, The Slip, Reznor took the name and applied the basic translation in a complex presentation. Combining his innovative tendencies, his fondness for the highly conceptual, and his costly production spending habits, Reznor turned to Moment Factory, for a visually stunning, interactive design. The Montreal-based new media and entertainment company has an impressive list of unconventional clients that includes Cirque du Soleil.

Primarily centered around three screens that could be raised and lowered, the lighting effects for the current Nine Inch Nails tour respond to either physical movement (a gap in television-like static that followed Reznor’s path along the stage in “Only”), or sonic movement, like giant versions of the iTunes Visualizer. During more tranquil moments, like the block of songs from the ambient, instrumental Ghosts I-IV, the display engages the imagination, transporting the audience through picturesque scenery of swamps and deserts, pulled from the graphics that accompanied the release. (more…)