Pretty Hate Machine Tour Series

Pretty Hate Machine Tour Series

Tour by Nine Inch Nails
Trent Reznor at Lollapalooza 1991
Associated album	Pretty Hate Machine
Start date	October 21, 1988
End date	September 13, 1991
Legs	8
Nine Inch Nails concert chronology

Pretty Hate Machine Tour Series was a series of concert tours in support of Nine Inch Nails' debut album Pretty Hate Machine. The series took place over much of North America and Europe from 1989 to 1991. During this time, the band's line-up mainly consisted of Trent Reznor on vocals and guitars, Richard Patrick on back-up vocals and guitars, Chris Vrenna on drums, and a hired musician usually to play keyboards. The series consisted of eight tours, spanning Skinny Puppy's VIVIsectVI tour to a tour of Europe for the band.

VIVIsectVI Tour

Serving as the opening band for industrial icons Skinny Puppy, they played mostly songs from the then-unreleased Purest Feeling sessions and the then-upcoming Pretty Hate Machine album. This was the band's first official tour.

Band lineup

• Trent Reznor – lead vocals, guitar
• Chris Vrenna – keyboards, programming
• Ron Musarra – drums

Tour dates

Pretty Hate Machine promotional tour

After the band's stint as the opening act for Skinny Puppy, Trent Reznor recruited Richard Patrick to play lead guitar for the band. Former keyboardist Chris Vrenna decided to play live drums for the band after Trent Reznor deemed electronic drum machines not suitable for the band's newer material. Gary Talpas, otherwise known as art director for NIN between 1989 and 1997, replaced Vrenna on keyboards. This short tour was the direct result of Pretty Hate Machine's release and underground following after its release through indie label TVT Records.

Band lineup

• Trent Reznor – lead vocals, guitar
• Richard Patrick – lead guitar, backing vocals
• Chris Vrenna – drums
• Gary Talpas – keyboards, programming

Tour dates

Setlist

1. "Terrible Lie"
2. "Sin"
3. "Something I Can Never Have"
4. "Sanctified"
5. "That's What I Get"
6. "The Only Time"
7. "Kinda I Want To"
8. "Get Down, Make Love" (Queen cover)
9. "Ringfinger"
10. "Down in It"
11. "Head Like a Hole"

Automatic Tour

Due to the band's success touring smaller clubs, pioneering noise pop band The Jesus & Mary Chain took notice of the band and asked them to be the opening act for their upcoming Automatic Tour. The band accepted, and began as the opening act for the tour. During this time, the band hired Nick Rushe to be the band's full-time keyboardist. It would be the band's first venture off of the eastern coast.

Band lineup

• Trent Reznor – Lead vocals and guitar
• Richard Patrick – Lead guitar and backup vocals
• Chris Vrenna – Drum kit
• Nick Rushe – Keyboards and programming

Tour dates

Setlist

1. "Terrible Lie"
2. "Sin"
3. "Sanctified"
4. "That's What I Get"
5. "Get Down, Make Love" (Queen cover)
6. "Ringfinger"
7. "Down in It"
8. "Head Like a Hole"

"Something I Can Never Have" & "The Only Time" was played in some shows.

Deep Tour

Almost immediately after touring with The Jesus & Mary Chain, Peter Murphy, former frontman for Bauhaus, asked the band to be the opening act for his solo tour. The band accepted and went back on tour almost immediately. The band changed keyboardists as well, switching Nick Rushe for David Haymes.

Band lineup

• Trent Reznor – Lead vocals and guitar
• Richard Patrick – Lead guitar and backup vocals
• Chris Vrenna – Drum kit
• David Haymes – Keyboards and programming

Tour dates

Hate 1990

After touring as opening acts for various bands and gaining enough of a fan base to embark on a headlining tour, the band went on tour in 1990 to various clubs and auditoriums across the North America, bringing along Dallas, Texas based band "Lesson Seven" as their opening act.^[1] This is the first of two North America tours. Lee Mars replaced David Haymes on keyboards for the tour. This began the band's notorious image of aggressive (and often dangerous) concerts in which band members would take out their anger on their instruments and through their music. Nine Inch Nails' fan base grew largely during this time.

Band lineup

Trent Reznor – lead vocals/Backup Guitar
Richard Patrick – Lead guitar/Backup Vocals
Chris Vrenna – drums
Lee Mars – keyboards/Programming

Tour dates

Sin Tour

During the winter of late 1990 and early 1991, the band embarked on the second leg of their tour, entitled the "Sin Tour". The band played more clubs than in the Hate Tour, but continued to headline venues across the country they had been playing in before. This was the band's first tour to take place in Mexico. Lee Mars continued as the keyboardist for the band.

Band lineup

• Trent Reznor – Lead vocals and guitar
• Richard Patrick – Lead guitar and backup vocals
• Chris Vrenna – Drum kit
• Lee Mars – Keyboards and programming

Tour dates

Lollapalooza Tour

After the moderate success of their Hate and Sin tours, Perry Farrell of Jane's Addiction invited the band to join up on the first year of their country-wide Lollapalooza festival. The band accepted, and their popularity skyrocketed due to the band's considerate media exposure on MTV. The song "Now I'm Nothing" was written during this time as the opener to their sets, and often bled into their song "Terrible Lie". Portions of the performances can be found on the documentary Closure. Two songs from the upcoming Broken debuted during this time. On the opening date of the concert in Phoenix, the band's equipment continued to malfunction so they were forced to abandon their set after only playing two songs.

Band lineup

• Trent Reznor – lead vocals, guitar
• Richard Patrick – Lead guitar, backup vocals
• Jeff Ward – drums
• James Woolley – keyboards, programming

Tour dates

Pretty Hate Machine European Tour

After their set at Lollapalooza gained them a large fan base, the band went to tour in Europe in a mixture of headlining and opening act concerts, including two shows as a support act for Guns N' Roses. The band played four shows in Germany due to the country's roots in industrial music. This was the band's first venture into Europe. The live band remained unchanged.

Band lineup

• Trent Reznor – lead vocals, guitar
• Richard Patrick – Lead guitar, backup vocals
• Jeff Ward – drums
• James Woolley – keyboards, programming

Tour dates

Setlist

The band's setlist at these tours would include the following songs:

From Pretty Hate Machine:

• Head Like a Hole (since 1989)
• Terrible Lie (since 1989)
• Down in It
• Sanctified
• Something I Can Never Have (from 1989 till Sin tour)
• Kinda I Want To (1989 only)
• Sin (since 1989)
• That's What I Get
• The Only Time
• Ringfinger (known as Twist before 1989)

From (yet unrecorded) Broken:

• Wish (since Lollapalooza)
• Physical (Adam and the Ants cover, since Lollapalooza)
• Suck (Pigface cover, since Hate tour)

Other songs:

• Maybe Just Once (track appearing on the 1988 demo entitled "Purest Feeling", played during 1988 tour only)
• Sex Dwarf (Soft Cell cover, 1988 tour only)
• Get Down Make Love (Queen cover from Sin single, since Hate tour)
• Now I'm Nothing (since Lollapalooza)

References