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Featured New Broadcast News

Nine Inch Nails previews ACL’s new season

Austin City Limits presents an epic hour with Nine Inch Nails. The special broadcast airs as a preview of our upcoming milestone 40th Anniversary Season.  NIN’s arena-worthy ACL debut showcases ten songs, and will encore during the program’s Season 40, launching in the fall of 2014.

“We’ve waited a long time to do anything like this,” says Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor from the ACL stage. This rare hour of television with the legendary industrial rock band offers a fascinating look at their artistry in a flawless performance filled with unparalleled intensity. NIN’s Reznor and the seven-piece band—Alessandro Cortini, Josh Eustis, Robin Finck, Lisa Fischer, Sharlotte Gibson, Pino Palladino and Ilan Rubin—deliver an electrifying set that is a masterpiece of tension and release. Opening with the sultry “All Time Low” from the critically-acclaimed Hesitation Marks, their first album in five years, the band perform tracks from the recent release as well as earlier works, including 1999’s The Fragile. NIN segue into a revamped version of “Sanctified” from the 1989 debut Pretty Hate Machine, with the vocal duo of Fischer and Gibson adding soaring depth and texture to the pummeling rhythms throughout the riveting hourlong debut. The cathartic performance comes to a close with a redemptive take on the NIN classic “Hurt”, with Reznor gripping the microphone while howling the confessional lyrics as the Austin audience begs for more.

photo by Scott Newton

“We never thought we’d see the day when Nine Inch Nails would set foot on the ACL stage,” says Executive Producer Terry Lickona. “I mean, they never did television for 25 years! I came away from this show having the greatest respect for Trent Reznor. He’s one of the most focused, intense and creative artists I’ve ever worked with.”

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News Taping Recap

Nine Inch Nails exceeds expectations

As a pioneering artist, Nine Inch Nails constantly seeks new ways to present its vision to the public. As America’s longest-running music television show, Austin City Limits regularly pushes the envelope of presenting music on the small screen. So it was only natural for NIN and ACL to bring their acronyms together for an electrifying performance.

Fronting an eight-piece band that included longtime NIN guitarist Robin Finck, backing vocalists Lisa Fischer and Sharlotte Gibson and British bass legend Pino Palladino, Trent Reznor created an atmosphere of tension and release, with songs that offered both discomfort and catharsis. Opening with “All Time Low,” from the new album Hesitation Marks, the band rode an atmospheric funk groove married to classic NIN bile – “Everything is not OK!” Reznor seethed. NIN moved into the broiling “Sanctified,” from the debut Pretty Hate Machine, but pulled back from the original’s pound for a slow burn that raised the temperature in the theater. The droning “Disappointed” and the electrofunking “Copy of a” also grew in power, but never quite exploded, preferring instead to make the crowd sweat. The band constantly kept us on our toes with contrasting flavors – the pretty piano of “The Frail” leading directly into the scorched landscape of “The Wretched,” the noisy guitar swatches that punctuated the Reznorized soul of “Satellite,” the nervous electronic percussion under the soaring vocal of “While I’m Still Here,” the drum-heavy rumble leading into the singalong chorus of “The Big Come Down.” NIN challenge their audience even as they entertain them.

When the tension was given release, the results were awesome, whether it was the roaring rock & roll crunch of “Came Back Haunted” or the melancholy piano and floating groove of “Find My Way.” NIN ended the show with its classic anthem “Hurt” – the ultimate in cathartic performance art. We can’t wait for our viewers to experience this show for themselves – watch this space for broadcast information.

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Featured New Broadcast News

Nine Inch Nails episode airs April 5

Austin City Limits announces a special broadcast featuring NINE INCH NAILS making a rare television appearance in an epic, full-hour performance. The new episode premieres on Saturday, April 5th as a preview of ACL’s 40th Anniversary Season. NIN’s arena-worthy ACL debut showcases ten songs, and will encore during the PBS music series Season 40, launching in the fall of 2014.

Nine Inch Nails joins the list of legendary artists that have performed on ACL. NIN’s Trent Reznor and the seven-piece Tension Tour band—Alessandro Cortini, Josh Eustis, Robin Finck, Lisa Fischer, Sharlotte Gibson, Pino Palladino and Ilan Rubin—deliver an electrifying performance that is a masterpiece of tension and release. In his remarks from the ACL stage, Reznor said, “We didn’t want to make ACL a NIN show. We wanted to be out of our element.” Reznor added in a recent Reddit AMA: “I have a lot of respect for ACL and I wanted us to be a guest on THEIR show, not to convert their show into our concert. It was unusual to perform in that environment, and ended up being one of the best shows I think we played.”

NIN deliver one of the best live shows on the planet, are considered a pioneer in the industrial music movement and have been highly influential in the evolution of electronic music. The band recently released their first album in five years, the critically-acclaimed Hesitation Marks, which Spin magazine called “the most important artistic statement from Reznor since the late 90s” and Rolling Stone hailed “one of his best” in a four-star lead review.

Stay tuned to acltv.com for episode schedules, news regarding live streams of upcoming tapings and 40th Anniversary updates.

 

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Encore Broadcast Episode Recap Featured News

Nine Inch Nails continues ACL Season 40

Austin City Limits presents a rare hour of television with legendary industrial rock titan Nine Inch Nails in a special encore broadcast  that originally previewed in April as a prelude to our 40th anniversary season. Recently nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, NIN give an arena-worthy performance in their ACL debut.

“We’ve waited a long time to do anything like this,” says Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor from the ACL stage. The episode offers a fascinating look at the influential act’s artistry in a flawless performance of unparalleled intensity. NIN’s Reznor and the seven-piece band—Alessandro Cortini, Josh Eustis, Robin Finck, Lisa Fischer, Sharlotte Gibson, Pino Palladino and Ilan Rubin—deliver an electrifying hour-long set that is a masterpiece of tension and release. Opening with the sultry “All Time Low” from the critically-acclaimed Hesitation Marks—their first album in five years—the band performs tracks from its recent offering alongside earlier works, including 1999’s The Fragile. NIN segue into a revamped version of “Sanctified” from the 1989 debut Pretty Hate Machine, with the vocal duo of Fischer and Gibson adding depth and texture to the pummeling rhythms throughout the song as well as the entire riveting set. The cathartic performance comes to a close with a redemptive take on the NIN classic “Hurt”, as Reznor grips the microphone and howls the confessional lyrics while the Austin audience begs for more.

photo by Scott Newton

“We never thought we’d see the day when Nine Inch Nails would set foot on the ACL stage,” says Executive Producer Terry Lickona. “I mean, they never did television for 25 years. I came away from this show having the greatest respect for Trent Reznor. He’s one of the most focused, intense and creative artists I’ve ever worked with.”

Tune in this weekend for this episode, and, as always, check your local PBS listings for the broadcast time in your area. Go to the episode page for more info, and don’t forget to click over to our Facebook, Twitter and newsletter pages for more ACL goodies. Next week: Tweedy.

 

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News

Nine Inch Nails 11/4

Austin City Limits is pleased to announce a new taping on November 4 with Nine Inch Nails. Read more

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Taping Recap

Nickel Creek’s new gems and old favorites

We always love seeing old friends and so it is we welcomed back Nickel Creek to our stage for their third taping, which we also livestreamed on our ACLTV YouTube channel. The California combo last visited us in 2003 – recording their debut in 2001, while mandolin master Chris Thile performed with Punch Brothers in 2012 and fiddler Sara Watkins supported the Decemberists in 2011. But now the trio is back in toto, virtuoso instrumentation and tight harmonies intact, celebrating not only our 40th anniversary but also their own musical return after a nine-year absence with the reunion record A Dotted Line.

Defying the stereotype, the band opened with a ballad, “Rest of My Life,” featuring harmony arco lines from Sara and bassist Mark Schatz. The tempo picked up with “Scotch and Chocolate,” an instrumental that combined fluctuating bridges with Sara’s Celtic-flavored lines. The rest of the set alternated between pieces from the new record and well-known tunes from their popular repertoire. “Destination” and “When in Rome” were perfect examples of the band’s ability to create indie pop songs using bluegrass instrumentation. “Reasons Why” and “Where is Love Now” essayed the beauty of the band’s way with ballads. Fan-favorite instrumentals like “Smoothie Song,” “Ode to a Butterfly” and the new “Elephant in the Corn” raised the roof. The group’s wry sense of humor bubbled up throughout, especially in the twisted gospelgrass of “21st of May,” the stalker folk of “Anthony” and the aggressive bitterness of “You Don’t Know What’s Going On,” for which Thile teased the crowd to unleash their buried anger. The band ended with its popular adaptation of the children’s tune “The Fox,” which drove the audience wild.

A well-deserved encore brought redos of “Where is Love Now” and “You Don’t Know What’s Going On,” before the Creek flowed through the driving ballad “Helena” and into the traditional fiddle tune “Cuckoo’s Nest,” which featured not only expert musicianship (“They make it look soooooo easy,” noted stream viewer Take a Hike) but also Schatz tapdancing. It was an undeniably fun show – noted by viewer Mathew Cussen as “one of the best shows I’ve ever seen” – and we can’t wait for you to see it when it airs in early 2015. And don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel to be notified of future livestreams of ACL tapings!