1994/08/13 Saugerties, NY

From NinWiki

Danny Lohner and Trent Reznor during "Happiness In Slavery." Reznor's keyboard eventually broke down, then he slammed the rest with his microphone stand.

On August 13th, 1994 Nine Inch Nails took part in the Woodstock Music and Art Festival as part of the Self Destruct Tour. Their performance is considered one of the best in the band's history, despite the band's opinion that it was one of their worst. They took the stage covered head-to-toe in mud. This single performance is widely accepted as the one that made the band famous.

The other acts that played the festival on the same day as NIN were Joe Cocker, Blind Melon, Cypress Hill, Rollins Band, Melissa Etheridge, Crosby, Stills, & Nash, Metallica, Aerosmith, Nenad Bach, The Cranberries, Zucchero, Youssou N'Dour, The Band, Primus and Salt 'N Pepa.

Notes

Before "Burn" was performed, Trent Reznor said:

Oh, this is fucking weird… This is something new from us… This is from Natural Born Killers,
it's called "Burn."

After "Down In It" was performed, Reznor said:

You guys having a good time? When we said we'd do this fucking thing…
I was kinda worried that it would suck, but
I think it's turned out to be a pretty cool thing. (coughs) I've got mud in my fucking eyes.
Plus, I got the chance to say the word "fuck" on Pay-Per-View. FUCK!

Then, "Dead Souls" began, and Reznor said:

This is something we did for The Crow.

During the intro to "Suck", Reznor said:

I just wanted to say Thank you

Nine Inch Nails were considered to have the largest crowd density at the event, overshadowing many of the more mainstream bands of the time. In the interview after their performance, Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor claimed he thought his band's performance was "terrible". Reznor admitted that while he disliked playing at such a large show, it was done for the money: "To be quite frank, it's basically to offset the cost of the tour we're doing right now."

Lineup

• Robin Finck: Guitar, backing vocals
• Danny Lohner: Bass, guitar, keyboards, backing vocals
• Trent Reznor: Vocals, guitar, keyboards
• Chris Vrenna: Drums
• James Woolley: Keyboards, backing vocals

Setlist

1. "Pinion"
2. "Terrible Lie"
3. "Sin"
4. "March Of The Pigs"
5. "Something I Can Never Have"
6. "Closer"
7. "Reptile"
8. "Wish"
9. "Suck"
10. "Burn"
11. "The Only Time"
12. "Down In It"
13. "Dead Souls"
14. "Help Me I Am In Hell"
15. "Happiness In Slavery"
16. "Head Like A Hole"

Video

There is a video for the "Happiness In Slavery" performance that has long circulated the internet through p2p and sites like YouTube. This version is heavily dubbed or poorly mixed, so much that Trent banging on the keyboards cannot be heard. The beginning has sounds from "Pinion" and the end is "Head Like A Hole," including the scene of comedian Calvert DeForest (1922–2007) announcing the band. This song was also released on the official Woodstock '94 CD and VHS. Part of the performance also appears on Closure.

Bootlegs

Many bootlegs exist for this performance. On one such bootleg, titled When The Whip Come Down, the liner notes contain the following description:

Like creatures from the black lagoon they slunk on stage, caked head to toe in mud looking like they had just risen from the pits of hell. Nine Inch Nails, without doubt, proved to be the most successful show of the entire festival. They went hell for leather like there was no tomorrow, nothing could stop Trent Reznor and his crew, it was Apocalypse Now brought to life in a field in Saugerties and being transmitted worldwide by pay as you view cable to millions in the safe confines of their own homes. You had to be there as the rain fell to appreciate the sheer beauty of the Nine Inch Nails killing machine on its own out of control rampage. Take no prisoners was the saying of the day as victims fell on all side. Any act that makes even David Letterman sit up and take notice has got to be doing something right. Nine Inch Nails are like taking a helter skelter ride through a tunnel of broken glass. Nine Inch Nails will shred your soul.