A Deep Dive into Nine Inch Nails "Peel It Back Tour"2025
by Freddy Sandoval Gonzalez on 2025-08-30Scotiabank Arena - TorontoRating: 5 out of 5Toronto entered an industrial rock rave with underground vibes at the Scotia Bank Arena on August 23. Red lights set the tone for the opening act as people entered on a deep journey; the beats coming from the DJ standing on an altar transformed every lub-dub noise of our hearts into energy.
In the middle of the arena, a covered black cubic monolith stands tall, focusing all the looks its way. Minute after minute, the venue was immersed in a download spiral. The monolith lost its cover, changed its colour to white and the legend himself, Trent Reznor, appeared calmly sitting at a piano. Phase one begins!
While Reznor is delivering a soulful rendition of "Right Where It Belongs"
With "Somewhat Damaged"outro, the inside of the back then monolith, now turned into a little basement looking stage, is followed by "Ruiner"while @Boys slide into the scene to hype up the crowd with "Piggy"to finish phase one with a big scream, NOTHING CAN'T STOP ME NOW!
The beast Josh Freese opened phase two by banging the drums in a bigger stage in the back of the arena that was hiding in plain sight and now is covered with some kind of gigantic monitor curtains while "Wish"exploded and the people lost it to music, creating an echo every time Trent says TRUE! or YOU!
The Pigs started to march, moving the concert to a further vibration, while the claps kept the song moving, and we all took the skin and peeled it back.
Suddenly, the "Reptile"took the stage, sliding through the green and white lights, and hell broke loose with all the tones of red lights and quoting Nietzsche with "Heresy".
Have you ever seen Reznor multiply itself and danced like a happy toddler? Well, we all did when "Copy of A"started to play, really, that happened, I was there. It was great to see how a person who was really troubled now enjoys life and brings hope to people through great music.
"Gave Up", still not, because Robin Finck screamed the hell out of his soul to end phase two.
Trent returned to that small basement-looking stage, now transformed into a smoking electronic set with blue bar lights, with Boys Noize to enter into Superman mode and phase three with "Vessel".
A rain of purple lights stands up while Trent and company transformed "Closer"from a great song about a broken man with no faith into a remix and a reason to keep up and stay alive.
"Tron"entered the night with "As Alive as You Need Me to Be"to give us something to believe in, followed by "Came Back Haunted"to remind us never to come back, and finished phase three.
The voice inside our heads started to release phase four with "Mr. Self Destruct", a wake-up call screamed out of "Less Than", and a sped-up version of "The Perfect Drug"with a more than inspired Joss drumming.
Trent introduced the band and thanked their crew. He said it was an accident (with only a few injuries), and the crew worked double to put the concert together (Great for him to acknowledge the crew work).
Finally, it was all about Americans with "I'm Afraid of Americans", and to keep chin held high with "The Hand That Feeds", leading us to explode with "Head Like a Hole"and the beautiful ending with multiple lights all around us with "Hurt".
Freddy Sandoval Gonzalez