Lights In the Sky/Another Version of The Truth

So we are past the holidays and we are all alive until 2012 or until all the “Avatar” fans go out and do something even more stupid than seeing the flick for the 12th time. Time for my first post of 2010 and this one will be about the recent release via This One Is On Us titled: This One Is On Us presents “Another Version Of The Truth : The Gift” (or rather the show that was captured on this DVD release). For those of you living under a rock the last few years here’s the skinny: Nine Inch Nails embarked on what was called “The Lights in The Sky” tour between 2008 and 2009 (right before the famed NIN/JA shows with Jane’s Addiction and the few club shows that ended the 20 year live band of NIN). In that tour there was a different approach to the presentation of the music due to Reznor basically wanting to perform more newer and less industrial fan favorite tracks. That presentation approach was made with the use of an elaborate lighting system that was developed by Rob Sheridan and Reznor with help by Roy Bennet, a veteran lighting designer (whom worked with Reznor during both Spiral and Fragile tours). Canadian based Moment Factory, a company that specializes in industrial visual installations and developing the technology to render the effects was brought in on Bennet’s advice.

[editor's note: To see some amazing imagry of the LitS tour, check out this album and all of NIN's official Flickr Gallery. If you don't have Flickr, shame on you. -Jeff]

The core part of the lighting show was the use of three “stealth” screens. These screens comprised of one high-resolution (1024 x 288) Barco D7 screen (stationed behind the band), which was an opaque, computer-controlled screen comprised of a tiny LED system on modular panels and two lower-resolution somewhat transparent screens (stationed in front of the stage but could be moved if needed). In order to achieve the rendered visuals/animations and the complete interactivity that could be created by ANY member of the band on the fly; Moment Factory developed anywhere from two to four games which were basically particle-based animations that could be (as I said above) chosen on the fly and somewhat manipulated. To add to the interactivity, a laser grid system (basically the simplest way I can describe it) was designed to sit in front of the band, but behind the convex screen. The lasers would shoot out on an X and Y axis and could tell when Reznor (or anyone really) who crossed the generated field creating a break in the animation. The best example of this is during the song in the song “Only”. All of this was controlled by a trio of Linux-based devices collectively known as The Brain with the help of some old lighting equipment that ran off of Windows (GASP! and yes it did causes problems but they fixed it all to go to Mac later).

The end result was a visually impressive Motion Design piece with designs ranging from simple Acid Washes, Semi Time Lapsed environment scenes and/to Industrial Cityscapes. When you add in the interactive parts (whether it was using the laser systems or placing live camera footage of Reznor into the game) you wind up with Art in my opinion. Which brings me to This One Is On Us and their DVD release. Towards the end of the tour Reznor was in talks with James Cameron about filming some shows for an IMAX 3D film. When that got squashed by Reznor’s old label (stuffy old rotting music establishments suck), Reznor still went out a recorded three shows and let the public have all the footage free. A few dozen people got that footage and collectively became an editing studio and developed for fans by fans a concert DVD which is “Another Version of The Truth: The Gift”. I recommend downloading it in any of the many formats that are on the site. It’s quite a great example of creativity, Motion Design, Lighting Design and an all out great reminder of a kick ass band.