Photos I took of Nine Inch Nails' Tension 2013 tour, which was running 10 years ago this month. I also served as art director for the tour’s extensive visual design, working with lighting director Roy Bennett and production company Moment Factory (our team from the 2008 Lights in the Sky tour). Tension was the third full original stage production we designed/executed in 2013 (following the How to Destroy Angels live show and the NIN 2013 festival production), and its unique challenges damn year killed us (watch the Vevo behind-the-scenes feature for some insights into the creation of Tension), but we pulled off quite a spectacle both visually and musically.
If you enjoy these looks back at my work with NIN, consider supporting me on Patreon, where I share tons of behind-the-scenes design insights including song-by-song tour production commentaries. Plus frequent exclusive hi-res wallpaper packs, downloads, events, contests, and an awesome fan community. Direct fan support is what keeps me going as an independent creator, and it means the world to me.
I am losing my MIND over the Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 set because HOLY SHIT
IT’S AMAZING
like I know I’m a techie and know all about set design and stuff but this is beautiful I am so glad it won Best Set Design
My friend was telling me about it and she wanted me to watch Balaga so she pulled it up and the second I saw the stage I lost it because agjfjdkfbkdbjrh
The Tomb of Agamemnon by Louis-Jean Desprez. French, c. 1787. Black ink and gray washes, heightened with white gouache, on beige paper. In the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Description from the Met:
Trained as an architect, the French artist Desprez was appointed by King Gustav III of Sweden in 1784 as the head stage designer for the Royal Opera in Stockholm. This drawing relates to the sets Desprez made for the Swedish opera Electra, which premiered at Drottningholm Castle on July 22, 1787. The scene of Agamemnon’s interment is in the prologue, which opens with Electra and Orestes plotting to avenge their father’s murder. Desprez’s rendering is cloaked in gloom, with torches and censers dramatically lighting the architecture from below.
"Gala", a ballet by Maurice Béjart with stage design by Salvador Dalí, at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris on April 17, 1962. Starring Ludmilla Tcherina and Germinal Casado.
More photos I took on Nine Inch Nails' Tension 2013 tour (see my previous post here), which was running 10 years ago this month.
The expanded eight-person band included Alessandro Cortini, Josh Eustis, Robin Finck, Pino Palladino, Trent Reznor, Ilan Rubin, and for the first time the addition of backup vocalists, Lisa Fischer and Sharlotte Gibson.
You can watch an 80-minute film of the Tension Tour on YouTube, and there are some excellent fan-produced Tension concert films as well. Worth checking out if you’ve never seen this truly one-of-a-kind presentation of NIN.
If you enjoy these looks back at my work with NIN, consider supporting me on Patreon, where I share tons of behind-the-scenes design insights including song-by-song tour production commentaries. Plus frequent exclusive hi-res wallpaper packs, downloads, events, contests, and an awesome fan community. Direct fan support is what keeps me going as an independent creator, and it means the world to me.