We arrived at Rod Laver Arena at about 7:30pm. After the initial security scan we made our way inside and found our seats. We were seated in an ideal spot - about eye-level with the stage, although slightly off to the right, so there was some head-turning to watch the action. The seating at the tennis centre is quite good - a nice angle on the tiers so the row in front can't obstruct your view.

Shortly after 8pm the support band came on stage. They didn't bother to introduce themselves, and no-one cared, because they sucked. I mean, support bands often get a bad rap because everyone's waiting impatiently for the headline act, but these guys really sucked. They sounded like a bunch of high-school students in their mum's garage trying to make as much noise as possible without actually playing any music. The lead singer sounded like some bizarre cross between Bon Scott and Tom Waits, and literally screamed his lyrics. (Were they lyrics? Was he even speaking English? I dunno.)

After playing about half-a-dozen songs and apologising about "having problems" (???) the anonymous support band walked off, much to the delight of the crowd.

At around 9pm the lights went out, and the tension in the arena went up.

The set kicked off with Wish from the Broken EP - wow. Straight away it was apparent that this was something special. The bass just ripped through you, but there was none of the painful screaming of the woeful support act - these guys were the real deal. Every note of the melodies (yes, NIN do melodies) was intact and recognisable, and Trent and the boys knew exactly what they were doing.

I was quite surprised at the variety of tracks they played. I guess I was expecting most of the songs from With Teeth to get played at the expense of the older ones, but that wasn't the case at all. I can't remember the exact order, but we heard Sin, Something I Can Never Have, Terrible Lie and Head Like A Hole from the Pretty Hate Machine album; Wish, Gave Up and (I think it's called) Suck from Broken; March of the Pigs, Closer, Reptile (my favourite NIN song) and Hurt from The Downward Spiral; The Wretched, The Day the Whole World Went Away and Starfuckers, Inc. from The Fragile; Dead Souls from the soundtrack to The Crow; Burn from the soundtrack to Natural Born Killers; and The Hand That Feeds, The Line Begins to Blur, You Know What You Are?, With Teeth, Love is Not Enough and Home from With Teeth.

That's over 20 tracks, and I might have forgotten some. Not bad!

Although I consider myself a massive fan of NIN's music, I've never really kept track of Trent and the people involved inhis projects, so there were a few surprises seeing Trent in the flesh. The main thing was how big he is - I didn't expect him to be so buff. With his newly-cropped hair he looks like Henry Rollins. Good thing? I dunno.

Anyway, the night was worth every cent, and I understand why some people are seeing every concert the guys are doing in Australia. Ten out of ten!

Update: Desci is back and recounting her experiences. I'm rather jealous about her getting to go to the soundcheck.