Trent Reznor Peels Back Comments About Nine Inch Nails Retiring From the Road: ‘We May Tour Again’
It's gone from possibly never to not never, but definitely not "next month" or "this year."
Trent Reznor Nine Inch Nails perform at TEST Folder for SXSW 2026 during the SXSW Conference & Festivals on March 12, 2026 in Austin, Texas.
The name of the just-concluded Nine Inch Nails tour is apt given recent statements from singer/founder Trent Reznor. Because after suggesting at a show in Tulsa last month that the legendary industrial rock band’s touring days may be coming to an end, Reznor peeled those comments back at the final Peel it Back tour stop in Sacramento on Monday night (March 16).
In a fan YouTube video from the show, Reznor acknowledged that it was the last show on this particular tour and added, “and to be clear. I think I said something the other day that then got misconstrued into something that is not intentionally, necessarily true. What I said was, ‘this is the last show of this tour and we don’t have any shows booked and we don’t have any plans to book any shows anytime in the future, so far.'”
From the sound of it, Reznor, 60, was leaving the door open just a crack for future road trips with that phrase “so far” doing a lot of the heavy lifting. “That doesn’t mean we may not tour again. We may tour again. It won’t be next month, it won’t be this year. I never said we were intentionally stopping, and I never meant that,” he added to wild cheers from the crowd at the conclusion of the 63-date tour that kicked off in Sept. 2025.
He reminded the crowd that NIN hadn’t toured since 2022 because he wasn’t sure they could “do it well” or if them playing live “still mattered” or if they had something to say. But, with the combination of the current lineup of the band, their crew and a lot of hard work made for a show that he said he was “really f–king proud of.”
Then came the best news of all: Reznor said NIN is “preparing to work on some new music going to “work on some new music and make some new s–t. And if we feel inspired, and if we feel we can beat this [tour] we’ll see you again. And I hope to see you again.”
The original comments that got NIN fans worried that this might be the beginning of the end of their touring days came on Feb. 17 at the BOK Center in Tulsa, when Reznor said, “I don’t know if we’re going to be touring anymore after this, but I’m proud of the show that we’re doing right now. And I’m f—ing grateful that you’ve chosen to spend your evening with us tonight. Thank you very much.”
And while this tour is over, NIN will appear at both weekends of the Coachella Festival on April 10 and 17 with Germany’s Boys Noize as Nine Inch Noize.
Reznor and longtime NIN collaborator Atticus Ross have not dropped a new album of NIN originals since the Ghosts V: Together and Ghosts VI: Locusts in 2022, which they followed up in 2025 with the throbbing soundtrack to Tron:Ares.
This article was first published by Billboard U.S.
