Nine Inch Nails are active, and on the road. But the end might be closer than we realize.
NIN spearhead Trent Reznor gave fans a surprise warning when the industrial rock heavyweights visited Tulsa, OK last Friday night, Feb. 27.
“I don’t know if we’re going to be touring anymore after this,” he remarked in a fan-filmed video from the show, “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.”
Reznor shared his thoughts as the recounted a performance in Tulsa “many years” ago when NIN was the support act for Peter Murphy at Cain’s Ballroom. That night, Reznor had a life-affirming moment, as he watched a member of the audience scream back the lyrics of “Head Like a Hole,” a classic early NIN song from the 1989 album Pretty Hate Machine.
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On the same day that Reznor hinted at the end of the road for his Rock And Roll Hall of Fame-inducted band, another surprise: NIN released a companion album to its Tron: Ares soundtrack, titled Tron Ares: Divergence. It’s the followup to TRON: Ares, the first-ever film score from Oscar-winning composers Reznor and Atticus Ross (credited under their Nine Inch Nails), which debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 album chart.
NIN ensured the 1980s were buried under a ton of metal with Pretty Hate Machine. Although it only peaked at No. 75 on the Billboard 200, the album marked ground zero in a new movement of heavy edged music, with the synth in its stable. It’s one of 18 NIN appearances on the all-genres albums chart, including two leaders: 1999’s The Fragile (one week at No. 1) and 2015’s With Teeth (one week).
Reznor and Co. are currently on the second leg of its Peel It Back tour, which scheduled to wrap up March 16 at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, CA. The first leg got underway June 15, 2025, in Dublin, and ended with two shows at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles last September.
