Alright, I'm getting confused. Firstly we have With Teeth released on a sunny May Day Bank Holiday, and now a gig on a baking hot day in mid July. People shouldn't be topping up their tans waiting to get in, since NIN are much better suited to days when the gloom is setting in and the sun a fleeting visitor. It also means that, bugger, the air con better be working...

Also, the choice of support, Saul Williams looks to be a touch off. True, they couldn't possibly top Atari Teenage Riot for taking the piss with a show of childish, tuneless petulence, but come on - a slam rapper supporting NIN? What next, Lamb of God opening for Joss Stone?!?

However, these worries are soon blitzed as Williams unassumingly walks on stage with his DJ, attempts a handstand, then asks if this is the Nine Inch Nails show. He then launches into a confident, charismatic and empassioned set that quickly wins over the crowd and has a fair number dancing alsog. However, when the DJ stops the breakbeats and lets him flow a capella is where Williams really shines, showing maturity and intelligence that's far removed from Snoop Dogg's set at Live 8 a couple of weeks ago. True, a few people are intent on standing firm and looking at the floor, but it's their loss - small minded fools that they are.

Anyway, since there's been a bit of a break since Nine Inch Nails last played here (barring the dates a couple of weeks ago that Ticketweb royally shafted fans over - by the way, thanks to Stargreen for getting me a ticket, and a proper one at that), there's bound to be a few people that are overexcited. Why else is it that, once the soundcheck finished, there were ecstatic cheers for a bloke with gaffer tape marking the speakers? So, imagine the reaction once Pinion crept out over the speakers and the band made their way out into their positions...barring a gap in the middle. As the band begin with Terrible Lie, from out of nowhere Trent reznor appears in the centre of the stage and doesn't miss a beat, and neither do the entire crowd singing along with gusto.

With the crowd hooked from the outset, which doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the lights at the back of the stage flashing, strobing and pulsing, we're reminded that, hey, With Teeth material isn't that bad with a high octaine rendition of You Know What You Are? firing up the crowd and the Sweaty Shirtless Tattoo Blokes (SSTB) that always get in the way, and an intense Sin once again gets the communal singa-alonga-Trent going full force, before it's turned down a notch with The Line Begins To Blur so we can. you know, breathe...

With enough time to remember not to sweat out our entire body fluids, we were treated to March of the Pigs flowing into Piggy, which once more saw trent toss the mic into the crowd and, as usual, find the most tuneless bloke in the front row to sing along to what seems to have been a completely different version to that on record, or indeed what the crowd were singing to. Luckily, all bad memories of this were dispelled with the entire crowd jumping around to The Hand That Feeds and the always-amusing-to-hear-5600-people-singing-along-to Closer which sounded immense live, as it always does (even if it was clearly a truncated version of the song). And, again, were given a fresh outlook as With Teeth sounded pretty damn good live, and some lucky sod got Trent's tambourine when he chucked it into the crowd. However, following a great combination of The Frail into The Wretched (good to see Fragile-era material not being nixed) and Reptile there was a notable lull in the set, with songs like The Collector killing the crowd dead (so I'm not the only one to think it's their worst ever song), No You Don't and Suck, while Even Deeper sounded great, but was in the wrong place as the crowd were waiting for something to reignite the atmosphere.

Gave Up did something to remedy the situation, before a truly great moment (and interesting way to have an interval) as suddenly the entire Academy became the most intimate place in London with just Trent, a keyboard, and the entire crowd singinag and clapping in tune to Hurt, creating a truly magical moment. The rest of the band slowly filtered back on stage for the conclusion, and then it was back to business for the encore - a blistering Wish and an rousing mass-chorus of Head Like A Hole, with the guitarists taking turns to jump off the keyboards and throw their instruments around, which was a tad surprising as it was firstly unexpected, and also the fact that Trent had the crowd transfixed all night that nobody actually noticed the lack of Charlie Clouser, Danny Lohner or Robin Finck. The band left to an enormous reaction in a blaze of strobes.

So, maybe not as great as last time I saw them as it wasn't my first NIN gig and, yes, the set lagged for a bit which actually wasn't the fault of With Teeth material, as some would gladly expect (it seems), and there were a few notable absentees (apart from a sample in Closer, there was no Down In It!!!), but all in all it proves just how damn good NIN are, damn near untouchabkle live, and with a legacy on record most would kill for. Even if most people would rather they regurgitated The Downward Spiral every two or three years...