In a recent interview with BBC Radio 6’s Lauren Laverne, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails has made the claim that The Weeknd and Kanye West have ripped off the production of NIN’s live shows.

The full spiel is as below:

“I’d been obsessed with, since the beginning, attempting with whatever resources I had access to, of transforming the live venue into as much of an immersive experience as possible. And then usually relied on, when we finally had access to it, screens and experimental production techniques. I remember us watching a string of bands on Coachella from the comfort of our couch, you know, and every band has a video playing behind them, and every band is sunk up with a convenient, polite lighting package, you know? And I saw Kanye West blatantly rip off, and the Weeknd rip off, our tours, with production-wise, which I’ll say without any hesitation. And they know. And I thought what would be exciting to me is just to see — when I think back to the Cure, when I saw them the first time or Jesus And Mary Chain when we opened for them, all I remember of that was smoke, maybe a color, a little bit of someone’s hair and real, real loud guitars. That’s exciting, and I don’t see that happening much. So we went the opposite of the arms race we had been in, of immersive, technological based production and went for a “It’s music being played somewhat sloppily with an element of danger and uncertainty and unpredictability.” And we mean it, and we’re sweaty, and it hurts on stage at times. It worked. So that became a template for what we’re doing now.”

See Trent Reznor talking about it below:

Interestingly, the Weeknd’s lighting and production designers for his “Starboy: Legend of the Fall” tour acknowledged Nine Inch Nail’s live performance in an interview they did with Billboard in 2017. They stated “We’ve always called his aesthetic the Nine Inch Nails of R&B. His music has so many dynamics and the visuals and lighting have to reflect that.”

Watch Nine Inch Nails perform ‘Hurt’ live

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