Serving as the opening band for industrial icons Skinny Puppy, they played mostly songs from the then-unreleased Purest Feeling sessions and the then-upcoming Pretty Hate Machine album. This was the band's first official tour.
After the band's stint as the opening act for Skinny Puppy, Trent Reznor recruited Richard Patrick to play lead guitar for the band. Former keyboardist Chris Vrenna decided to play live drums for the band after Trent Reznor deemed electronic drum machines not suitable for the band's newer material. Gary Talpas, otherwise known as art director for NIN between 1989 and 1997, replaced Vrenna on keyboards. This short tour was the direct result of Pretty Hate Machine's release and underground following after its release through indie labelTVT Records.
Due to the band's success touring smaller clubs, pioneering noise pop bandThe Jesus & Mary Chain took notice of the band and asked them to be the opening act for their upcoming Automatic Tour. The band accepted, and began as the opening act for the tour. During this time, the band hired Nick Rushe to be the band's full-time keyboardist. It would be the band's first venture off of the eastern coast.
"Something I Can Never Have" & "The Only Time" was played in some shows.
Deep Tour
Almost immediately after touring with The Jesus & Mary Chain, Peter Murphy, former frontman for Bauhaus, asked the band to be the opening act for his solo tour. The band accepted and went back on tour almost immediately. The band changed keyboardists as well, switching Nick Rushe for David Haymes.
Band lineup
Trent Reznor – Lead vocals and guitar
Richard Patrick – Lead guitar and backup vocals
Chris Vrenna – drums
David Haymes – Keyboards and programming
Tour dates
Hate 1990
After touring as opening acts for various bands and gaining enough of a fan base to embark on a headlining tour, the band went on tour in 1990 to various clubs and auditoriums across the North America, bringing along Dallas, Texas based band "Lesson Seven" as their opening act. This is the first of two North America tours. Lee Mars replaced David Haymes on keyboards for the tour. This began the band's notorious image of aggressive concerts in which band members would take out their anger on their instruments and through their music. Nine Inch Nails' fan base grew largely during this time.
Band lineup
– lead vocals/Backup Guitar Richard Patrick – Lead guitar/Backup Vocals Chris Vrenna – drums Lee Mars – keyboards/Programming
During the winter of late 1990 and early 1991, the band embarked on the second leg of their tour, entitled the "Sin Tour". The band played more clubs than in the Hate Tour, but continued to headline venues across the country they had been playing in before. This was the band's first tour to take place in Mexico. Lee Mars continued as the keyboardist for the band.
After the moderate success of their Hate and Sin tours, Perry Farrell of Jane's Addiction invited the band to join up on the first year of their country-wide Lollapalooza festival. The band accepted, and their popularity skyrocketed due to the band's considerate media exposure on MTV. The song "Now I'm Nothing" was written during this time as the opener to their sets, and often bled into their song "Terrible Lie". Portions of the performances can be found on the documentary Closure. Two songs from the upcoming Broken debuted during this time. On the opening date of the concert in Phoenix, the band's equipment continued to malfunction so they were forced to abandon their set after only playing two songs.
After their set at Lollapalooza gained them a large fan base, the band went to tour in Europe in a mixture of headlining and opening act concerts, including two shows as a support act for Guns N' Roses. The band played three shows in Germany due to the country's roots in industrial music. This was the band's first venture into Europe. The live band remained unchanged.
Band lineup
Trent Reznor – lead vocals, guitar
Richard Patrick – lead guitar, backup vocals
Jeff Ward – drums
James Woolley – keyboards, programming
Tour dates
Setlist
The band's setlist at these tours would include the following songs: From Pretty Hate Machine:
