Music

Nine Inch Nails weren’t just a copy of a copy on their return visit to TD Garden, rewarding fans with rare tracks and a mesmerizing stage show.

By Kevin Slane

February 18, 2026 | 2:43 PM

3 minutes to read

About 80 minutes into a blistering 21-song, 100-minute set at TD Garden, Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor took his first break of the night to deliver a brief, whimsical message.

“We’re back again!”

Boston was one of just two cities to benefit from a second show on the Nine Inch Nails’ extended Peel It Back Tour, a fact that Reznor said took him by surprise.

“I didn’t really look at the schedule,” the frontman said. “And then last week, I went, ‘We’re f***ing going back to Boston!’

“Personally, I love it here, I really do,” he continued. “But I thought, ‘Man, they must be getting sick of us by now.’”

Thankfully, Reznor is used to unexpected repeat performances in Boston: The band was a late fill-in for Foo Fighters at Boston Calling 2022, and when fellow festival headliners The Strokes had to cancel, Reznor stepped in to play a completely different (and unplanned) headlining set the very next night.

While fans didn’t get a 100% different show from the band’s usual Peel It Back repertoire, any repeat attendees were rewarded with several songs that the band didn’t perform during its August 2025 show at TD Garden, including some deeper cuts.

The concert alternated between two stages, starting on the smaller one with Reznor playing a stripped-down “Something I Can Never Have.” Slowly, members of the band joined him on stage during “Non-Entity,” with bassist Stu Brooks and guitarist Robin Finck prowling the small platform and Atticus Ross standing stoically at the mixing board.

After ripping through “Piggy (Nothing Can Stop Me Now)”, the group jogged by the floor crowd over to the main stage, where drummer Josh Freese — recently fired from Foo Fighters and then immediately picked up by NIN — was waiting, urging the band forward with a drum fill leading into “Wish.”

The set frequently had an air of unreality, with Reznor and co. performing behind a translucent curtain used to project both bright effects and live video from a handheld camera on stage. Even from the best seats, the band was sometimes hidden (or at least warped) behind these effects, with the only “real” footage from behind the curtain shown in black and white on the monitors bordering the stage. The effect was especially fitting on “Copy of A,” with ghostly artifacts of Reznor appearing one by one around the singer.

After returning to the B Stage, Reznor brought out electronic artist Boys Noize, who had already prepared the crowd for the volume to come during his ear-rattling opening set. The group picked one of its more EDM-influenced tracks (“Vessel”) to welcome the DJ, before moving on to remixed versions of “She’s Gone Away” and “Closer;” “As Alive as You Need Me to Be,” a track from the “Tron:Ares” soundtrack co-produced by Boys Noize; and “Parasite,” a song from the Reznor/Ross side project How to Destroy Angels.

The trance remix of “Closer,” already a track that exemplified the electronic influences on industrial rock, was a burst of energy, and showed Reznor’s confidence in challenging the audience to enjoy an alternate version of the group’s biggest hit.

The band got its steps in for the final time of the night, returning to the main stage for a final seven songs. It being Valentine’s Day weekend, “The Perfect Drug” left many couples in the crowd arm in arm, cooing the song’s chorus to each other. The song also provided an opportunity for Freese to rip off a lengthy drum solo, leaving no doubt that Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl made a mistake when he parted with the legendary session musician.

The band wrapped up the evening with three crowd favorites: “The Hand That Feeds,” “Head Like A Hole,” and the Johnny Cash cover “Hurt.” 

And while those were the same final three songs Reznor and co. played in August, no one at TD Garden seemed to mind – especially given Reznor’s final words.

“Promise we’re not coming back for a while.”

Setlist for Nine Inch Nails, Feb. 13 at TD Garden

B Stage

• “Something I Can Never Have”
• “Non-Entity”
• “Piggy (Nothing Can Stop Me Now)”

Main Stage

• “Wish”
• “March of the Pigs”
• “The Frail”
• “Reptile”
• “Find My Way”
• “Copy of A”
• “Gave Up”

B-Stage (with Boys Noize)

• “She’s Gone Away” (Remix, featuring “Vessel” intro and “Girl Crush”)
• “Closer” (Remix)
• “Parasite” (How to Destroy Angels cover)
• “As Alive As You Need Me to Be”

Main Stage

• “Somewhat Damaged”
• “Less Than”
• “The Perfect Drug”
• “Burn”
• “The Hand That Feeds”
• “Head Like a Hole”
• “Hurt”

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