Nine Inch Nails kicked off the North American leg of their ongoing “Peel It Back” world tour in Oakland, California last night (August 6th), delivering big hits and tour debuts for the adoring fans packed into Oakland Arena.
NIN’s set followed an opening performance from Boys Noize. Like how they’d begun their setlists overseas, last night’s show began with Trent Reznor mounting a small stage to gently play piano through “Right Where it Belongs,” and then they hit “Ruiner” and “Piggy (Nothing Can Stop Me Now)”.
The main stage performance ripped into hard-and-heavy hitters like “Wish,” “March of the Pigs” and “Reptile,” and featured returned drummer Josh Freese smacking the skins behind the drumkit — the Oakland concert marking his first performance with the band since 2008.
A return to the smaller stage found NIN joined by Boys Noize as they ran through remixes of “Sin” and “Vessel”. They also gave their “As Alive as You Need Me to Be” song for the TRON: Ares soundtrack its live debut.
The 20-song set concluded with a murderer’s row of classic NIN cuts, including “Closer,” “The Perfect Drug,” “The Hand That Feeds,” “Head Like a Hole,” and “Hurt.”
You’ll find fan-shot footage from the epic Oakland set up above and down below, while the setlist details can likewise be found below (via setlist.fm).
Reznor and the band continue their “Peel It Back” tour tomorrow at Portland, Oregon’s MODA Center. You’ll find the rest of the show schedule over here.
Nine Inch Nails setlist 8/6/25:
Right Where It Belongs (with “Somewhat Damaged” outro snippet)
Ruiner
Piggy (Nothing Can Stop Me Now)
Wish
March of the Pigs
Reptile
Heresy
Copy of A
Gave Up
Vessel (with Boys Noize)
As Alive as You Need Me to Be (with Boys Noize)
Sin (with Boys Noize)
Came Back Haunted (with Boys Noize)
Somewhat Damaged
Less Than
Closer (with “The Only Time” breakdown)
The Perfect Drug
The Hand That Feeds
Head Like a Hole
Hurt