The options for live music this week include a cutting-edge rock show at the Smoothie King Center, a modern jazz saxophone star, a reunion from the New Orleans New Wave scene of the 1980s and an all-star celebration of the Clash.
NINE INCH NAILS
THURSDAY, SMOOTHIE KING CENTER
Nine Inch Nails kicks off the second North American leg of the acclaimed “Peel It Back Tour” at the Smoothie King Center on Thursday. The show returns frontman Trent Reznor to the city he formerly called home.
Reznor was a bitter, alienated young man when he composed Nine Inch Nails’ 1989 debut album, “Pretty Hate Machine,” which established him as industrial rock’s melodic man in black. He first visited New Orleans for a show at Tipitina’s. He eventually moved into a grand Garden District mansion and recorded NIN’s 1999 album “The Fragile” and other works at a studio inside a former funeral home on Magazine Street.
Nine Inch Nails’ Michael Trent Reznor performs on the second day of the Corona Capital music festival in Mexico City, Sunday, Nov. 18, 2018. (Photo by Eduardo Verdugo, AP)
His personal downward spiral into drugs and alcohol during his decade-long New Orleans residency only made him more nihilistic. He eventually got sober and, after moving to Los Angeles, embarked on a second, prolific career scoring films.
He and creative partner Atticus Ross — now the only other “official” member of Nine Inch Nails — won Oscars for their work on “The Social Network” and “Soul,” sharing the latter award with New Orleans’ Jon Batiste. On Sept. 19, Nine Inch Nails released “TRON: Ares (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack),” the first soundtrack that Reznor and Ross have issued under the band’s name.
Touring is no longer the priority it once was for Reznor. Nine Inch Nails delivered an emotional, memorable set at an improvised festival site alongside the Mississippi River just two months after Hurricane Katrina for the 2005 Voodoo Music Festival. In 2018, the band performed three consecutive nights at New Orleans’ Saenger Theatre, serving up a different setlist each night.
The new tour finds Nine Inch Nails playing arenas once again. The “Peel It Back” show has been widely praised for its innovative use of visuals and other immersive effects. The emphasis on visuals perhaps reflects how much creative energy Reznor now devotes to writing music for movies.
Boys Noize opens the show at 8 p.m. Tickets start at $62 at ticketmaster.com.
Modern jazz saxophonist Joshua Redman.
JOSHUA REDMAN
FRIDAY, NEW ORLEANS JAZZ & BLUES MARKET
Across a recording career that spans more than three decades, saxophonist Joshua Redman has stood at the vanguard of modern jazz. On his 2023 release “Where Are We,” he for the first time paired one of his quartets with a vocalist, Gabrielle Cavassa. He’s clarified that the title of his 2025 release, “Words Fall Short,” was not in any way a commentary on the previous album.
Instead, “Words Fall Short” finds Redman stretching out on a program of original compositions with bassist Philip Norris, drummer Nazir Ebo, pianist Paul Cornish and a few special guests — including Cavassa. She lends her voice to the album’s final track, “Era’s End,” which is only the second Redman composition with lyrics to be released.
“It’s impossible for me to will a project into being,” he has said of his latest album. “This album came out of a working environment that inspired me to dig into compositions that hadn’t found a home yet.”
On Friday, Redman and his quartet play two shows at 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m at the New Orleans Jazz & Blues Market on Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard in Central City. Tickets start at $31. Discounted student tickets are available.
ALSO AT THE JAZZ & BLUES MARKET: Blues-based south Louisiana guitarist Kenny Neal plugs in on Thursday.
The Models were a New Wave band active in New Orleans in the early 1980s that was fronted by singer Johnny Indovina, right. After moving to Los Angeles in 1985, the members of the Models changed the band’s name to Human Drama.
THE MODELS 45th ANNIVERSARY
SATURDAY, JIMMY’S MUSIC CLUB
In the early 1980s, the Models were a fixture on New Orleans’ New Wave/punk scene alongside the likes of the Cold, the Dukes and Lenny Zenith & RZA. In 1985, the members of the Models moved to Los Angeles and changed the band name to Human Drama. As the more goth-leaning Human Drama, singer/songwriter Johnny Indovina and his bandmates released albums for RCA Records and other labels and toured extensively. They built a big following in Mexico that endures to this day.
After decades of living in New York and Los Angeles, Indovina moved to Mandeville last year. On Saturday, four of the five original members of the Models — Indovina, Michael Ciravolo, Steve Fuxan and Chuck Jung — and drummer Jeff Oteri, filling in for original Models drummer Charlie Bouis, will celebrate the band’s 45th anniversary with a show at the new incarnation of Jimmy’s Music Club, 8200 Willow St., in New Orleans.
They’ll be joined by several special guests from New Orleans’ punk/New Wave past. The bill also includes Glamarama and a solo set by Christian Serpas. Showtime is 8 p.m. Tickets are $20 plus fees.
The cover of the Clash’s album “London Calling.”
INTERNATIONAL CLASH DAY
SATURDAY, CHICKIE WAH WAH
Revered British punk band The Clash performed in New Orleans only once — on June 4, 1982, at the Warehouse. But that doesn’t mean the band doesn’t have a devoted local following, especially among musicians. For the fourth consecutive year, Chickie Wah Wah will host the local iteration of International Clash Day.
The Radio Clash Allstars — Tim Robertson, Rene Coman, Erik Bolivar, Alex McMurray and Glenn Hartmann — and a bevy of special guests will perform the Clash’s landmark “London Calling” in its entirety. Scheduled guests include Jon Cleary, Kristin Diable, Erica Falls, Maggie Koerner, Eric Johanson, Ben Jaffe, Helen Gillet, Pell, Paul Sanchez, Lynn Drury and River Eckert.
The Last Gang in Town will also perform a set of Clash classics. The Last Gang in Town’s all-star lineup consists of Darren Hill, of the Red Rockers; Jon Wurster, of Superchunk and the Mountain Goats; Ted Leo, of Ted Leo and the Pharmacists and the Gang of Four; and David Minehan, of The Neighborhooods and The Replacements.
Showtime is 8 p.m. Tickets start at $75.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.nola.com ’
