Stadium shows are touch and go. The right performers are able to make an enormous venue feel…well, maybe not intimate, but at least personal. Thankfully, Nine Inch Nails were able to use the space incredibly well. The show began with German-Iraqi DJ Boys Noize (the stage name for Alexander Ridha) spinning hard electronic beats, sometimes with snippets of 80s synth tunes from the likes of Depeche Mode and early Nine Inch Nails, other times incorporating voice samples (in what sounded like English, German, and Arabic).

We all knew Ozzy’s body was giving out. That’s one of the reasons so many people came to say farewell twelve days ago. Still, this feels very fast. Like maybe, preparing for the show and the excitement of it kept him going, despite the illness and pain. But boy, did he go out in style. So many people that he’s influenced and moved were there at the final show to tell him what he meant to them.

I’ve been going to the National Association of Music Merchants (or NAMM) show, for more than 25 years. For those who don’t know, it’s an musical instrument (MI) industry-only trade show, in which those who create musical instruments, equipment, or software show their wares to media, distributors, and retail buyers. It has always been a major event in the musical instrument industry; for a small company, lots of buyer interest at a NAMM show can mean getting enough purchase orders for the entire year in a few days.