Josh Freese Plays 1st Show With Nine Inch Nails In 17 Years

Nine Inch Nails kicked off the North American leg of their Peel It Back World Tour at Oakland Arena in Oakland on Wednesday. The concert saw the return of former touring drummer Josh Freese, who performed with NIN for the first time in nearly 17 years.

Freese is an in-demand session/touring drummer who’s played with some of rock’s biggest acts including Guns N’ Roses, Weezer, A Perfect Circle, Sting, Devo and more. He was most recently Foo Fighters‘ drummer. Interestingly, Foo Fighters and Nine Inch Nails swapped drummers with NIN’s Ilan Rubin going to FF and Freese coming back on board with NIN.

Freese played with Nine Inch Nails between 2005 and 2008. He played his final show with NIN frontman Trent Reznor and company on December 13, 2008. In a recent interview with Metal Injection, Freese said that departing NIN was “one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make. My wife and I were expecting our third child, and I knew I needed to step away from life on the road to be home with my family.”

Freese looked pretty stoked to be back on the throne with NIN when he appeared on the big screen in Oakland for a drum solo at the end of the third song, “Piggy (Nothing Can Stop Me Now).” Watch Josh Freese’s first songs with NIN in almost two decades in the video of “Piggy” and “Wish” below:

NIN’s North American Tour kickoff also saw the live debut of the band’s first official release in five years, the single “As Alive as You Need Me to Be.” The track will appear on the upcoming soundtrack for the film TRON: Ares, which was created by NIN, Reznor and Atticus Ross‘ first film score under the Nine Inch Nails moniker.

In Oakland, NIN debuted “As Alive as You Need Me to Be” with openers Boys Noize. Check it out:

Nine Inch Nails also offered additional favorites “Closer,” “The Hand That Feeds,” “Head Like A Hole,” “March Of The Pigs” and “Hurt,” with the latter sealing the show. Watch additional video of Josh Freese’s first show with NIN in 17 years below:

Nine Inch Nails’ tour continues in Portland, Oregon on Friday (August 8). Scroll down for the band’s full itinerary and ticket info.