FYF Fest ended with a new beginning.
Headlining the main stage Sunday night, Nine Inch Nails played its first “real show,” as frontman Trent Reznor put it, in nearly three years to close out the annual music festival in Exposition Park.
But as he brought his influential industrial-rock outfit back to life (following a warm-up gig last week in Bakersfield), Reznor wanted the crowd at FYF to know he hadn’t been sitting on a beach since 2014. He and his bandmates had been in the studio, he said — “hiding out, watching the world go crazy.”
You could hear the effects in their furious 90-minute set, which mixed vivid renditions of old hits like “March of the Pigs” and “Head Like a Hole” with exasperated tunes from a pair of EPs the group released ahead of its return to the road.
1/64
Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails performs on Day 3 of FYF at Exposition Park in Los Angeles.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 2/64
Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails performs Sunday.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 3/64
Trent Reznor onstage at Exposition Park in Los Angeles.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 4/64
Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor performs.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 5/64
Joey Purp performs at FYF in Exposition Park on Sunday.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 6/64
Fans dance to the music of Joey Purp.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 7/64
Joey Purp performs at FYF.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 8/64
Iggy Pop performs at FYF Fest in Exposition Park in Los Angele.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 9/64
A fan is escorted out of the pit by a security guard while Iggy Pop performs at FYF Fest in Exposition Park in Los Angeles.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 10/64
Iggy Pop performs Sunday at FYF in Exposition Park.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 11/64
A fan crowd surfs while Iggy Pop performs Sunday in Exposition Park.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 12/64
Iggy Pop performs on the lawn stage Sunday at FYF.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 13/64
Bardo Martinez of Chicano Batman performs Sunday at FYF Fest in Exposition Park.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 14/64
Eduardo Arenas of Chicano Batman performs Sunday at FYF Fest in Exposition Park.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 15/64
Salima Allen, 26, of Los Angeles watche Chicano Batman at FYF Fest in Exposition Park on Sunday.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 16/64
Bardo Martinez of Chicano Batman performs Sunday at FYF Fest in Exposition Park.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 17/64
Singers back up Chicano Batman at FYF Fest in Exposition Park on Sunday.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 18/64
Bardo Martinez of Chicano Batman performs Sunday at FYF Fest in Exposition Park.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 19/64
Clementine Creevy of Cherry Glazerr performs Sunday at FYF Fest in Exposition Park.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 20/64
Cierra Fraser, 22, of Seattle dances to Cherry Glazerr’s set Sunday at FYF Fest in Exposition Park.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 21/64
Clementine Creevy of Cherry Glazerr performs Sunday at FYF Fest in Exposition Park.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 22/64
Frank Ocean performs at the FYF Fest in Exposition Park in Los Angeles on July 22, 2017.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 23/64
Frank Ocean performs at the FYF Fest in Exposition Park in Los Angeles.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 24/64
A fan enjoys the music at the FYF Fest in Exposition Park in Los Angeles.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 25/64
Rapper Consequence performs onstage with A Tribe Called Quest at the FYF Fest in Exposition Park in Los Angeles.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 26/64
Rapper Consequence performs onstage with A Tribe Called Quest at the FYF Fest in Exposition Park in Los Angeles.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 27/64
Mayosha Long dances to the music of A Tribe Called Quest at the FYF Fest in Exposition Park in Los Angeles.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 28/64
Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest performs at the FYF Fest in Exposition Park in Los Angeles.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 29/64
Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest performs at the FYF Fest in Exposition Park in Los Angeles.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 30/64
Ali Shaheed of A Tribe Called Quest performs at the FYF Fest in Exposition Park in Los Angeles.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 31/64
MC Jarobi White of A Tribe Called Quest performs at the FYF Fest in Exposition Park in Los Angeles.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 32/64
Rapper Consequence performs onstage with A Tribe Called Quest at the FYF Fest in Exposition Park in Los Angeles.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 33/64
Jarobi White of A Tribe Called Quest performs at the FYF Fest in Exposition Park in Los Angeles.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 34/64
Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest performs at the FYF Fest in Exposition Park in Los Angeles.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 35/64
Ali Shaheed of A Tribe Called Quest performs at the FYF Fest in Exposition Park in Los Angeles.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 36/64
Denitza Leon, left, of Buena Park and Ryan de Leon, of Pico Rivera at FYF Fest in Exposition Park in Los Angeles.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 37/64
Adrianne Lenker of the Brooklyn band Big Thief performs Saturday at FYF Fest in Exposition Park.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 38/64
Buck Meek performs Saturday with the Brooklyn band Big Thief at FYF Fest in Exposition Park.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 39/64
Adrianne Lenker of Big Thief plays Saturday at FYF Fest in Exposition Park.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 40/64
Adrianne Lenker of Big Thief plays Saturday at FYF Fest in Exposition Park.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 41/64
Ricardo Morales of El Monte listens to Big Thief’s set Saturday at FYF Fest in Exposition Park.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 42/64
Big Thief performs Saturday at FYF Fest in Exposition Park.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 43/64
Mike Kinsella, left, and brother Tim Kinsella of Cap’n Jazz play FYF Fest in Exposition Park on Saturday.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 44/64
A crowd watches Cap’n Jazz perform Saturday at FYF Fest in Exposition Park.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 45/64
Tim Kinsella of Cap’n Jazz plays Saturday at FYF Fest in Exposition Park.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 46/64
Mike Kinsella of Cap’n Jazz plays Saturday at FYF Fest in Exposition Park.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 47/64
Tim Kinsella of Cap’n Jazz performs Saturday at FYF Fest in Exposition Park.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 48/64
Tim Kinsella of Cap’n Jazz performs Saturday at FYF Fest in Exposition Park.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 49/64
Tim Kinsella of Cap’n Jazz crowd surfs Saturday at FYF Fest in Exposition Park.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 50/64
Tim Kinsella of Cap’n Jazz performs Saturday at FYF Fest in Exposition Park.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 51/64
The rapper Noname performs Saturday at FYF Fest in Exposition Park.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 52/64
Jocelyn Garcia of Anaheim, center, at FYF Fest in Exposition Park on Saturday.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 53/64
Missy Elliott takes the Main Stage on the first day of the FYF Fest at Exposition Park in Los Angeles.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 54/64
Missy Elliott performs at the FYF Fest on Friday in Los Angeles.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 55/64
Missy Elliott is all smiles on the Main Stage at FYF Fest.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 56/64
Wearing a lime-green face mask and a dress that made her look like a living party streamer, Icelandic singer Bjork belts out material from throughout her expansive catalog during her performance at FYF.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 57/64
Helena Hauff works the turntable on the Outer Space Stage at FYF Fest at Exposition Park.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 58/64
Survive performs on the Club Stage at the first day of the FYF Fest at Exposition Park.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 59/64
The mood stays light as people dance to house music before Survive takes the stage Friday night.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 60/64
A DJ takes a drag on a cigarette between sets on the Outer Space Stage.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 61/64
Angel Olsen tosses her hair as she begins her performance at the Lawn Stage on Friday at FYF Fest.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 62/64
Eoslin Farley, center, dances with friends Sierra Willows, left, and Ciara Farmer as the Beach Fossils perform on the Lawn Stage at FYF Fest on Friday.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 63/64
Dustin Payseur leads the Beach Fossils in an early performance Friday on the first day of the FYF Fest at Exposition Park.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 64/64
Markica Schulman, left, and Erin Savino stop for a photo as they enter Exposition Park for the three-day FYF Fest.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) In the new “Less Than,” Reznor railed against a clumsy yet arrogant authority figure — “Offend and pretend and defend and demand my compliance,” he sang over a menacing disco-punk beat — while “The Hand That Feeds,” from 2005, revived a Bush-era critique of blood spilled “in the name of the holy and the divine.”
He seemed certain the protest still applied. (Other acts on Sunday’s bill touched on politics as well, including the bumptious rap duo Run the Jewels and Solange, who sang gorgeously about institutional racism.)
Some of what Reznor observed during the band’s hiatus hit closer to home, particularly the death of his friend and collaborator David Bowie. On Sunday, Reznor said he’d asked Bowie’s camp if he could rework a song from the late singer’s final album, 2016’s “Blackstar”; he thought the exercise might help him put Bowie’s death “in context,” he explained.
The result was a haunted cover of “I Can’t Give Everything Away,” which Reznor sang (along with what sounded like Bowie’s recorded vocals) amid a weave of intricate synth patterns.
Nine Inch Nails — now a five-man operation with the addition of Reznor’s film-music partner, Atticus Ross — managed more moments of tenderness. There was “Something I Can Never Have,” a stately piano ballad from the band’s 1989 debut, “Pretty Hate Machine.”
And there was the late-’90s “The Frail,” which in retrospect clearly heralded Reznor and Ross’s award-winning scores for “The Social Network” and “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.”
Delicate and slow-moving, both were far from the norm for an outdoor festival set, a clear indication of Reznor’s confidence in the devotion of his audience — and also in his players’ impressive control.
Indeed, Nine Inch Nails may actually have sounded too good on Sunday; more than once, I found myself wanting the band to cut loose from Reznor’s exacting arrangements, to balance all the tension with a bit of release.
Or at least I did until the group got to “Closer.” Still the band’s biggest song more than two decades after it came out, this slithering goth-funk jam — a masterpiece of texture and groove — sounded as sexy and as audacious as it ever has at FYF.
Maybe more audacious, in fact. For all the talk about how coarse pop culture has grown in recent years, it’s virtually impossible to imagine “Closer,” with its unprintable lyric about animal desire, making it onto the radio today as the song did in 1994.
Even in a world gone crazy, a prudish instinct abides — yet another outrage to fuel Reznor’s disgust.
mikael.wood@latimes.com
Twitter: @mikaelwood
ALSO
Missy Elliott’s influence felt at FYF Fest, 20 years after her debut
How Frank Ocean — and Brad Pitt — made FYF Fest feel one of a kind
Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington was a voice of reassurance from the dark
