Trent Reznor took the stage at Comerica Theatre on Thursday to launch a tour in support of this year's "Bad Witch." He then opened the first of two back-to-back dates by leading his latest collection of bandmates in an explosive rendition of "Wish" after setting the tone with a piped-in recording of "Pinion," the track that precedes it on 1992's "Broken."

From there, they proceeded to make their way through the entire '92 EP in order, including the first live performance of "Happiness in Slavery" since 1995 and their headbanging reboot of "Physical (You're So)" by Adam and the Ants.

How weird is that?

At least extremely.

But as unexpected moves go, it made perfect sense the more you thought about it.

"Bad Witch" is the third installment in a trilogy – or suite, as Reznor calls it – that was launched in 2016 with "Not the Actual Events," that finds him re-embracing the aggression of his brutal youth.

The guitar-driven "Broken" EP was the sound of Reznor moving on from what he'd done on "Pretty Hate Machine" to the darker industrial rock of his first masterpiece, "The Downward Spiral."

So, was opening the show with "Broken" an acknowledgement that Nine Inch Nails had come full circle, in a way, with "Not the Actual Events," "Add Violence" and "Bad Witch?"

Only Reznor knows for sure.

But whatever his reasons, it got the concert off to an electrifying start.

Much like the shows they did last year, this new tour, as Reznor frames it on his website, is meant to be "more raw and just alive, with mistakes and honesty and a fluid set list and maybe a bright light in your eyes the whole time and you can’t see anything but smoke and it feels a little bit dangerous."

As Reznor suggested, it suited the mood of his new music when it did come time to play it.

Beyond 'Broken'

After bringing "Broken" to a close with "Suck," he asked "What are we gonna do now?" before leading his bandmates in "March of the Pigs" from "The Downward Spiral," an intense performance that was followed by the first song not recorded in the '90s, "The Lovers" from the middle chapter of the trilogy.

Then, he reached back to "The Downward Spiral" yet again for "Reptile" (but not "Closer," a conspicuous omission) before welcoming the crowd to the opening night of the official tour.

"We played some old (expletive)," he said. "Now we're gonna play some new (expletive)." And with that, Robin Finck took the spotlight with a throat-shredding vocal on "S--t Mirror."

They kept the focus on the trilogy with "Ahead of Ourselves" and a brooding, dramatic "This Isn't the Place," which Reznor acknowledged had been inspired by "a friend of mine."

Then, he added, "That very same friend is the friend I made this song with quite a few years ago" by way of introducing the very Bowiesque David Bowie collaboration, "I'm Afraid of Americans," which included a brief but electrifying guitar break from Finck.

After that song, Reznor gave a heartfelt, seemingly impromptu speech.

"Sometimes up here you get off on a tangent," he confided. "I just got a little sad. I started thinking about time and how long it's been, how long we've been around... and losing friends."

Then, he thanked the crowd for being there and said, "Here's another song about the end of the world" as a set-up for "Survivalism."

After "Only" and "The Hand That Feeds," both taken from 2005's "With Teeth," he brought the set to a cathartic close with the audience shouting along on the chorus of "Head Like a Hole" from "Pretty Hate Machine," which also featured Finck on vocals.

The three-song encore started strong with "Less Than" and just kept getting better as they made their way through "The Day the World Went Away" and a truly transcendent rendition of "Hurt" that ended in a hail of white noise.

The Jesus and Mary Chain rock

Speaking of white noise, the Jesus and Mary Chain, still led by Scottish brothers Jim and William Reid, preceded Nine Inch Nails' performance with a feedback-laden wall of sound.

After making their way through such noise-rocking highlights as "Reverence," "Head On," "Blues From a Gun," "All Things Must Pass," "Cracking Up" and "Some Candy Talking," they ended their set with a truly cacophonous "I Hate Rock 'N' Roll."

And when the song was over, they kept the noise alive by setting their guitars down on the stage to continue feeding back after they'd gone.

This Tobacco is good for you

The concert started with a brief but brilliant outburst of experimental electronic music by Tobacco, accompanied by psychedelic images projected on circular screens to either side of Tobacco as he performed in darkness.

The Black Moth Super Rainbow front man treated the crowd to such mind-melting highlights as "Human Om," "Streaker," "Lipstick Destroyer" and "Gods in Heat" before bringing his set to a close with his disorienting re-imagining of Eric Carmen's "Hungry Eyes."

Tickets are still available at ticketmaster.com for Friday night's performance at Comerica.

Nine Inch Nails setlist

"Wish"

"Last"

"Help Me I Am in Hell"

"Happiness in Slavery"

"Gave Up"

"Physical (You're So)"

"Suck"

"March of the Pigs"

"The Lovers"

"Reptile"

"S--t Mirror"

"Ahead of Ourselves"

"This Isn't the Place"

"I'm Afraid of Americans"

"Survivalism"

"Only"

"The Hand That Feeds"

"Head Like a Hole"

Encore

"Less Than"

"The Day the World Went Away"

"Hurt"

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