Nine Inch Noize makes official debut at Coachella

Nine Inch Noize—the long-rumored, now fully realized collision of Nine Inch Nails and Boys Noize—made its Coachella debut Saturday night, taking over the Sahara Tent with a performance that felt less like a side project and more like a fully formed new entity. Though the collaboration has been a standout segment of Nine Inch Nails’ recent Peel It Back Tour, this marked its first proper, full-length set: 45 minutes, 11 songs, and a livestream that only partially captured the scale of it.

Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, and Boys Noize performed in the same tight, boxy formation that defined the tour setup, but Coachella allowed for a more theatrical expansion. Their fortress of synths sat at the center of a sloped stage, encircled by a troupe of faceless dancers drifting in and out like apparitions. The result was stark and hypnotic, an industrial ritual unfolding in the middle of the desert, anchored by the trio’s unrelenting pulse.

That core occasionally expanded. Mariqueen Maandig, a key figure in Reznor’s How to Destroy Angels project, appeared at both the beginning and end of the set, contributing to roughly half the songs, including a haunting take on “Parasite.” While much of the material drew from the Peel It Back Tour’s Nine Inch Noize segment, the set wasn’t without surprises. Three songs made their debut in this context: The Downward Spiral’s “Heresy,” reimagined with Maandig; a towering “Copy of A,” already a live high point on the recent tour; and a cover of Soft Cell’s “Memorabilia,” which slotted seamlessly into the project’s sleek, mechanical aesthetic.

Nine Inch Noize return to Coachella on April 18, just a day after the release of their debut album.