Watch Nine Inch Nails give live debut to new single As Alive As You Need Me To Be as they launch North American Peel it Back tour with Josh Freese back on drums

(Image credit: John Crawford)

Nine Inch Nails kicked off the North American leg of their Peel It Back world tour at the Oakland Arena in California on August 6.

The show marked the return of drummer Josh Freese to the line-up - Ilan Rubin having recently jumped ship to join Foo Fighters - and was also significant for Trent Reznor's band giving a live premiere to As Alive As You Need Me To Be, their current single, taken from the TRON: Ares soundtrack. which will be released on September 19 via Interscope Records.

The song was performed on the arena show's 'B' stage by Reznor, bandmate Atticus Ross, and German musician/producer Boys Noize (Alexander Ridha), who is supporting on all the confirmed Peel It Back tour dates.

Watch As Alive As You Need Me To Be receive its live premiere below:

Nine Inch Nails - As Alive As You Need Me To Be (Live Debut) - Oakland Arena, Oakland CA 2025-08-06 - YouTube

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The Peel It Back world tour launched at the 3Arena in Dublin, Ireland on June 15.

Awarding the tour's third show, at London's O2 Arena on June 18, a full five stars Louder's review stated: "A few years back, when Trent Reznor admitted that he had no burning desire to reconvene Nine Inch Nails as a touring band, his weariness seemed underwritten by an awareness that NIN could not return to the stage without reinvention, without a reimagining of the tried-and-tested dynamics and theatrics of their performance.

"This, then, is how you make a comeback, not pandering, not acquiescing to expectations, but reconfiguring your art with fearlessness and quiet confidence."

The tour resumes tonight in Portland.

Nine Inch Nails 2025 tour dates:

Aug 08: Portland Moda Center, OR
Aug 12: Seattle Climate Pledge Arena, WA
Aug 14: Salt Lake City Maverik Center, UT
Aug 15: Denver Ball Arena, CO
Aug 17: St Paul Xcel Energy Center, MN
Aug 19: Chicago United Center, IL
Aug 22: Detroit Little Caesars Arena, MI
Aug 23: Toronto Scotiabank Arena, Canada
Aug 26: Baltimore CFG Bank Arena, MD
Aug 27: Philadelphia Wells Fargo Center, PA
Aug 29: Boston TD Garden, MA
Aug 31: Cleveland Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse, OH
Sep 02: New York Barclays Center, NY
Sep 05: Raleigh Lenovo Center, NC
Sep 06: Nashville Bridgestone Arena, TN
Sep 09: Duluth Gas South Arena, GA
Sep 10: Tampa Amalie Arena, FL
Sep 12: Houston Toyota Center, TX
Sep 13: Fort Worth Dickies Arena, TX
Sep 16: Phoenix Footprint Center, AZ
Sep 18: Los Angeles Kia Forum, CA

A music writer since 1993, formerly Editor of Kerrang! and Planet Rock magazine (RIP), Paul Brannigan is a Contributing Editor to Louder. Having previously written books on Lemmy, Dave Grohl (the Sunday Times best-seller This Is A Call) and Metallica (Birth School Metallica Death, co-authored with Ian Winwood), his Eddie Van Halen biography (Eruption in the UK, Unchained in the US) emerged in 2021. He has written for Rolling Stone, Mojo and Q, hung out with Fugazi at Dischord House, flown on Ozzy Osbourne's private jet, played Angus Young's Gibson SG, and interviewed everyone from Aerosmith and Beastie Boys to Young Gods and ZZ Top. Born in the North of Ireland, Brannigan lives in North London and supports The Arsenal.

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