"Thank you for coming back," Nine Inch Nails [ tickets ] frontman Trent Reznor said to the crowd at Worcester's DCU Center on Sunday night (11/9), a make-up date for an August show that was postponed at the last minute after he fell ill. "Sorry for the inconvenience."

And that was roughly the sum total of Reznor's between-song banter during the show. Rather than kibitz with the audience, the industrial-rock icon and his touring band—guitarist Robin Finck, keyboardist Alessandro Cortini, drummer Josh Freese and bassist Justin Meldal-Johnsen—instead focused their attention on a roughly 30-song setlist (included below) that had them sweating it out on stage for a solid two hours.

The show got off to a blistering start with a volley of high-energy tracks off of NIN's latest album, "The Slip," which Reznor released for free via his group's website back in May. Of the concert's first half-dozen songs, all but one came from "The Slip," and the lone oldie—the frenetic "March of the Pigs"—only served to whip the already-charged-up crowd into an even bigger frenzy.

After the opening salvo of material from "The Slip," the group tackled a handful of songs from its '90s-era output—including the surefire crowd-pleaser "Closer," complete with its "F--- you like an animal" sing-along chorus—before sinking its teeth into "The Warning" and "The Great Destroyer," a pair of cuts from NIN's 2007 concept album, "Year Zero."

In addition to "Closer," the lengthy set-list included other prerequisite fan favorites such as "Head Like a Hole" (a song some might find hard to believe is almost 20 years old) and "Hurt." But it was newer fare culled from "Year Zero," "The Slip" and "Ghosts"—a four-volume instrumental collection that Reznor surprised fans with earlier this year—that really carried the night and proved that the band is still a relevant force.

Mid-set, the group shifted gears and showcased a few cuts from the aforementioned instrumental epic "Ghosts." Wielding instruments heretofore unseen during a NIN concert—including an acoustic guitar and a xylophone—Reznor and company used the moody interlude to show off what, quite simply, is one of the most spectacular lighting displays in rock-concert history.

In addition to the massive LED wall that served as the group's backdrop and spanned the width of the stage, the "Ghosts" segment saw the lighting director lower to the stage two additional stage-spanning rigs best described as metal-mesh curtains outfitted with thousands of LEDs, all of which were wired for video display. The band members, who remained visible through the mesh, were sandwiched between the screens, and all three of the massive displays served up imagery taken from the "Ghosts" album artwork.

The multi-layered effect allowed for intricate visuals such as a swamp scene complete with rippling water, and a rainstorm on the front screen that partially obscured the band.

The work of Reznor, longtime NIN art director Rob Sheridan and media arts-and-entertainment studio MomentFactory, the mind-blowing visual effects also included various sound-sensitive shapes and patterns that silhouetted the band members and morphed in sync with the music and/or vocals delivered by the respective musician behind which they appeared.

Even more impressive was the degree to which the lighting displays were equipped with interactive capabilities: at one point, the band was completely hidden behind a sea of white static—but when Reznor got close enough to the front of the stage, an irregularly shaped portion of the lighting mesh would go dark, allowing him to become visible in the midst of the otherwise opaque display.

The most mind-blowing example of the stage-set's interactivity, however, came with encore-opener "Echoplex," a track from "The Slip" that features a computer-sequenced drum pattern. In preparation for the song, four rows of white-outlined squares stacked about 6-feet high and about 20-feet wide were displayed on one of the massive video walls. Freese took to the stage alone and began touching various squares, each of which then turned solid red and activated a certain element of the drum track. Once all of the needed squares had been activated, he took his place behind the drum kit and was joined by his bandmates for the rest of the song.

Following "Echoplex" was a surprise rendition of "Reptile," during which Reznor invited Bauhaus vocalist Peter Murphy to help him deliver a duet version of the cut—a move that has occurred during a handful of previous concerts, and one that Reznor most likely does for his own enjoyment, as there is no need to hear anyone else other than him sing during a NIN concert.

Heading toward the finish line, the group broke out the tortured goth-ballad "Hurt," but chose to close out the show with the much more fresh and up-tempo cut "In This Twighlight," a melancholy "Year Zero" track that is essentially an ode to the end of the world. Featuring a backdrop of apocalyptic imagery, the song was a highlight of the show, and a welcome alternative to closing things out with a more well-worn hit.

[NOTE: MomentFactory has uploaded to YouTube a highlight reel and a five-minute-long making-of video, both of which feature footage of NIN's light show.]

Set list:

999,999
1,000,000
Letting You
Discipline
March of the Pigs
Head Down
The Frail
Closer
Gave Up
The Warning
The Great Destroyer
21 Ghosts III
14 Ghosts II
19 Ghosts III
Ghosts/Piggy
The Greater Good
Wish
Terrible Lie
Survivalism
The Big Come Down
31 Ghosts IV
Only
The Hand That Feeds
Head Like a Hole

Encore:

Echoplex
Reptile
God Given
Hurt
In This Twilight