Jesus and Mary Chain w/ Nine Inch Nails
Words: Marshall Dickson
Photos: Marshall Dickson

Appeared:
February 15, 1990
Cuban Club, Ybor City

 Jesus and Mary Chain’s  tour surfed its way into Tampa Bay on a wave of ecstatic feedback and fuzz.  Outside on a windy night, the band was cloaked in a constantly replaced veil of synthetic smoke.  Brothers Jim & William Reid with future Primal Scream-er Bobby Gillespie on guitar, and a live drummer replacing the mechanized maestro used in the studio filled the Cuban Club’s patio with sonic majesty. 

 This was also the first time Nine Inch Nails played here; the first of four shows to grace Tampa Bay in twelve months.  Trent Reznor wore his “GOD SQUAD” shirt for the first three of them: February, March, and again in July.  After five months on the road wearing the same disintegrating top every night on stage, he must truly have been on a search for the pure essence of funk.