Nine Inch Nails kicked off their Peel It Back Tour in Dublin, Ireland on Sunday night (6/15), their first world tour in three years.

Among the big surprises for the Irish at Dublin’s 3Arena was return of “Piggy (Nothing Can Stop Me Now)” to the setlist, which Trent Reznor and the band all dressed in black played for the first time since 2009.

Always the innovator, the 60-year-old Grammy- and Oscar-winning singer and composer began the show behind his keyboard, not on the main stage, but on the smaller platform in the middle of the adoring crowd.

There Reznor (vox, guitar, keyboards), Atticus Ross (keyboards, programming), Robin Finck (lead guitar, synthesizers), Alessandro Cortini (bass, synthesizers), and Ilan Rubin (drums, percussion, keyboards) started the show with the apropos "Right Where It Belongs" from their With Teeth album which celebrated its 20 anniversary last month.

Next came "Ruiner" from the group's breakout, The Downward Spiral, and then "Piggy (Nothing Can Stop Me Now).

Of note: “Piggy” is a brooding track from The Downward Spiral (1994), later reimagined as the slower, funk-tinged “Piggy (Nothing Can Stop Me Now)” on the remix album Things Falling Apart (2000). While NIN did play the original a few years ago, they hadn't delivered the remix version since 2009.

None of the trio of tracks performed in the first act of the four act show had been rocked out live since 2009, the year Trent apparently said "that'll do, Pig."

The dapper daddies of industrial then made their way to the main stage where they plugged into the power, dug in behind a sheer curtain, and walloped the faithful of the Emerald Isle with the one-two-punch of "Wish" and "March of the Pigs."

After a healthy seven-song run, NIN returned to the B-stage with Alexander Ridha, a German-Iraqi DJ and producer who goes by Boys Noize, where they stumbled a bit slightly, an opening night normality that Reznor addressed.

“It’s not a well‑oiled machine, it’s five guys trying to keep their shit together up here," he said. All was forgiven by the lasses and lads who needed no apologies.

Not surprisingly, the Irish Times called the third act "a thrilling mid-set sequence."

The final act was packed with hits like the David Bowie cover "I'm Afraid of Americans," the latter of which no one would be shocked if it starts being covered with more frequency.

"We're going to play an increasingly relevant song," Reznor said before breaking into the dark song he remixed for the Thin White Duke in 1997 which Bowie loved so much he released it as a single.

To hear the difference of the original recording, dust off your Showgirls (1995) soundtrack or his Earthling album. It's good. But Trent's remix made it great.

But back to "Piggy" and the other two tunes that came back to the setlist on Sunday -- 16 years is a long time. What could have Trent been up to during that time?

Since he last played those tunes live, Reznor has won two Academy Awards and two Grammys with Atticus Ross for their film scores, including The Social Network and Soul. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with Nine Inch Nails in 2020 and also composed music for major shows like Watchmen and Bird Box.

He had collaborations with Halsey and Saul Williams. NIN put out new LPs, including Hesitation Marks and Bad Witch.

He and Atticus co-wrote and co-produced Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” remix, which was the version that spent a record-breaking 19 consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Perhaps you can hear the horses in the back, I mean the banjos in the back of 2008's NIN song "Ghosts IV - 34" that were sampled for the gay rapper's runaway country hit.

And, (coincidentally?) soon after he stopped playing "Piggy" and the others, Reznor married the stunning Mariqueen Maandig and together they now have five children (four sons and one daughter).

So yeah, bro was busy.

Make yourself unbusy and catch this band we are all so lucky has returned to the stage.

The Peel It Back Tour runs through September and includes shows across Europe followed by a leg in North America including stops at the Ziggo Dome in Holland, the United Center in Chicago and the Forum in Los Angeles.

Tickets available on the Nine Inch Nails website, while they last.

Peel It Back Tour

6/17 Manchester, England Co‑op Live
6/18 London, England The O2
6/20 Cologne, Germany Lanxess Arena
6/21 Dessel, Belgium Graspop Metal Meeting
6/24 Milan, Italy Parco della Musica Novegro
6/26 Zürich, Switzerland Hallenstadion
6/27 Vienna, Austria Wiener Stadthalle
6/29 Amsterdam, Netherlands Ziggo Dome
7/1 Berlin, Germany Uber Arena
7/3 Gdynia, Poland Open’er Festival
7/5 Roskilde, Denmark Roskilde Festival
7/7 Paris, France Accor Arena
7/10 Madrid, Spain Mad Cool Festival
7/12 Oeiras, Portugal NOS Alive Festival
8/6 Oakland, CA Oakland Arena
8/8 Portland, OR Moda Center
8/10 Vancouver, BC Rogers Arena
8/12 Seattle, WA Climate Pledge Arena
8/14 West Valley City, UT Maverik Center
8/15 Denver, CO Ball Arena
8/17 Saint Paul, MN Xcel Energy Center
8/19 Chicago, IL United Center
8/20 Chicago, IL United Center
8/22 Detroit, MI Little Caesars Arena
8/23 Toronto, ON Scotiabank Arena
8/26 Baltimore, MD CFG Bank Arena
8/27 Philadelphia, PA Wells Fargo Center
8/29 Boston, MA TD Garden
8/31 Cleveland, OH Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse
9/2 Brooklyn, NY Barclays Center
9/3 Brooklyn, NY Barclays Center
9/5 Raleigh, NC Lenovo Center
9/6 Nashville, TN Bridgestone Arena
9/9 Duluth, GA Gas South Arena
9/10 Tampa, FL Amalie Arena
9/12 Houston, TX Toyota Center
9/13 Fort Worth, TX Dickies Arena
9/16 Phoenix, AZ Footprint Center
9/18 Los Angeles, CA Kia Forum
9/19 Los Angeles, CA Kia Forum