R.E.M.
Photo: Carlos Alvarez/ Getty Images

A diverse group of musicians joined a coalition on Tuesday asking that the Obama administration close down the terror suspect camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Taking issue with their music reportedly being blasted at ear-bleeding levels in an attempt to break uncooperative terror suspects, artists including R.E.M., Pearl Jam, Nine Inch Nails, Rage Against the Machine, Rosanne Cash, Steve Earle and Billy Bragg announced their support for the National Campaign to Close Guantanamo, according to The Associated Press.

As part of their effort, the National Security Archive in Washington is filing a Freedom of Information Act request in an effort to uncover classified records that detail the use of loud music as an interrogation device. A November 2008 report by the Senate Armed Services Committee makes several references to the use of loud music as an interrogation tool, including the case of a Mauritanian prisoner who was allegedly blasted with music, such as Drowning Pool's "Bodies," to "stress" him because he believed listening music was forbidden. Drowning Pool has not objected to the use of its music at Guantanamo Bay and other U.S. detention sites.

Among the songs reportedly played at high volumes near prisoners in the detention camp are death-metal band Deicide's "F--- Your God," Metallica's "Enter Sandman," the Meow Mix cat food jingle, music from "Sesame Street," Don McLean's "American Pie," Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the U.S.A.," Nine Inch Nails' "March of the Pigs," Queen's "We Will Rock You," the "I Love You" song from the children's show "Barney," as well as tunes by R.E.M., Pearl Jam, AC/DC, Britney Spears, the Bee Gees, Marilyn Manson, and others.

A spokesperson for the Joint Task Force Guantanamo told the AP that loud music has not been used with detainees since the fall of 2003; the first batch of prisoners were sent to the facility in January 2002. President Obama signed an executive order on January 22, 2009, pledging to close the facility within a year, but the move has drawn criticism from some Republican members of Congress, and it is unclear if the timetable will be achieved. A CIA spokesperson said the music was used for security purposes, to block detainees from communicating with each other, for instance, not for "punitive purposes — and at levels far below a live rock band."

According to BBC News, in a statement announcing their participation in the coalition, R.E.M. said, "We have spent the past 30 years supporting causes related to peace and justice. To now learn that some of our friends' music may have been used as part of the torture tactics without their consent or knowledge is horrific. It's anti-American, period."

• Nine Inch Nails
• Pearl Jam
• R.E.M.

Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor
Photo: Jeff Kravitz/ FilmMagic

Despite what you might have heard, in the summer of 1991, when I was 12 years old and terrified of everything, I didn't actually go to Lollapalooza.

This is a pretty big revelation, as I have spent the subsequent 18 years pretending that I actually did go to Lolla '91 ("Man, Body Count were crazy"), and to this day, I'm not really sure why I didn't. I mean, it was certainly the biggest thing to hit the Central Florida Fairgrounds that summer — the standard-bearers of Alternative Nation (Jane's Addiction, Siouxsie & the Banshees, the Violent Femmes, Nine Inch Nails, the Rollins Band, etc.) in sleepy, swampy Orlando, Florida! — and I had a ticket and everything ($20, which was a lot of scratch when you were 12). I just think, when it came down to it, I was too scared to go. So the day before the show, I wussed out and told my buddies that my parents wouldn't let me go.

And, yes, I have regretted this decision ever since.

Here's the thing, though: Looking back on it now, what frightened me wasn't the mosh pits (or the accompanying Dr. Martens) or Henry Rollins' histrionics (or the accompanying short-shorts). No, that stuff actually seemed pretty thrilling to me back then. What I was scared of — I mean, positively, totally, 100 percent terrified by — was Nine Inch Nails. Because they were evil. This is pretty embarrassing to admit now, but when I was 12, there was no band on the planet as frightening as NIN. They were nihilistic, brutal and brooding. They were into stuff like S&M and drugs and saying "f---" a lot, and Pretty Hate Machine was the soundtrack to all of that, a violent, twisted missive that poked holes in my sunny, suburban brain (I had never heard a Skinny Puppy or Throbbing Gristle record at this point, so cut me some slack).

Frontman Trent Reznor was the worst part of it all. He personified everything evil about NIN, and rather gleefully so. Like he sang on "Wish" (which NIN had begun playing during Lolla '91), "I'm the one without a soul/ I'm the one with this big f---ing hole." To a suburban 12-year-old who had rung in 1991 with Vanilla Ice's To the Extreme stuck in his Walkman, this was traumatizing stuff. I was so certain Reznor was going to leap off the Lolla stage and flagellate me — while his black-clad fans cheered him on — that I opted to skip the festival altogether, $20 be damned.

In retrospect, all that fear only goes to show the power of NIN's music and mythos (not to mention how dumb I was as a 12-year-old). In the years since, I have seen the band on several occasions — including a 2000 stop on the Fragility Tour (don't remember much), their chill-inducing set at New Orleans' Voodoo Music Experience, just two months after Katrina decimated the city, and last year at Lollapalooza — and not once was I even remotely frightened. In fact, during some of the Ghosts I-IV stuff they worked through at Lolla, I was even slightly bored.

Basically, I had triumphed over my inner 12-year-old. But then, last week, someone brought up a good point: I've never actually seen a Nine Inch Nails show. The Fragility gig didn't count, since it was at an arena and I was so intoxicated, and I've only caught festival gigs since then. I've had ample opportunities to see them at various points in between, yet, for whatever reason, I always skipped those shows. Was I still actually terrified of Trent Reznor?

This seemed rather funny to me. After all, I have interviewed Reznor and found him to be a nice, if somewhat serious, guy. He's gotten clean and gotten buff and is decidedly less nihilistic than he was 20 years ago, when he first started Nine Inch Nails. Still, maybe there was something to it. I mean, I generally prefer my music as cloying and unthreatening as possible (Sufjan Stevens, Wilco, the National, et al), so I decided that I had to face my fears once and for all. I was going to see a real NIN show.

Of course, I had to do it fast, since NIN are currently in the midst of their 10-date Wave Goodbye Tour, a farewell run of shows in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles (and one in Toronto at some festival, but who's counting?). So on Tuesday, I plunked down $55 (which is a lot of scratch when you're 30 and it's a recession) and packed into New York's Terminal 5 to catch the band for the first — and last — time.

And after something like 29 songs stretched over 250 minutes, I can unequivocally say that I am still positively, totally, 100 percent terrified by Nine Inch Nails. Not so much because they're evil or nihilistic or really into S&M (all those things seem to have disappeared with age), but because they are a frighteningly great band, the kind capable of creating thunderous rackets one minute ("March of the Pigs," "Burn," "Survivalism" and, of course, "Head Like a Hole") and whisper-quiet atmospheres the next ("La Mer," "The Fragile," "The Way Out Is Through"). Their live show is a whirlwind of tempos and emotions, of volume and violence, of subterfuge and defiance. They summon great waves of industrial noise and fury, currents of slinking, slurring bass lines and tracks of clicking, ticking electronics, and they do it all with lockstep precision. They are a machine.

And deservingly, they command an army of frighteningly loyal fans, the kind that sweat and bleed for them, the kind that turned Terminal 5 into a hazy, stinking hive of fists and legs and emotion. If anything, Tuesday's NIN show made me feel 12 all over again (OK, maybe closer to 16); it was packed, sweaty, dangerous. Kids surged toward the stage from the opening strains of "Home" and didn't let up until the final booming chords of "Hurt" had finished echoing around the room. There was pot smoke and crowd-surfers, kids with bloody heads and terrified girls pushing by you, trying to break free from the masses. I haven't been to a show like this since I was in high school. And that's pretty scary, when I think about it.

But here's the thing I found most frightening about the whole Nine Inch Nails experience on Tuesday: After they wrap up the Wave Goodbye Tour next month in Los Angeles, NIN will cease to exist. We will have lost one of our most confounding, confrontational and uncompromising bands, and I'm not sure there's anyone waiting in the wings to replace them. There will be a whole new generation of 12-year-olds who won't even have the option of wussing out of a NIN show, which, to me, is more terrifying than the "Happiness in Slavery" video (which is banned just about everywhere).

So, if this really is it, thanks for frightening me for all these years, Trent. Thanks for never bending or breaking. Thanks for always pushing the envelope and never backing down or editing or filtering. Thanks for being Nine Inch Nails. I'll see you in my nightmares.

Questions? Concerns? Hit me up at BTTS@MTVStaff.com.

• Nine Inch Nails

Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor performs at Bonnaroo 2009 on Saturday
Photo: Jeff Kravitz/ FilmMagic

At a time when very few people can afford to retire early, Nine Inch Nails CEO Trent Reznor is pulling the plug at the ripe old age of 44. During an early-morning set on Sunday at the three-day Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Manchester, Tennessee, Reznor informed the crowd that the searing performance would be his long-running band's last-ever U.S. date.

"It just dawned on me that this is our last show ever in the United States," Reznor told the crowd, according to The Associated Press. "Don't be sad. I'll keep going. But I think I'm going to lose my ... mind if I keep doing this, and I have to stop."

Reznor, the only consistent member of the group since its inception in the late 1980s, took the stage with his band's latest line-up not long after Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band wrapped up a three-hour set. NIN recently finished a co-headlining U.S. tour with Jane's Addiction, and they're slated to play a series of shows in Europe and Asia that end in August. The entire run of gigs was dubbed the Wave Goodbye Tour, intended as a farewell tour to mark the 20th anniversary of the group's 1989 debut, Pretty Hate Machine.

	Nine Inch Nails, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, More At Bonnaroo 2009

In February, in announcing the tour with fellow alternative-rock godheads Jane's, Reznor explained that the anniversary had caused him to reflect on his band's history. "In NIN world, 2009 marks the 20th anniversary of our first releases," he wrote in a post on the official NIN forum. "I've been thinking for some time now it's time to make NIN disappear for a while. Last year's Lights in the Sky tour was something I'm quite proud of and seems like the culmination of what I could pull off in terms of an elaborate production. It was also quite difficult to pull off technically and physically night after night and left us all a bit dazed. After some thought, we decided to book a last run of shows across the globe this year."

Reznor promised the shows would be more "raw, spontaneous and less scripted" than the technically complex Lights performances. "Fun for us and a different way for you to see us and wave goodbye," he said.

A spokesperson for the group could not be reached for comment at press time to confirm Reznor's future plans for NIN.

• Nine Inch Nails, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Many More At Bonnaroo 2009

• Nine Inch Nails

Jane's Addiction's Dave Navarro
Photo: MTV News

Eighteen years ago, they helped found Alternative Nation on the first-ever Lollapalooza tour. On Friday night (May 8), they'll hit the road together again.

Nine Inch Nails and Jane's Addiction kick off their so-called NINJA 2009 jaunt Friday in West Palm Beach, Florida, marking the first time they've shared the stage together since Lolla '91. It's a double bill that makes an awful lot of sense — yet, for a whole lot of reasons, it almost never happened.

First and foremost, Jane's had to reunite with original (and long-estranged) bassist Eric Avery, which British music mag NME had a lot to do with.

"We weren't thinking of getting together at all. But we were called by NME magazine to receive this thing called the 'Godlike Genius Award,' and it flattered the sh-- out of us," Jane's frontman Perry Farrell told MTV News. "So everybody appeared to receive the award, and it started to dawn on everybody that it would be fun to [play music again]. We hadn't done it, in some cases, in 18 years, and it was one of those things that you try it out again, see if it feels good."

And that led to a series of Los Angeles club gigs and a fiery headlining slot at South by Southwest in March. It sounded great, and it felt even better.

"We've had an amazing time. We haven't worked with Eric in close to 17 years, and there's been a lot of different versions of Jane's Addiction," guitarist Dave Navarro said. "We've had amazing bass players over the years ... and they've all been amazing assets to those incarnations of the band, but there's something about having the original bass player, Eric Avery, who we wrote and crafted the songs with, in place that ... it's kind of like having the missing ingredient that you haven't had all these years."

So now it's on to the NINJA tour — which, as if it weren't already a huge enough event, might just also serve as Nine Inch Nails' farewell tour. But whatever ends up happening with NIN, the guys in Jane's can't wait for the kick-off. It's just like old times.

"We're about to go on a six-week tour with Nine Inch Nails, and something that I've never had the opportunity to do is get to know the other artists on the bill, for an extended period of time on a creative level, prior to a tour," Navarro said. "In a lot of ways, this tour really does feel like extended family, based on the creative time we spent together and, going all the way back to Lollapalooza number one, where we did a month and a half of touring with them, so — there's a familial feeling within this tour."

• Nine Inch Nails
• Jane's Addiction

Mariqueen Maandig and Trent Reznor
Photo: Jon Kopaloff/ FilmMagic

Trent Reznor and his girlfriend, Mariqueen Maandig, announced their engagement over the weekend on the Web site of her band, West Indian Girl.

"In case [you] haven't heard the news, Mariqueen got engaged," the post reads. "Everyone in the West Indian Girl camp is super excited and happy for her. Q's an awesome person, friend and bandmate, and she couldn't be marrying a cooler guy. Talk about analog and digital love — their kids might all have Moogs for arms."

The NIN frontman and the West Indian Girl lead singer went public with their relationship at the "Star Trek" premiere last week in Los Angeles, reports Twentyfourbit.com.

In an interview with Rock Sound in 2005, Reznor talked about how his rock career and drug addiction had delayed marriage and kids for him. But now it appears he has now found time to include that in his life. "I had neglected [my love life], but I've been paying more attention to it," he said. "It feels like I'm more equipped to function in that situation. I can actually be honest with myself and another human being."

"What it had really been was an extension of that 23-year-old kid who said, 'I want to stop everything in my life to do this,' " he told the magazine. "I didn't want a girlfriend or marriage or a kid to get in the way of that opportunity. What that leads to eventually is one day saying, 'Okay, I've sold this many records and played this big place. ... I'm lonely.' Then 'Wow, I'm older than everyone else. How did that happen?' Plus with drugs involved, time just flies off the calendar. So now I'm going to be an old dad instead of a young dad."

• Nine Inch Nails
• West Indian Girl

Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor
Photo: Karl Walter/ Getty Images

Are Nine Inch Nails finished?

That's the question many are asking after NIN mastermind Trent Reznor posted a blog entry on the band's official site on Monday that seemed to hint the group will be taking a rather indefinite hiatus.

Titled "A note from Trent and a wave goodbye," the post detailed the time Reznor had recently spent in the studio with the reunited Jane's Addiction, "experimenting" and recording "lots of guitar solos." Reznor wrote in a nostalgic tone about early shows with Jane's — the bands shared the stage on the inaugural run of the Lollapalooza festival in 1991. They were "truly the best times I've had," he said. Then he revealed that the two bands plan to share the stage on a U.S. tour later this year.

He also dropped an even bigger bombshell: That tour will be NIN's last.

"In NIN world, 2009 marks the 20th anniversary of our first releases," Reznor wrote. "I've been thinking for some time now it's time to make NIN disappear for a while. Last year's Lights in the Sky tour was something I'm quite proud of and seems like the culmination of what I could pull off in terms of an elaborate production. It was also quite difficult to pull off technically and physically night after night and left us all a bit dazed.

"After some thought, we decided to book a last run of shows across the globe this year," the post continues. "The approach to these shows is quite different from last year — much more raw, spontaneous and less scripted. Fun for us and a different way for you to see us and wave goodbye. I reached out to Jane's to see if they'd want to join us across the U.S., and we all felt it could be a great thing. Will it work? Will it resonate in the marketplace? Who knows. Are there big record-label marketing dollars to convince you to attend? Nope."

It's not clear from the post whether Reznor plans on retiring the NIN moniker completely — i.e. no more albums — or if he's just taking the band off the road for good. Nine Inch Nails are currently on tour in Australia and New Zealand. Earlier this month, it was announced that they would appear at the Bonnaroo festival, scheduled for June 11-14 in Manchester, Tennessee.

Spokespeople for NIN and Jane's could not be reached for comment by press time.

• Nine Inch Nails

Britney Spears
Photo: Bryan Bedder/Getty Images

Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton is the newest member of Britney Spears' traveling circus this spring. When the pop star hits the road next month for her Circus tour not only will she be joined by the Pussycat Dolls, but she'll also have Perez Hilton there for every one of her dates — sort of ...

The blogger will not actually be hitting the road with the singer. He was asked by the tour's director/ choreographer, Jamie King, to tape a video that will air at the beginning of each stop on the tour.

"King told us that he had a dream about Perez and wanted us to be a part of the Circus," Hilton blogged on his site. "His dream is the video we shot last weekend, which is the opening video for the entire show. Britney was down with the idea and we, of course, said yes! We are thrilled to be a part of it!"

In a photo on Britney Spears' official Web site, fans get a taste of what they can expect from Hilton. For his part, Hilton will be dressed as something he describes as "The Ringleader/ Queen Elizabeth I" for the video, a role he said is "super rad."

"We've seen a bit of the rehearsals, and the best way we can describe it is sensory overload and amazing," Hilton said on his site. "The show is not only 'in the round,' but there are three circus rings with action going on in all of them — dancers, acrobats, aerialists and more. It's major! We can't wait to see how it all comes together!"

Speaking of her rehearsals, apparently the pop star has been sharing rehearsal space with Nine Inch Nails, according to Britney's Web site. "I can hear the thumping low end of Britney Spears," a comment from NIN's Trent Reznor says on the site. "It's been a treat having them here the whole time we've been here."

Spears' manager, Adam Leber, said that Britney and NIN have been getting along "famously," adding, "Maybe we should ask Trent Reznor to remix Circus?"

• Britney Spears
• Perez Hilton
• Nine Inch Nails

Britney Spears in "Slave 4 U"
Photo: Jive/Zomba

Valentine's Day — you either love it or hate it. It makes sweethearts swoon and others want to stab fat cherubs with a bow and arrow. Between the chocolate hearts, the red roses and the teddy bears shoved in our faces, the holiday stirs up a cocktail of emotions: happiness, despair, jealousy, grief, sadness, desire ...

MTV News has all your mood swings covered. In honor of this beloved and dreaded holiday, we're rolling out the Best Love Songs, Best Breakup Songs, Best Make-Out Songs and Worst Love Songs in recent memory. It's our Valentine's Day gift to you, minus the dinner-and-a-movie part. So slip into something comfortable, and stay for a while.

Lust is in the air tonight — impress your love with your vast knowledge of iPhone apps another night. Grab your valentine-of-the-moment and get your groove on.

10. Tweet (featuring Missy Elliott) - "Oops (Oh My)"
Follow along to this striptease with your crush tonight.

9. Rufus Wainwright - "Instant Pleasure"
Rufus swaps foreplay for instant gratification in this indie classic. Hey, at least he's direct with his intentions.

8. John Mayer - "Your Body is a Wonderland"
John sings about getting touchy-feely in this 2003 track. Even Alice is blushing.

7. Christina Aguilera - "Dirrty"
Christina takes it from the couch to the wrestling pit for full-on body contact.

6. The Donnas - "Take It Off"
I guess I can take off my shirt — I mean, coat. Only if you assist — I mean, insist. That came out funny. Is it a little hot in here?

5. MGMT - "Electric Feel"
Granted, most of us here at MTV News spaced out in bio class. But, we're pretty sure this "electrical eel" business is a reference to sex. We also know kids come from cabbage patches.

4. Nine Inch Nails - "Closer"
Get your freak on to the driving beats of this intense R-rated wonder. File this one under the "hot & heavy" category.

3. Kings of Leon - "Sex on Fire"
The Followill boys ignite our libidos with "Sex on Fire." Let the track consume you and your hookup hottie.

2. Chris Isaak - "Wicked Game"
This airy lullaby has been one of the dreamiest make-out songs on the planet for the past gazillion trillion years.

1. Britney Spears - "I'm a Slave 4 U" Brit snags the top spit-swapping spot for making us sweat along to this smash hit single.

Do you love it or are you just not that into our picks? Tell us why in the comment section below.

Now that you have the tracks to set the mood, you should gauge your plans with what the celebs are doing. No date? Don't forget that there are single, hot guys that you might have a chance with. Happy Valentine's Day!

• Valentine's Day: Best Make-Out Songs

• Chris Isaak
• Britney Spears
• John Mayer
• Christina Aguilera
• Nine Inch Nails

Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor
Photo: Kevin Mazur/ WireImage.com

Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor's paranoid, apocalyptic vision of worldwide chaos, nuclear war, bioterrorism attacks and the dissolution of civil liberties could be making its way to your television screen in the not-so-distant future.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Reznor has been in discussions with HBO about turning his Year Zero LP, and its companion alternate-reality game, into a two-season series.

"It's the most exciting thing on the horizon, [and] it's the thing that, when I wake up in the morning, it makes me say, 'God, it would be cool if that happened,' " Reznor told the Times. "This is my grand ambition. Will it happen? I don't know. It was fun sitting and telling [the HBO] guys and watching them shake their heads and having writers on board and producers that are into it. It's been a fun thing."

Long before the album's release, Reznor said he wanted to take the Year Zero concept even further and was toying with the idea of transforming the story into a graphic novel. He said he'd met with a number of companies, "but it didn't feel quite right." He then considered bringing it to the big screen, "but that has a different timetable and too many people need to say yes. That wouldn't line up right."

Reznor began mulling different types of media, hoping to create a more interactive experience. That's when he hooked up with 42 Entertainment, who'd developed an ARG for Steven Spielberg's "A.I.," and the result was the Year Zero game. Now he'd like to finish the story, which is where HBO comes in.

Reznor said he met with the network two weeks ago to discuss the project. And it sounds like a green-lit series could mean another LP.

"We would have a second ARG tying into the second album and [that] ties into the series, and they all happen together with a budget needed to pull that all off. There would be a tour down the road," Reznor said. "The record completes the story — the ending that no one knows. I know what happens. I knew when I started it. And it's not what people think."

• Nine Inch Nails

Lil Wayne performs at the 2008 Virgin Mobile Festival
Photo: Paul Morigi/ Getty Images

BALTIMORE — Fans got more than they bargained for at this weekend's Virgin Mobile Festival — more Kanye, anyway.

Not content to close out the two-day festival with his headlining Sunday slot, Mr. West stormed the stage earlier in the day, joining Lil Wayne for a meeting of hip-hop's hottest. Maybe 'Ye was pulling double duty to outshine the legends (Bob Dylan, Iggy and the Stooges), big rock veterans (Foo Fighters, Stone Temple Pilots, Nine Inch Nails, Offspring), and upstarts (Paramore, Jack Johnson, Duffy) who took the Virgin stage over the weekend at Pimlico Race Course.

Rocking a Louis Vuitton backpack, West joined Weezy on Sunday afternoon to spit his verse from the "Lollipop" remix without skipping a beat. The collabo was the high-energy point of a blistering, better-late-than-never performance. Showing up a half-hour late for an hourlong set would be a cardinal sin for most artists, but Weezy more than made up for it. The crowd chanted his name and even booed briefly while waiting for his set, but it was all love once Lil Wayne hit the stage. Wayne came with a mix of old-school, new-school and a lot of gratitude. "How many of y'all got Tha Carter III?" he asked. "I f---in' appreciate you."

He even took time to honor Static Major, asking for a moment of silence for the late rapper and songwriter before jumping into the song that catapulted Wayne from an underground mixtaper to an undeniable mainstream superstar. After welcoming Kanye up for "Lollipop," Wayne wrapped his set with even more gratitude and some laughs, lip-syncing to Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You" before leaving the stage.

While Wayne's day was done, Kanye was just getting started. He returned to the stage later that night like a hurricane, shrouded in flashing lights and fog. Fans threw up their Roc-A-Fella diamonds early and held them high all night. No irony was lost on 'Ye, who made it a point to prove his authenticity before jumping into "Diamonds From Sierra Leone."

"I work real hard at this rapping sh--," he said. "This is real rap."

Kanye dove into a set spanning his entire career, from his most recent verse from Young Jeezy's "Put On" to his humble beginnings on "All Comes Down," asking fans to "scream so loud I can't hear the music" if they knew the song.

And, of course, 'Ye talked, touching on everything from his mother's death to Barack Obama's nomination to crime in the festival's host city of Baltimore. He freestyled as well, expressing his gratitude for fame and his frustration that comes along with it. The raw emotion was undeniable. "I lost my mama/ I went through so much drama/ I went through so much drama/ I'm for Obama," he rapped. He then described his journey over to Pimlico Race Course, noting the flashing blue lights above cameras stationed throughout the 'hood and being content with the fact that even though many Baltimore natives couldn't afford to attend the concert, they could still see and hear the show from the parking lot outside the gates. He also shouted out MySpace, the Internet and Lil Wayne before beginning "Touch the Sky."

West took a bit of a jab at the festival's schedule, specifically the choice concertgoers had to make between his performance and one from Nine Inch Nails happening at the same time at the other end of the park (a dilemma faced by fans at Chicago's Lollapalooza a week earlier). "It's not a black-or-white thing, it's not a rap-or-rock-and-roll thing," he exclaimed. "It's a good-music thing. We jam about good things from the heart. How can you pick between me and Trent Reznor?"

But at the end of the day, Kanye's focus all came back down to his fans. Again freestyling, 'Ye expressed his eagerness to please those who came out to support him. "I hope you had a good time ... f--- that, the time of your life!" And with diamonds high in the sky and screams that could be heard around the block, the crowd's enthusiasm matched Kanye's (no easy feat).

The day before, it was up to West's fellow Chi-Town native Lupe Fiasco, who had fans bobbing their heads and singing along to "Superstar" and "Kick, Push." Despite technical difficulties, Lupe aimed to please, shouting after his microphone problem was resolved, "Let's hype this bitch back up, all right?" Given the amount of crowd-surfing during his set and the volume of fans chanting his name when he left the stage, he seemed to succeed.

But the weekend wasn't all about hip-hop. The Foos, the Stooges, Paramore and NIN brought the rock, but the guitar heroes of the day might have been Stone Temple Pilots. Taking the stage later than expected (thanks, Weezy), STP seemed to be the picture of reunification. The band was completely in sync thanks to its current 65-date tour. The focus wasn't mainly on themselves, though. Scott Weiland shared the love, shouting out those sharing the bill. "What a great day of f---ing music!," he gushed. "How about Iggy and the Stooges? And Nine Inch Nails are coming up!" He also had love for the crowd. "What a sea of energy," he exclaimed just before the crowd sang and bobbed along to every note of the band's breakthrough hit "Plush."

For more sights and stories from concerts around the country, check out MTV News Tour Reports. And send your own concert pics, videos and reviews to MTV News You R Here!

• Paramore, Lil Wayne, More At Virgin Mobile Festival 2008

• Lil Wayne
• Kanye West
• Young Jeezy
• Stone Temple Pilots
• Nine Inch Nails

Nine Inch Nails, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Many More At Bonnaroo 2009

• Nine Inch Nails
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs
• Erykah Badu
• Snoop Dogg
• MGMT

Nine Inch Nails, Jane's Addiction Hit The Stage In Atlanta

• Nine Inch Nails
• Jane's Addiction

Lollapalooza 2008

• Duffy
• Rage Against the Machine
• Radiohead
• Katy Perry
• Raconteurs

Who Needs Labels, Anyway?

• Radiohead
• Nine Inch Nails
• Fall Out Boy
• Madonna
• R.E.M.

System Of A Down, Coldplay, More At KROQ-FM's Almost Acoustic Christmas

• Nine Inch Nails
• System of a Down
• Thrice
• Korn
• Fall Out Boy

The 48th Annual Grammy Nominees

• Mariah Carey
• Kanye West
• John Legend
• 50 Cent
• Black Eyed Peas

"ReAct Now: Music & Relief" Disaster Relief Benefit Concert Photos

• Kelly Clarkson
• Game
• Alicia Keys
• Nine Inch Nails
• David Banner

Coachella Valley Music Festival 04.30 - 05.01.2005

• Nine Inch Nails
• Arcade Fire
• Bloc Party
• The Bravery
• The Futureheads

Coldplay, Weezer, Nine Inch Nails And More At The 2005 Coachella Festival

• Razorlight
• Rilo Kiley
• Keane
• Weezer
• Coldplay

• Nine Inch Nails