07
Tension and the 2013–2014 return
Hesitation Marks
July 26, 2013 – August 30, 2014
Hesitation Marks covers the complete 2013–2014 return to touring rather than only the Tension production. Festival dates, the expanded Tension ensemble, international legs, and major co-bills shared a record and repertoire but not one universal lineup or staging system.
- Status
- Historical
- Tour / era span
- 2013–2014
- Shows
- 19
- Photographs
- 12,886
Browse by date
Shows and Photographs
Photographs are available for shows from OCTOBER 4, 2013 – AUGUST 27, 2014. Select a show to view them.
Chronology
Touring Phases
2013 festivals
July 26 – September 3, 2013
International festival dates reintroduced the band before the full Tension production.
Tension 2013
September 21 – November 25, 2013
The expanded ensemble and full moving-screen production defined the North American arena phase.
International 2014
February 25 – June 20, 2014
Japan, Australia and New Zealand, Latin America, and Europe used configurations appropriate to each room and bill.
NIN + Soundgarden
July 18 – August 30, 2014
The North American co-bill closed the touring cycle with a separate production and set-length logic.
People, system, repertoire
The Live Profile
Touring lineup
- Tension ensemble: Trent Reznor, Robin Finck, Alessandro Cortini, Ilan Rubin, Josh Eustis, Pino Palladino, Lisa Fischer, Sharlotte Gibson
- Other phases: Festival and 2014 configurations used smaller lineups and are not represented as the full Tension ensemble.
Stage and lighting
- Tension reunited Rob Sheridan, Roy Bennett, and Moment Factory around movable stealth screens and nine-panel geometric lighting rigs.
- The full design extended ideas from Lights in the Sky, but festival and co-bill dates could not always deploy the same system.
- Each phase is therefore documented separately rather than treated as a single production package.
Setlist patterns
- Tension commonly opened with Copy of A before moving between high-impact catalog material and a central Hesitation Marks block.
- Running, A Warm Place, and Somewhat Damaged formed a production-dependent sequence at full-scale shows.
- Encores frequently moved through Various Methods of Escape, Even Deeper, While I'm Still Here with Black Noise, and Hurt.
Support acts and co-bills
- Autolux, Explosions in the Sky, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and Gary Numan appeared during Tension.
- Queens of the Stone Age and Soundgarden are represented as co-bills in 2014 rather than ordinary support acts.
Documented points of reference
Landmarks & Recordings
Los Angeles Tension film
Landmark performance
A professionally filmed 77-minute edit was published through the official NIN and VEVO presentation.
Austin City Limits · November 4, 2013
Landmark performance
A dedicated television taping documented the expanded live ensemble.
Jimmy Kimmel Live · November 7, 2013
Landmark performance
The touring production was adapted for a compact broadcast performance.
Tension 2013 edit
Official digital release
The 77-minute Los Angeles program preserves the full-production phase online.
Austin City Limits
Broadcast
The November 2013 television recording documents the expanded ensemble.
Unrealized Tension package
Professionally recorded, unreleased
Additional 2013–2014 professional filming did not become the planned physical release.
Related pages
Related Releases, People & Records
Sources & review notes
Sources reviewed September 12, 2026. Show listings are drawn from the concert catalog.