Hollywood Palladium

The man they called Black Francis sipped his morning coffee, munched on chopped fruit and chuckled at the strange odyssey of this thing called life. In the past, the singer for the Pixies was famous for sounding crazed, possessed or sinister onstage, but at this particular breakfast moment he seemed positively . . . sunny . "I guess I have this different perspective because we're in this funny place now," said the 44-year-old musician. "I have the benefit of age, the clarity of perspective and enjoyable things like success now. We play in venues that are, for the most part, sold out, we stay in nice hotels and we're applauded nightly for our greatness ."

"Nothing can stop me now," Trent Reznor snarled as he lunged toward his audience during the song "Piggy" at the outset of Nine Inch Nails' sold-out show at the Hollywood Palladium on Wednesday. The statement held some irony, given that Reznor has announced he's retiring his band, as a live act at least. It's been 15 years since "The Downward Spiral," the concept album about loneliness and despair that contained that song, became the most successful industrial music album in history and catapulted Reznor squarely into the mainstream spotlight.