You only get one chance to pick the opening band for your final shows. So when Trent Reznor chose Mew to do the honors for Nine Inch Nails, it was kind of a big deal. "We heard a while ago from someone that Trent Reznor had been looking into what we were doing and liked it a lot," Mew-man Jonas Bjerre tells Spinner. "But it was still pretty surreal to be asked to go on this, his farewell tour."

Jonas says that not only does Mew appreciate and respect NIN, they've actually been longtime fans. "My affair with NIN came in waves, listening to 'Downward Spiral' in high school, then rediscovering them years later," he says. "A career as long as that, you get to do that."

You wouldn't necessarily pick up on the influence just by listening to their music, just as you wouldn't necessarily peg Reznor to be such a fan in return. "Trent has created his own universe, which requires brilliance and extreme creativity, and it's something we are aspiring to do as well," says Jonas. "I think there are similarities in our music, a curiosity to do things differently, a mixture of fragility and power, emotional peaks and awkward grooves. But obviously the energy is totally different."

Um, yeah. Mew sounds like a pretty machine whereas NIN first became famous for its 'Pretty Hate Machine.' But then again, Reznor himself has dropped the hate, as of late, in love with a mate and ready for a brighter tomorrow. NIN's farewell tour (entitled "Nine Inch Nails Wave Goodbye") will hit the Hollywood Palladium Tuesday, Sept. 2 and stay in the city of Los Angeles Wednesday for a crosstown show at the Henry Fonda Theatre, with Mew opening both nights. NIN will then perform their final gigs this weekend, also in L.A., at the Wiltern and Echoplex, respectively. According to Reznor, these will be the final nails in the coffin for the band. We're assuming they're nine inches long.