Stereogum posted a story about their staff photographer Andrew Youssef.
Youssef, who’s a huge Nine Inch Nails fan (he’s seen them 44 times), has been battling stage IV colon cancer the past couple years. This summer he wrote an article for OC Weekly about his experience shooting NIN at Outside Lands Festival while fighting for his life.
“I was holding back tears for ‘Something I Can Never Have,’ as I so badly want to have my cancer cured. Even the bleak instrumental ‘Help Me I Am In Hell’ resonated within me. The watershed moment came to me during ‘Head Like A Hole.’ [Trent] Reznor repeatedly chants ‘I’d rather die than give you control.’ I was immediately overwhelmed with emotion and couldn’t hold back my tears as I’d rather die than give my cancer control.”
When Reznor saw this he started following Youssef on Twitter, and invited him to an intimate Hesitation Marks release show at the Troubadour. NIN then offered him to attend the band’s arena tour rehearsals. But shortly after, doctors told him he had only a few weeks to months to live.
So during the encore at NIN’s concert in Vegas this past weekend, Reznor FaceTimed him from the stage. Here’s what happened.