Dates:
Philadelphia, PA. - October 31, 1998
Dates:
Philadelphia, PA. - October 31, 1998
What seems to have become an annual Halloween event, Type O negative returned to the area for yet another holiday show. In fact, this was just one of three shows on their Halloween mini-tour. For those who don't know, Type O is a gothic-metal type of band. What does that mean? Basically, that the song nature is dark, heavy and slow paced. But, they shouldn't be stereotyped into this classification since they still have elements of being a straight ahead, hard rock band at heart (with Beatles and Black Sabbath roots).
Because of their goth image and classification, they have embrased the Halloween holiday. Part of their core audience consists of a group of people who dress all in black (hair, nails, lipstick, clothes, etc.) and seem to be in love with the whole vampire look/scene. To these types, Halloween is like Chrsitmas. Type O plays up to that a bit but still fall short of actually trying to portray vampire characters or anything. It is simply a subtile, underlying theme which they sometimes tap into (especially in their lyrics).
Now, on to the show!
First off, the opening bands are worth mentioning at this one. I have no clue who they were but I can tell you that they were bad. Real bad. The first group came on and were pretty much booed from the start. But, the troopers that they were, they battled on and tried to keep a professional approach to it. Basically, they just accepted the boos. They weren't hostile towards the crowd either. In fact, they even threw out some cassettes of their music (only to have half of those hurled back at their heads). After 45 minutes of them, the next group came out. I think any "nobody" band that came on the stage was doomed from the start. The audience was thinking "Type O Negative" and wanted nothing short of seeing them right then & there. So, on comes the second band who was greeted with a round of boos as well. The difference with these guys is that they almost had no stage lighting what-so-ever and the only luminance on stage was a dim, red light that made it just possible to see the outline of their bodies. Basically, the crowd saw this as "hiding" which made them even more hostile. Or was it because their music sucked? Well, I think it was a combination of the two and on top of that, the lead singer seemed to take objection to the boos. Just twenty minutes into their setlist, the boos and yelling were as loud as the music. I have been to close to 50 concerts and I have NEVER seen a band bood this hard. It became fun everytime they finished a song so the crowd reaction could be fully enjoyed. These guys made it all too easy, and fun, to boo them. After 25 minutes of this hostile reaction, the band ended their set. It was obviously cut short due to the crowd. Then after a considerable wait (since the previous band was probably expected to perform about double the amount of time they actually did), it was Type O Negative time!
The first suprise was that all four members of the band sported custom-made, latex, monster-like/living dead-looking masks. They were really cool, especially since it fit the criteria of the occation. I really expected the masks to come off at some point but they played the entire show with them on. The band kicked off with "Love You To Death", which in my book, is their best song. It really has a great aura to it because of its creepy, romantic feel. But don't be fooled; this song rocks as well. Next was a classic rocker from their first album, "Gravity". This song originates from their first, and least, commercial album. It definately caught some of their newer fans off guard but it was a a welcome addition to their long time fans (like yours truely). The whole setlist consisted of 10 songs total. While that doesn't sound especially long, since their songs average 8 to 9 minutes in length, it gets them close to performing a 90 minute show. They ended the regular set with the fan favorite, "Christian Woman". When they came back, they kicked off the second set with one of my other favorites, "Wolf Moon". Unfortunately, Type O has a sense of humor about their music and went into their rendition of CCR's "Bad Moon Rising" afterwards. Personally, I would have preferred hearing another one of their own numbers. The set concluded with "Black No.1" which is, by far, their biggest hit of all. This one never fails in getting the people to go nuts.
And for the second year in a row, the band ended their show with a toilet paper war. This war pits the band and their crew vs. the fans. Just before the last song was over, their crew hauled several huge boxes onto the stage. Of course, these boxes were filled with tons of rolls of "ammo". The "war" probably lasted a good 10 to 15 minutes and the place was totally trashed with paper absolutely EVERYWHERE!!! I would hate to be on the cleanup crew that night. Last year, I was able to get a roll autographed by lead singer/band leader, Peter Steele, after the show.
All and all, this was a good show. The band booing was a fun hobby and the Halloween masks were a welcome twist. The annual TP war was also a fun & funny grand finale to the event. However, I was a little disappointed with the two cover songs. It is fine if a group is playing 15 to 20 songs and has two covers, but not when it's 20% of the entire setlist. But, the bootom line is that Type O Negative once a again, perfomed yet another solid show.
