|
Type O Negative Concert Review
The audience at the Avalon in Hollywood, CA was a bit confused when they heard the Kazakhstan national anthem playing before Type o Negative came on the stage (the version of the Kazakhstan national anthem featured in the Borat movie anyway). Celtic Frost had just delivered a magnificent set, which is to be expected considering that they are metal legends, and after a pause just long enough to get another beer, the lights dimmed again in anticipation of the drab four. Three green banners were unfurled each decorated with a different green symbol that looked vaguely like an anti-smoking sign. The lights turned an eerie red and Pete and company marched onto the stage in time to the beat of the silly “Kazakhstanian” music.
The band opened its set with quite a few songs from its new album ‘Dead Again’, an album that takes an interesting turn musically for the band. Most of the songs on ‘Dead Again’ have an even slower tempo than Type O’s previous work (as if that was even possible) and seem to almost drunkenly lurch into really heavy, almost death metal, choruses. It seems Pete is channeling his Carnivore past and love for Black Sabbath, as the band seems to be straying away just slightly from the almost poppy goth rock that made them famous. This is a welcomed change for fans that enjoy the progression and growth of a band but it probably pisses off the fans who like their bands to stick to the same formula album after album. In defiance of these pissed off fans Type O stuck to new material for almost half the set. Drummer John Kelly really got to shine during these songs as his heavy hitting kept the chaos together.
Pete seemed more animated during this show than he did when I saw the band in 2003, and was in an especially sarcastic mood. He was ribbing fans between songs with an Andrew Dice Clay style delivery “yeah go do your shitty coke in the bathroom”, and he was talking to fans in Hollywood CA after all so he knew we could take it. Though he did get serious for one brief moment at the end of the set and thanked all the fans for putting the band where it is today. One of the really fun things about the set was the extremely heavy cover of Jimi Hendrix’s ‘Hey Joe’ with guitarist Kenny Hickey playfully singing “Hey Pete” instead of “Hey Joe” during most of the chorus. I was impressed by Kenny’s vocal prowess throughout the show as he did a bit more than back up vocals for Pete with his higher range voice. Type O also played a fantastic cover of The Beatles ‘Magical Mystery Tour’. I just love it when Type O takes a song that is nice and happy and puts its slightly dark twist on it, the way the band did with ‘Cinnamon Girl’ on 1996’s October Rust.
One of my personal favorite Type O songs ‘Anesthesia’ from 2003’s Life is Killing me was also a set highlight, especially because this song really lets keyboardist Josh Silver show off his playing abilities. Type O did two encores, if you can call them that, it’s more like the band teased the audience that the show was over and left the stage for a moment. Being a Type O veteran I knew there was no way the show was over until you heard the staple ‘Black No.1’ and Pete pulled off his bass strings. Upon return from the first departure Pete declared “I had to go take a shit”. The first encore was especially inspiring though, not because Pete went and took a shit, because the band played ‘Christian Woman’ a song that is as much of a staple as ‘Black No.1’ in my mind. People who were most likely Type O roadies (I know because they were sitting right next to me) started chucking toilet paper rolls during the encores for added effect and after the set was over Pete set out to chucking water bottles all the way across the venue, I was sitting in the back balcony and had to duck. It’s funny how a band that people think of as being very dark and gloomy has a better sense of humor than some comedians. It was obvious that Type O has done nothing but get better and better over the years and I am going to continue to catch them every time they are in town.
|
|
|
