Type O Negative Concert Review
TYPE O NEGATIVE JAGERMEISTER MUSIC TOUR 2008
Show Date: June 13, 2008
Location: Sauget, Illinois, U.S.A.
Venue: Pop’s Nightclub
Reviewer: Graham LaMontagne
Band Website: www.typeonegative.net
‘The Drab 4’ known as Type O Negative gave a rather positive performance making yesterday’s Friday The 13th perfectly ghoulish.
After seeing such a grandiose Iron Maiden concert a mere 48 hours ago, Type O Negative had very big shoes to fill, but the self-deprecating band absolutely blew me away leaving me so hyper and hungry for more I was resembling a kid in a candy store.
The scene was quite different having gone from an arena and pyrotechnics to a small club with nothing more than a band genuinely enjoying themselves, and working their tails off for a much obliged audience.
Out of the 140 concerts I have attended only one band sounds exactly the same live as they do on their albums and that is Rush. However, second place belongs to Type O Negative, whose completely original catalogue of tunes where delivered strikingly close to studio quality.
Since Type O Negative was the first headliner, which by the way makes no sense giving top billing to Hatebreed, they only had a little over an hour to wow the crowd, but they did just that. Known for 10 minute long masterpieces, Type O Negative usually can only get through a handful of songs before the show unfortunately has to end. The crowd was treated to “Prelude To Agony”, “World Coming Down”, “Kill You Tonight”, “Christian Woman”, “Black No. 1”, “Kill All The White People”, “Some Stupid Tomorrow”, “Halloween In Heaven” and a snippet of “Ode To Locksmiths”.
Now Type O Negative is definitely an acquired taste, but this band is unbelievably underrated and everybody should at least give them a chance. I discovered them about two years ago when I was in a metal funk, just tired of everything, and their signature brooding sound breathed new life into my taste in music. Type O Negative‘s sound is filled with Black Sabbath D.N.A., with just the right balance of The Door‘s, The Cure and the Sunday church lady playing away on her organ. Peter Steele‘s voice is unlike anything you have ever heard, and when he harmonizes with guitarist Kenny Hickey the result is hauntingly beautiful. The two flawlessly complement each other, much like Jerry Cantrell and Layne Staley did during Alice In Chain‘s glory days. The icing on the cake for me is Type O Negative‘s sacrilegious themes (Peter Steele was dressed like a priest and stood at a pulpit during the show), which rather appeal to me since I suffered through 12 years of Catholic school.
The opening band Conquest, who I expected to be painfully terrible, were actually decent and much better than 3 Inches Of Blood who made me bust up laughing while listening to their performance. 3 Inches Of Blood‘s singer sounded like a midget version of Rob Halford who just couldn’t “deliver the goods” – and that is no way a slam on little people, I myself am only five-foot-six and am a great admirer of Dio. I opted not to stay for Hatebreed because I did not feel like being punched in the face by angry moshers, and quite frankly, there is no following Type O Negative.