Type O Negative

Posted by Vicki on 23.06.03

As part of my 21st birthday I went to see Type O Negative in concert. Two days before the event I had rashly joked that the support band had better not be Kill 2 This, thus jinking the occasion. I had previously though Kill 2 This had split up a couple of years previously, however two months ago they played a tour of the butt-end of the universe, i.e. Aberystwyth Student Union. Having established that Kill 2 This were still alive it seemed plausable that they would be supporting Type O Negative at Manchester.

Outside the venue, Manchester Student Union, a variety of stages of goth were assembling, this ranged from the usual men in see-through fishnet all-in-ones to hippo goths in wedding dresses, looking like the anti-promotional shots for the Murderdolls' cover of 'White wedding.' Eye makeup was the order of the day, with those who deemed themselves "truly goth" having used a set square to draw on their acute right angled eye-flicks. Additionally a midget of undetermined gender wore a top hat or possibly a warped cowboy hat, it was a matter of debate if they were trying to be Marilyn Manson or Kid Rock.

Amongst these over-painted freaks and sceneless wannabes I skipped around wearing a white top with no makeup, I am normally very pale but had caught the sun the day before and had a hint of colour, this led to me receiving hateful glances from some females who were trying very hard to be goth and did not feel I was treating the event with sufficient decorum.

Walking into the darkened room all I could feel was the floor shaking due to a maxed-out bass amp, in order for this to be a pleasurable experience it helps if the bassist is proficient, , given it was Kill 2 This playing it was surprisingly good. Given the attitude and attire of the majority of the audience I half expected the bright sunlight streaming through the gaps in the blackout curtains to reduce them to dust.

Kill 2 This were ok, effectively a Machine Head tribute band who were cut at the loss of their drummer to Vex Red more than they wished to reveal and as such had employed a new drummer whose appearanc was generic to the area now frequented by their lost member. The drummer also appeared to be wearing a ball gag. The singer was short and had a tattoo across his stomach, on first glance it appeared to read 'infertile', closer inspection revealed it said the less accurate 'strength.' The guitarist looked like Evil Jared from the BloodHound Gang and insisted on miming the injection of drugs throughout the song 'God on drugs', somehow making the song even more clichéd and pointless.

From the second Type O Negative strode on stage with manic hair and green hospital scrubs with a glow in the dark pulse-rate backdrop it was obvious that Pete Steele was in a talkative mood. The assembled masses danced and snag their way through old favourites including 'Black number one' and 'my girlfriend's girlfriend' but seemed thrown by the inclusion of new material, especially the new wave sounding 'I like Goils.' Having said this 'I don't wanna be me' resulted in the frantic bobbing of heads. Even the anorexic sized underwear flying at Pete's head could not spoil his mood, holding up a pair of tiny panties he intoned "Thanks, but I don't think they will fit me."

Pete even granted new insight into the meaning of 'Unsuccessfully coping with the natural beauty of infidelity' with the statement "she broke my heart. It was 14 years ago and I still cry about it... its ok though, I gave her AIDS." It was nice to see a band who were happy to interact with the audience, Pete seemed very content with his love life, he delayed returning for the encore so he could phone his girlfriend.

As ever the Type O Negative concert was a very macho event, possibly best demonstrated by Pete's use of a metal link chain as a bass strap. The few females present had ignored the dating guideline of never dating a bloke with longer hair than you. It also reinforced the belief that most hippo goths have no sense of humour and are more likely to sit on you than laugh. Fortunately there existed a few members of the audience who had a sense of humour, although I must stress that there is no proof that the exclamation of "that is male" was directed at the Kerrang! 'journalist' who had shined his head and rockboots specially for the event and was being refused entry to the backstage area.