TYPE O NEGATIVE AND PARADISE LOST
The doors had actually opened half an hour earlier than expected and by the time I walked in the surprise addition of Zico Chain had been and gone. A pretty quick turn around saw Paradise Lost on and I could see by their set list that the Halifax gloomsters were going to get a nice long set for a support.
They certainly started off in style with ‘The Enemy’ from new album ‘In Requiem.’ Having given this a couple of listens I am of the opinion that this is the albums stand out number and the best song Metallica haven’t written for a decade. It stomped along live and Nick Holmes roared away with the rest of the band really getting into things, Aaron Aedy in particular head-banging away to it. I have only really kept up a cursory interest in the band post ‘Draconian Times’ and admit that a lot of the set was unknown to me. However I was pleased to be getting into some of the newer material such as ‘Erased’ but was very happy that a couple of oldies ‘Gothic’ and ‘As I Die’ were included in the set. These were the ones that had people twirling hair and playing air guitar along to as well.
The sound was nice, thick and beefy here, it is a shame that probably early next year this place will be no more, the wrecking ball having silenced years of good music and happy times. As for Paradise Lost they didn’t seem like the glum bastards one would have expected, toasting London Town and despite song titles like ‘Enter The Sadness’ seeming positively cheerful. I guess it was the summer solstice; perhaps all the light of the longest day had rubbed off on them. ‘No Celebration’ was an odd one, vocally on 1st listen ever reminding me a bit of Faith No More. Ultimately this was a good show however I guess I felt spoilt having caught them during the early years and am in two minds if with songs such as ‘Just Say Words’ Paradise Lost are slightly past their sell by date.
Well apparently things had gone rather tits up in Birmingham with Type O Negative coming on 70 minutes late and ostracising their audience to the point of lots of rather peeved comments on their MySpace page. One has to laugh at this little gem “You guys suck I want my £20 back you robbing bastards. I could have listened to my own Black Sabbath album at home for free. Don't come back to Birmingham again.” Apparently Pete was suffering bad asthma and being in the midst of hay-fever season which severely exacerbates the symptoms, one can only sympathise.
They came on dead on time tonight but had got us really wound up by playing ‘The Birdy Song’ over the PA for 30 minutes (bastards that is still going round in my head). Not that they gave a shit and as anyone who has ever witnessed a Type O show will realise, they can be chaotic affairs (and I have seen every London show they have played). Cries of ‘Fuck You,’ and ‘You Suck’ met our anti-heroes who mischievously opened with a cover of The Beatles ‘Magical Mystery Tour.’ It sounded chaotic and heralded all that was wrong about the hippy dream, Charlie would have been proud.
Slugging a bottle of vino rouge Pete had a nonchalant attitude about him and the band emphasised it perfectly by blaring into the sludgy morass of ‘We Hate Everyone’ somewhat perfect really. It was as though they were naughty schoolboys having been spanked for not doing their homework (and I bet that would be a fantasy for many of the ladies at the show tonight) but you could only really award them an A+ for ability really as this chaos sounded excellent. The set list the band had put down didn’t seem to correspond fully with what they played (towards the end Christian Woman was cut no doubt due to GAY time restrictions) but next up was ‘Prophets Of Doom.’ Not a huge emphasis was placed on the new album and the really accessible ‘Halloween In Heaven’ was overlooked but with Prophets that hippy theme was continued with its fragrant chill out sitar passage. Pete’s vocals soared and the thick guitar and bass rattled around with a scuzzy gravity piling out the speakers, making your head swell and threaten to explode.
‘My Souls On Fire’ yelled the Steely one and everyone joined in with him. I guess most had picked up the new album.
There had been complaints that people who were long time fans couldn’t recognise songs played in the Birmingham set. Well sometimes the band certainly fuck around with things and I am not even sure if it was the listed ‘Anesthesia’ next (mind you never really got into Life Is Killing Me as much as all the others). Whatever it was they had punked it up and made it 10 times faster and possibly even thrown bits of other songs into the mix. ‘Kill You Tonight’ took us right back in time as well (especially as they started it with a riff from Nirvanas ‘Come As You Are’. They almost hit the brown note and it really was almost a case of ‘The Origin Of The Faeces,’ perhaps this explains why security had been laying so much toilet paper down at the front of the stage. Looking like a wild mountain man, Josh Silver even came down from the keyboards to scream into the microphone.
I absolutely love ‘October Rust’ there could only be time for one number off the ultimate romance album and it was ‘Love You To Death’ tonight. To say it sent shivers down the spine would be an understatement. With the band going off, the theme to The Munsters began to peal out the PA. There could only be one number for the encore and sure enough it was ‘Black No 1’ a bone cracking bloody kiss that had everyone singing along and one lady on someone’s shoulders flashing her tits at the band.
Ok there were some people complaining that such and such a song didn’t get played at the end of the show but I thought it was a perfect mixture of numbers and if you wanted to hear old favourites you should have gone to the gigs they played at the time. In short Type O Negative still suck and long may they continue to do so.
Sorry about quality of pictures ‘no flash’ rules.
Pete Woods
LONDON ASTORIA 21/06/07