November 13, 1999
Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel
Providence, Rhode Island

Saturday November 13, 1999 -- Type O Negative @ Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel in Providence, Rhode Island

My friends (Kevin, Tania, Allan) and I arrived in Providence at around 4:30 or so, parked the car, and walked the 10 or 15 minutes to Lupo's. A line had already formed, so we took our places. We had been standing there about 5 minutes or so when that beautiful royal purple bus pulled up next to the curb. After the driver and some crew members struggled to get it parked, we saw Peter get off the bus and walk into the club. At about 5:30, the line started moving into the club. As I was showing my ticket to the guy at the door and being directed to the line I should be in, Peter walked out one of the doors next to my friend, Kevin. Kevin said "Hey Peter, how's it goin'?" Peter gave Kev a quick pat on the back and politely replied "Hey, man. It's goin' good. Good to see ya!" I had to do a double take! Then, we got into the club, and took a decent spot on the floor. I headed over to the "Type O Store" to get some merchandise and walked away with a long-sleeve shirt ("World Coming Down" logo on the front, and "Only The Dead Know Brooklyn" on the back and on the left sleeve), a short-sleeve shirt ("This Blood's For You" on the front and "Team Prozac" on the back) and a sticker ("4 Dicks From Brooklyn").

I then went back to our spot on the floor and somewhat impatiently waited for the show to begin. Finally, Clay People took the stage and did an okay set. Then came Puya. I'm still not quite sure what to think of these guys. I like the Latin stuff they do, but other than that they just didn't strike me as really good, I guess. Talented musicians though.

Then...the moment I had been waiting for! Type O took the stage!! I had seen Kenny peeking out behind his wall of amps before-hand, but when they all came out the crowd was roaring. I had a really good view of Peter and Kenny from my spot on the floor (we were probably about the 4th or 5th row of people back, center stage), but Josh was a bit hard to see as I was standing sort of behind this really tall guy, and Johnny's drum kit was positioned behind a pole, so it was nearly impossible to see him. The set is kind of a blur now because I was just standing there awestruck the entire time, but to the best of my ability I'll try and recall the set-list and events of the actual performance. They opened with My Girlfriend's Girlfriend, which was preceded by a riff from Pink Floyd's In The Flesh. I simply can not, for the life of me, remember the exact order of the rest of the songs, but these are the ones I remember: In Praise of Bacchus, Love You To Death, World Coming Down, Christian Woman (full version), Pyretta Blaze, N.I.B. (Black Sabbath...the only cover they did other than Cinnamon Girl, of course), Everything Dies, Wolf Moon, Kill All the White People (I think..), Gravity (I think), Cinnamon Girl, and they closed with Black No. 1. I may have missed a few, but that's the best I can remember. During the show, Peter threw two bottles of wine out into the audience. Also, Josh was having some difficulty with his keyboards: one of them broke, apparently and he threw it down onto the stage (it was quicky replaced)...you could see him yelling at the keys and the speakers. At another point, Josh left the stage and Peter commented something to the effect of "I guess Josh went to take a shit, so we'll play a cover for ya. How's about N.I.B.?" No one chanted "You Suck," but one guy yelled it out Peter replied (again..something to the effect of), "Yea, I know we suck. So, do you. Only difference is, we get paid to stand here and suck. $6.25 an hour!" And as usual, Peter ripped the strings off his bass at the end of the show.

With that signalling the end at about 10:00, we left the club and I had Kevin and Allan go back to the car to get my jacket and camera (my feet really hurt after standing in those shoes for so long and having them stepped on all night) while Tania and I stood outside the bus waiting for the guys to come out. As we were standing there, I saw Josh walking down the street with his head kinda down. I said "Hey Josh" and he looked up, nodded, gave a small smile and mumbled "Hey" before boarding the bus. Apparently, he had just blown off a bunch of people outside the door wanting autographs. Kevin and Allan finally returned with the cameras and jackets, and we didn't have to wait much longer until Johnny stepped off the bus. Of course, there was a huge group of people crowded around him, but people were pretty good about getting out of the way once they had their autographs and pictures and what-not. So, at last we made our way to Johnny. I asked him for an autograph and picture and while he was signing the autograph I told him what an amazing set they played and that they were really good. And he replied "No, we're not, really." I told him "Yes you are! You guys are too modest!" And he jokingly said "Shh..you'll ruin our image!" Then, I got my picture with him (he's got the softest hair, I swear!) and I took a picture of him with Tania and then with Kevin. Then Kevin was asking Johnny about Kenny's guitar set-up and how he gets that sustain on it and Johnny told us about Fernandes' sustainer guitars (which I now really want one! Gotta have the Raven model like Kenny's matte green one).

Next, Josh came off the bus and I asked for an autograph and picture. He was pretty quiet, but when he was posing for a picture with Kevin, he put his hand on top of Kev's head and after I snapped the picture he said to Kevin: "Hey man..that's some soft hair you got." I thought it was pretty funny. Then, it was Kenny's turn. I complimented him on his beautiful guitar and got his picture and autograph as well, as did Tania and Kevin. We then stood around and waited for quite a while. We got talking to some nice people, and come to find out it was Liz (QnLizardBr) from the CasketCrew list and her boyfriend and Meghan (Shera) from CasketCrew also! So, we stood around chatting for a while before they took off, then it was waiting for Peter. The crowd was starting to thin out a bit, and people were yelling Peter's name and chanting "You suck" for quite a while on and off. Finally, about 12:30 or so, a crew member opened the door of the bus and told everyone that he was concerned about Peter's voice, but he was going to come off the bus, and he wanted everyone to step back a bit and make it as orderly as possible 'cause he was concerned about Pete's throat.

Finally, after waiting for so long and managing to convince Kevin to stay a little while longer, Peter stepped off the bus. He had a bag of candy and started throwing it out into the small crowd and at one point yelled "Get back! I gotta fart!" He gave some girl a kiss, and started a round of "Happy Birthday" for someone, after which the crowd yelled and he joined in: "One year closer to death!" Then, some guy walked by and yelled "Sign my nuts!" And Peter said something to the effect of "Yea..I'll chop your fucking nuts off!" The kid started to walk away, and Peter yelled "Get over here ya fucking prick!" and started to move through the crowd to chase the kid who took off down the street. I then managed to work my way closer to the front of the group, where some kid was asking Peter to speak Polish, which he obliged. It was so neat! Then, some woman told Peter that her friend was getting married and Peter asked her where the guy was and took a picture with her. Someone then asked what the Latin in In Praise of Bacchus meant and Peter told him it meant "burn together." The same guy (I think) asked him about the "I love Spiderman" thing and Peter replied just as Johnny did that it was more like "I like vitamins." Peter then asked if someone had any water and noticing some woman who did asked her for it, and she obliged. He drank the entire bottle then spit into it, screwed the cap back on, and said "Now go put that in the freezer." Then that same woman asked: "How do they record your vocals" and Pete said "With a microphone." And she asked "Well, what kind of mic do you use and how do they get the vocals to sound the way they do?" Pete replied "We double all the vocals." She then asked: "Well, do you do it or do they artificially do it?" And he said "The vocals all get recorded about 250 times." Then she got sort of insistent asking again if he did the vocals himself and what kind of mic he used. He said "I already told you. The vocals get recorded about 250 times each." Then she said "Well, you don't have to get hostile." And he just looked at her, then said "I'm not hostile. I'm drunk, horney and I gotta take a shit!" Everyone started laughing. Then, he asked the woman "How old are you?" And she said "I'm 41." And Pete said: "You're not old enough to be my mother then unless you had a kid at 4." Someone then asked "How old are you?" And he told them he was 37. Then the same guy who had asked him to speak Polish asked him how tall he was and Pete told him he was 6'6, and the guy said he thought he was 6'8. Pete then said something to the effect of "If I were 6'8 I'd never be able to buy fucking clothes." At some point, some girl gave Pete a pair of sunglasses, and asked him to put them on. He obliged and then asked: "What's this? A gift?" And she told him that no, that it was for him to sign and he made some crack about it figuring and women always taking or something! Then, she gave him a beaded necklace and he asked her what it was and she said "It's for you..a gift." And he put them on and said "Great, now I can be a hippie. Thanks."

Anyway, it was then my turn!! I asked for an autograph and a picture and he said "Sure." Then someone stuck something in his face to sign, so while he was signing it I said "I have to ask a question" and he said "Sure..." So, I asked: "Have you ever had any vocal training or is that just pure talent?" Pete replied: "Nah, I just fake it really well." So, I said: "No! You have a beautiful voice!" And then he looked down at me and said "Barry Manilow's got a good voice." And I just looked up at him (I'm only 5'3..maybe 5'6 in the shoes I was wearing) and gave him this sorta skeptical look and said "Well...yea...I guess he's got a good voice..." Then Kevin yelled "What about Kenny G?!" Peter raised his arms and head to the sky and said "Kenny G is God!" I was still giving that skeptical look, but smiling, and then Peter took my face in one of his enormous beautiful hands and said "Look at this face!" in one of those "oh how cute" tones and pulled me next to him with his other arm for the picture. So I put my left arm around him and touched his beautiful hair and Kevin snapped the picture. Now, I have never felt so small in my entire life than I did standing next to 6 feet, 6 inches of beautiful Peter Steele!! He then signed the ticket envelope I had handed him and some guy asked to see the tattoo on his upper right arm, so Peter raised his sleeve and said he wasn't sure what it was...some puma or cat or something. (His biceps are pretty big! Not to mention he's got the most beautiful arms...veiny and everything - I kinda have a thing for strong, veiny arms) I told him it was pretty cool, and he said "No, it's fucking stupid and ugly." I just had to smile at that. Then, I took a picture of him with Kevin and then one with Tania. Tania then asked him: "Could I get a picture of you with me and my friend, Stacy, as well?" And he said "Yea sure." Then yelled "Where's Stacy?!" I handed the camera to Kevin and said "Right here." And Peter said "Okay, Stacy.." and sort of beckoned me with his free hand (the other was still around Tania). So, I walked over and put my arm around him and almost stepped on his foot (I'm such a klutz!) and stupidly said "Oh, I don't wanna step on your foot." I don't think he heard me, but then he said "She's getting good at this!" So, Kev snapped the picture and I thanked Peter then moved to the back of the group while some chic was asking him if he ever bit anyone with his teeth to which he replied "Sometimes." So, she asked him to bite her neck and he obliged, after which he said "Mmm. Free food!" I then took some random shots of Peter standing in the crowd as it thinned out and Kevin walked over and said it was probably time to go (I didn't want to leave!). So, I turned to Kev and said "Peter Steele touched my face!" (Yea, I know...stupid little schoolgirl type shit, but hey! I was fucking happy!!) and Kev smiled and said to me, "Hun, Peter Steele just hit on you." Now, I'm not really sure that him commenting on my face and thinking it's cute is really hitting on me, but hey, I was on cloud 9 right then! So, I took a couple more shots of Peter, and then was practically dragged away by Kevin. We walked to the car and let me tell you...my feet were no longer hurting and I was no longer cold!! I seriously felt like I was walking on a cloud! I was unable to stop smiling for the rest of the night despite the fact that my cheeks really, really hurt!!!

Thus ends the story of my first ever Type O Negative concert and my first encounter with some of the greatest guys on the earth!
Thanks for taking the time to read this! If you didn't read all the way to the end, then fuck you! :)