By: Diane

Arrival and Soundcheck
I got to the Edge around 5.30, after a quick drive up the Central Expressway. I got a parking space right next to the alley and mere yards from their fuckin' tour bus! :) First person I saw after getting out was Mike Amato and hey, he recognized me! He was carrying a big tub of ice to the bus and gave me a big smile, stopped long enough to say hello and shake my hand. "Welcome back!" he said warmly; we parted ways, him to the bus and myself to the club.
I stood outside the streetside door of the club and listened to the guys soundcheck. It took a long time and they did (in order) "In Praise of Bacchus," "Summer Breeze/Set Me On Fire," and "Wolf Moon." They changed the intro to IPoB and WF slightly, I guess because the studio version wouldn't quite translate to live performance. Or maybe they were just in the mood to jam. More on that later.
There was a small gaggle of fans hanging out, maybe five or six myself included. One was a perky Goth in a nice black velvet dress and her boyfriend; she spent the time playing with and teasing him. They finished the songs, someone ran the tape of the guitar intro for Hendrix's fast "Voodoo Child" which they played during set break later, Kenny was going around and talking to the sound guy, and everytime someone came in or out of the door I got a glance of Peter. He was up there in his green army cap and a white tanktop which is exactly what he wore onstage later. After about fifteen minutes, Josh came out with a bunch of users, wearing a hood-up blue sweatshirt under his green parka. He walked by and out onto California Street without preamble. Several minutes later the rest of the guys went down the alley from the backstage door and hit the bus.
I sat and drew for a little while after that, and retreated to the car when it started getting chilly.

The Crowd Gathers
I only had time to play "Nights in White Satin" halfway through when users started arriving. First came the KSJO team (local rock station) in their urban-camo Hummer with the station logo on the side. They get their happy asses busy taping up flats all over the walls, passing out t-shirts, buttons and posters to all and sundry. users started massing around quarter-to-seven and I took my place in line. Almost immediately Kenny was out and about, going to the roadie bus, cruising around, and the kids I was with were up and surrounding him. Since the cold had seeped into my knee it took me a minute to get up and he was busily signing away when I came up. I just stood aside and waited for him to finish, then I said, "Hey, Kenny. Heard about your little girl. Congratulations!" He lit right up; he grinned and said, "Thank you!" and took off for the bus after that. Yeah, little Megan was born out of wedlock but her Daddy loves her...take it from me, that's nothing to sneeze at. :)
Right after I get back in line I got in conversation with someone next to me. He had a sketchbook and we did an artist's show 'n tell, and talked about World of Darkness gaming. Just as it's getting interesting ("Uh-oh! Full moon tonight, hope Peter doesn't go Crinos on us during 'Wolf Moon!'"), speak of the devil, guess who walks by on his way to the bus? We swooped after him and he was cool enough to wait for us by the bus. He opened the door and said, "Yeah, I'll sign your stuff, just let me sit down here." He had a nice smile and a friendly, "How's it goin'?" for everyone who came up; they all lined up to get his autograph and I just stood aside, kind of snickering at that. I poked my head round the door to say hello to Peter, and asked him how his foot was.
"It still hurts, actually," he said. "I had to hike five miles today to find an ATM machine. Nobody would pick me up! I put my leg out and everything..." My guess is, when he broke his foot he went in and it was one of those foot-breaks that they can't put a cast on, they just tell you to limp and don't do it again. After he said "see you all inside" to everyone we went back to the line. I was joking with my line-mate; he said, "I'd have picked him up. I'd have driven him anywhere he wanted." I said, "Hell, yes! And that's when I would have done a quick U-turn...'Hey, Peter, ever been to Sonoma? You will now...'" (Sonoma: local really nice, fairly rural county in the North Bay that's got tons of bed 'n breakfast inns, retreats, miles of vinyards, high craggy mountains and the big, beautiful, untamed Russian River going through it all).

Tattoo Show 'n Tell Pt. 2
Josh put in an appearance soon after that and as it turned out, became the evening's Mr. Social. He hung out, signed autographs tirelessly, talked with users. I asked him if he ever got out to the East Coast tattoo conventions and he smiled, shook his head and said, "Not since '82." I told him I was planning on getting sleeved at the San Francisco Tattoo Tour in October and he said, "You're in for some _pain._"
I said, "I've had pain! I got a part of my backpiece started, my whole right scapula's covered! -"
"Are you kidding? I got 'em everywhere! I've had my whole back done, I know what it's like!"
"'Short is the pain, long is the ornament.' Besides, twenty minutes, the endorphins kick in and you're laughing the rest of the way in."
"Maybe for girls, but I never did it."
Wow. Both full sleeves, shoulder caps, belly, back, left pec, neck and Gods know what else, sans endorphin-rush Fortitude. They never touched on that in the tattoo mags. The lad has my respect!

"We are _entree_!"
...said my line-mate as he spied the line move to enter the club. I was one of the first in and breezed right through (driving alone, no alcohol, no fumbling with wallet and ID). I got a good space on the first level up from the floor directly across from Peter's mike but got restless, waiting for the list to come in, so I moved. Somebody was on it almost instantly. I did, however, meet up with my coterie from the Santa Cruz VLARP! We all did the Legion of Guys with Gravelly Voices who Crouch Alot crouch, growl and chant, laughed and went to scope the t-shirt booth. I picked up "The Drab Four" shortsleeve and the "Vinnland Liberation" longsleeve, fortunately - by the end of the show, they were sold out.
More and more users filed into the club and it got nicely full, not a complete sellout and certainly not as packed as the last GWAR show and the '94 Angstfest with KMFDM, Sister Machine Gun, Chemlab and Diatribe, but that's all to the good as far as I care.

Drain
I was impressed with them. They're really tight and a good group, certainly the best I've seen in a long time. They rocked with the best of 'em and did it without coming across as attitudinous bitches like most girl bands do. You can tell they're serious about their craft and it shows in the music. They didn't talk with the audience much - language barrier? - but their set was nice and long. It reflects well on Type-O, usually the openers are shuffled on, play an abbreviated set, and shuffled off like so many cattle or freaks on display.
The crowd exploded after the first song. Big applause went up! From there on in it was a merry blast and Drain and the Edge crowd ecstatically ate each other alive!

Sister Machine Gun
It's been almost three years since I saw them and you all have been saying that Chris's stage patter is nothing but abusive - it was back then on Angstfest, too, but tonight he didn't talk to the crowd at all. They had lots of energy and gave a very kinetic performance, but the crowd seemed to think the songs were a bit too slow. They didn't play any of the songs that I like (admittedly, I only have "Sins of the Flesh" and they didn't play anything off that, as I remember), so I just circulated.
I didn't know what Bill looked like so I didn't bother looking - not with 400 users in the club! But midway through SMG's set Holly and her friend Carol came in. They were having a bit of a discussion with the door guy; after they got in, I asked what that was all about and they said Carol had just lost her driver's license and they wouldn't stamp her hand for alcohol without a photo ID. I shrugged and said, "Oh well." Personally I think there's more important things to get your hackles up over than one dry night, but since she went back and somehow got her hand stamped anyway it's all academic. Inside; hand stamped for booze; show's on. Water under the bridge.
Holly and Carol came in near the end of SMG and the LGGVCA had long since disappeared into the jaws of the pit; Kevin from the San Francisco game (remember him from my last review?) came in right after Holly and her friend did, and I can't believe there's all these users I know at this show! :)

TYPE O
The imminent arrival of the Negative Ones was heralded by Hendrix's "Voodoo Child" and then the Beatles' "The Voice" coming over the PA. They'd been playing techno and house up until then and when we heard late '60s/early '70s psychedelia playing it was almost as if they'd taken the stage. A big scream went up from the well-pumped, -lubricated crowd and we rushed the dance floor. I got the perfect vantage point from stage right, the crowd wasn't too huge or violent and the nicotine haze wasn't too bad because the door was slightly kitty-corners and provided ventilation.
The guys came out to "Glass Walls of Limbo" and when Peter came out the crowd went fuckin' bug-nuts! Screams everywhere! I was howling along to "Glass Walls" and the lights guy did a great job: at the pulses before "Pain" kicks in, they flashed the lights at the audience. They kicked things off with "Pain/Jackhammerrape" and Peter's voice was really harsh and raspy. The Edge's stage is so small and he's so fuckin' big I'm surprised he wasn't the only thing up there! But apparently the eyes deceive: they had plenty of room for everything and everyone, even if they did scale back the forest set somewhat from the Autumnal Tour.
We've already gone into the setlist. I'll disagree with Holly on point of the sound, I could barely hear the vocals. What was really cool was that they had a glass candle on Peter's rack/wine table, and a bottle of red wine (couldn't see what vinyard from where I was). He gave the standard speeches between songs, with some variation.
Crowd favourites: "Pain/Jackhammerrape," "Love You To Death" (any surprise there?:)), "Too Late/Frozen," "In Praise of Bacchus," "Christian Woman" (intro: "We in Type O Negative hold firm to the belief that if you believe in yourself, you don't need to believe in God"), and of course, "Black No. 1" (crowd snapped along with them at the end).
High points to the show: During "Too Late/Frozen," Peter's wine bottle got caked with "snow" and when he blew it off to take a sip the crowd laughed...
...not so much of a screamfest when he let his hair down before "Christian Woman," just a few "ee-yows!" from the ladies...
...this big guy came over to me and talked to me throughout "...Bacchus," even when I tried to ignore him. He said he'd let me break point to get him into the crowd; I told him that I had a dislocated knee and I wasn't about to fight the crowd - not when I had one of the best spots in the club. He took off after that.
Three or four times, we got jostled as security ousted overly-rowdy pitters. No dives, no crowd surfing, not much jostling. Normally, the place looks like a Fascist rally with political dissidents getting taken outside to be shot! Slow night at the Edge!
After a very rousing one-two punch of "Summer Breeze/Set Me On Fire" and "Chistian Woman," it was all down to the finish and we were almost grateful when at last they finished "Black No. 1" and Peter tore the strings off his bass to signal, "I'm done." He thanked us for coming out to see them on a school- and/or work-night, threw his towel into the crowd and left as the users at the front scrapped for possession of same!

Aftermath
I collected my parka from the coatroom and met one of the LGGVCA outside the exit door. He said, "I just gotta wait for the guys to come out. They're probably buying t-shirts and stuff." I said, "I'm waiting for everyone, too, let's wait together." We talked about inducting one or more of the Type O guys into the Legion and I formally nominated Peter ("He can roll his eyes back into his head! If that ain't cool, nothing is!") and Johnny ("Dude dresses cool!"); my Legionnaire-brother said, "Wonder if we can get Pete to do the Crouch?" Bino, the pro-tem leader of the coterie came out and I presented my nominations to him.
"No! No mixing Game with Real Life!"
"Oh, come on, they did a Vampire song on the last album and a Werewolf song on this one! You can ghoul Peter and I'll ghoul Johnny! I'll turn him into a Gar-Ghoul!"
He said, "Let me think about it. We can decide when they come back to town."
"Yeah, but they'll be on the Ozz-fest! They'll be backstage doin' the 'Hey, I'm a Rock Star!' thing with the champagne, helium balloon bridge and real-food catered buffet! We'll be paying plebians and won't get within a half-mile of 'em..."
Ah, well.
They took off, I never saw Holly again, and found myself crouched by a wall across from the bus with a chick named Harmony who made enchiladas for them. I told her about our Burrito thread from last year and right in the middle of that, Peter comes out of the club. Harmony spotted him first and jumped to her feet; as I was struggling up, Peter yelled at us, "Hey, don't get up just for me!"
I said, "Alright, then, I won't!" and went back down on me haunches. He pointed at me and laughed and I got up again, grinning. Harmony went up and offered him the bag of enchiladas; I guess I made her do a Freudian slip because she called them "burritos" and he went, "Burritos!" He was obviously pumped up and feeling good from the show because he was talking and laughing a mile a minute - I've never seen him that animated. He said he had to go up on the bus and change his clothes, and that he'd be back in a minute. I grabbed an eyeful while I could and good thing I did - he never came back out (the cute, softspoken blonde in a black fur coat with him was probably why).
When my eyes skipped over his pecs and nipples sticking out through the tank top, my heart thudded, I'm ashamed to admit...his shoulders are bigger than they were, too...
Nobody else came over while Harmony and I talked to Peter briefly. I noticed there was a lit and flickering tower candle by the bus driver's seat and they had a pewter dragon dashboard mascot - very cool! Glancing up into the bus briefly I also noticed someone had strung multicoloured fairy lights. Harmony and I laughed and joked when Kenny came up to the bus with a girl on each arm, laughing and stopping every so often to hug one or the other. We said, "Hey, he's gonna do a 'My Girlfriend's Girlfriend!'" Someone came up to the bus door and caught Johnny; she said she sent him something for Hallowe'en and he replied that he never got it. He acted mad and said, "Fuckin'-A! I'll send my brother after him. That's fucked!"
And Peter never came back out.
Someone came to the door and asked for Josh. I guess it was an old friend because when he came down he gave her a big hug and everything; he took time out to pose for photos, arms around users - like I said, Mr. Social. :)
Harmony got to go up on the bus with her _enchiladas_ and came back out with them almost immediately because they were all eating dinner. I said, "Shoulda left 'em anyway, they might get the midnight munchies." But she stayed up there for a few minutes and got her poster signed. She wound up tossing the enchiladas.

And Peter never came back out.
We knew it was over when the two girls who'd come up with Kenny split. I gave Harmony a ride back to her car and headed out. I wound up taking the El Camino back home and - guess who I wound up next to in traffic? The bus. :D
And it was being tailgated by a carful of Goths!
They stopped at the Hyatt halfway home and I honked and waved goodbye, since I had ten more miles to go.
Hey, folks, Type O stayed about ten minutes from my home! =D

TERMINUS

              (*<       unshetek
            //   \\     Lupus Paganis
           ||  *  ||
        ____\\   //____
        |____0|0|0____| /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
             \   /      "Winter's breath of filthy snow
              | |       Befrosted paths to the unknown
              | |       Have my lips turned real purple?
              | |       Life is coming to an end
              | |       So says me, me Wiccan friend
             /___\      Nature coming full circle."
                                               - Peter Steele, "Green Man"

BASE NOT YOUR HAPPINESS ON THE DEEDS OF OTHERS
FOR THAT WHICH IS GIVEN CAN BE TAKEN AWAY.