Rock ‘n’ roll is an unpredictable beast. Just ask Jay-Z. This weekend he headlined Glastonbury, covered an Oasis song and shut Noel Gallagher’s big mouth using nothing but pure class. On the day when Jay-Z won hearts and minds over at Glasto it was quite the opposite scenario for Brooklyn’s Type O Negative a few time zones away at Terminal 5.

Type O Negative did everything a NYC band should do at a hometown gig. Gargantuan 6’ 8” lead singer/bassist Peter Steel name-checked each borough (many times, in fact) in an effort to pump up the crowd before his band launched into their opening song. But any good faith was lost by the third song, when many in the crowd began chanting, “You suck! You suck! You suck!”

This must’ve been the ultimate humiliation for Steel, an ego maniac/numbskull who once said he admired Hitler and Stalin for their "my way or the highway" mentality. In a lame attempt at reverse psychology Steel agreed (“Yeah, I know we suck”), but he sounded as informed as Nathan Explosion from Dethklok. When his retort didn’t quiet the naysayers, he confronted the hecklers (there were many at this point) by dissing their mothers with an oral sex insult a la Andrew Dice Clay. Oh! Bada-bing!

Steel eventually submitted. He finished his set looking like he just wanted to get the hell off the stage. The next time he addressed the crowd it was to announce he was going to tell them something they were going to like: “This is our last song.” The crowd cheered. After Steel left the stage, the band's drummer grabbed the mic and chastised the crowd from the front of the stage. His remarks fell on deaf ears.

If I were Peter Steel, I wouldn’t be mad at the fans; I would wonder why I agreed to “co-headline” a tour with the youthful, far musically superior and popular Hatebreed, whose brand of metal hardcore is the polar opposite to Type O Negative’s doomy, goth-metal. Where Type O’s fans wear black and write poems, Hatebreed's vent their frustration by moshing. What the hell did Steel expect from this unholy union?

Known for their blistering 30-second songs, Hatebreed came out swinging like a prize fighter. Singer Jamey Jasta is a frantic ball of energy; he kicked, punched and jumped through the air as the band steamrolled through a relentless set that included ear-shattering songs like "Defeatist" and “Supremacy of Self.” Jasta periodically addressed the crowd and reminded them about Hatebreed’s roots in the hardcore metal scene in the NYC area; perhaps to offset his sideline gig hosting MTV’s Headbanger’s Ball and perpetuate the band’s us-against-them ethos? It wasn't needed. Unlike Type O Negative, Hatebreed are at the top of their game, and they don’t need to preach to the converted.

As the mosh pit swelled and bodies soared through the air, Jasta took a breather and announced a live DVD is on the way on September 2. For fans it’ll serve as the ultimate concert momento. For Peter Steel it'll remind him of a tour he'd probably like to forget.

images by Darren Ressler