Review by SueW:
As originally I was only coming out to California for the one concert, I opted to buy a $215 VIP seat via the Meat Loaf Fan Club as it was advertised as being in the front two rows and a premier seat. Sadly it was badly mis-sold as it was in a block that was diagonal to the stage (behind the massive sound area) and, although technically I was in the second row, my row was actually in line with the third row of the block that was actually facing the stage. I was probably 25 feet from the corner of the stage which isn’t what I expected for that price. The other people in my row had purchased their tickets the same way and none of us were impressed.

Aside from the ticket rip-off, it was a good concert. Personally I was a bit disappointed that it was almost the same set list as at The Royal Albert Hall show (as I expected something totally new) but fans I spoke to afterwards said alternatively that they’d heard that it was going to be similar and that they’d heard that the set list will vary from concert to concert. The interesting thing was on the printed set list the final song was listed "Gimme, Mercury, Shake" which made us wonder whether there was a choice of final song. Obviously Mercury is Mercury Blues but I don’t know which song Shake is.

There was no problem about taking photos at the venue (although most people were respectful enough not to use flash) but security did make people still down during the concert! It wasn’t really a problem in the centre section as they all stayed seated almost all the time anyway, but the fan club area were not too happy about it! During Bat Out Of Hell people went to the front of the stage and it got very crowded there (I stayed back at my seat as I could see fine there). Obviously from the angle where I was I couldn’t take any photos of Mark, John or CC and I only got my camera out in the second half so I missed most of Aspen’s parts.

They started the set with the football jerseys (Kasim was wearing his #18 again) and Aspen and CC changed their clothes several times during the set. Kasim used a new guitar during the first act of the concert. It appeared to be a KSulton Bass (as I could see the metal tag on the 12th fret) but it was light in colour. He used his darker KSulton Bass for the second half of the concert.

The sound wasn’t very good during most of the concert but I remember that at The New Cars concert here last May, they had the same trouble (maybe because the room is wider than it is deep?) and my other complaint about this concert is that not once did I see a close-up of Kasim on the big screens! Other than John (on drums) all the other band were shown but not Kasim!!!

Apparently there was some merchandise for sale but it was well hidden! People I spoke to afterwards said that there were mainly T-shirts and some mugs but no tour programs.

The show started with an abbreviated version of All Revved Up (emphasising Dave on the saxophone) with Meat Loa only coming on stage at the end of the song and Aspen not appearing at all, and then they went straight into Paradise By The Dashboard Light. Aspen wore that a short jacket and shorts again and played the aggressor in the song. Her stage manner has improved so much since their first concert in Boston last year but there were still people talking afterwards about how young and how tiny she looks compared to Meat Loaf. During the snogging part of the song, she put her microphone down at the side of the stage and when she went back to collect it for the "Stop Right Now!" part it wasn’t there and there was total panic on her face. I’m sure that if that had been Patti then she would have just laughed or calmly grabbed someone else’s microphone but Aspen was obviously panic-stricken. Thankfully Kasim just pointed that her mike had been placed on a small stand at the front of the stage so she managed to sing the line on time! In the song instead of Meat Loaf singing the long “light” there appeared to be several female voices sing it so I don’t know if a tape was used for that one word or what.

It was an un-interrupted version of You Took The Words Right Outta My Mouth with Meat Loaf not getting the crowd to sing - maybe he realised the chances are that this casino crowd would take too much persuading!. The crowd didn’t even really get going too much in Frying Pan (which is one of my favourites) which is a great rocking song.

They obviously recognised Anything For Love (Aspen swapped to a black dress for that song) but Rock ‘n’ Roll Dreams received a muted reception whereas I’m used to UK fans really rocking to that one. Just before Objects In The Rear View Mirror Meat Loaf spoke for the first time to tell us that it was his second favourite song. Generally tonight Meat Loaf’s voice was quite good but he was totally off-key for the first few bars of that song. They only sang the first and third verses of Objects (they omitted the verse about his father) and then they left the stage for the 10 minute intermission which they’d announce at the start.

The second half of the set was mainly the new songs from Bat Out Of Hell III and started with a brief part of Seize The Night sung mainly by CC and Aspen (without Meat Loaf on the stage). The Monster Is Loose was next which was great to hear and then they went straight into Bad For Good which also received a good reception. Next was If It Ain’t Broke and then Blind As A Bat but I really think that most people at this venue just didn’t know the new music from Bat3!

As I said before, Bat Out Of Hell got everyone to their feet (how could it not?!!!) and then they left the stage for a couple of minutes. They came back and played Two Outta Three Ain’t Bad after Meat Loaf had introduced all the band. When he got to Aspen he said that for years he used to lie on stage and say that a band member was from whichever city they were playing that night ("to get a reaction….and it always did"!) but that Aspen was actually from San Diego. Meat Loaf then introduced Kasim as having absolutely no connection to San Diego! I was hoping that they’d play the long musical part of You Took The Words like they did on the 2005 tour but unfortunately they stuck pretty much to the album version. They then sang Life Is A Lemon and I don’t know if it was intentional or not but the first two "I want my money back" lines sounded as though it was just Kasim singing which was brilliant to hear! (Kasim's voice sounded VERY good tonight!) Kasim was then obviously having some problem on stage (maybe his mike?) as he kept looking at the guys as the side of the stage between all the "It’s Defective" lines

.

They then left the stage again and I thought that was it but they came out again to sing The Rolling Stones song Gimme Shelter. CC sang a verse of that song by herself at the front of the stage and then Meat Loaf said goodbye and left the band to sing it (I think most guys in the audience were too busy to notice as they were watching CC’s boobs nearly falling out of her dress!).

The show started at about 7.40pm and finished at 9.50pm (with a 10 minute interval) and it was a fun concert. I think (as often happens with me!) I was more disappointed as I had high expectations of a totally different show as it is the tour to promote Bat 3 but, if the rumours are true, and this tour lasts 2 years then I’m sure that things will change along the way.

Roll on Indio on Sunday!

Meat Loaf Seize The Night Tour