Review by SueW:
Today was a first for me as I’ve never travelled to a concert before in a golf cart but today I did! I was just parking my car outside the casino when this guy insisted that I got in his little cart / train thing and he dropped me off right outside the door! I’ve come to the conclusion that one casino is very much like another and this one was very similar to the Pala Casino and all the others that I’ve seen in Las Vegas and other cities that Kasim has played. The difference here though was that the concert was held at a special Events Centre (or Center as they call it) which was outside the main casino.

I tried to find out how many the place held but the 2 members of staff I asked didn’t know however based on Pala holding 2,000 people I would think this held 5,000. It wasn’t sold out (in fact it was obvious that they’d kept some of the front side blocks empty as they would have had limited sight of the stage). I would guess that it was about three quarters full. Meat Loaf’s Official Fan Club didn’t sell this concert (it was announced quite late) so we bought our seats directly from the venue so it only cost about $70. I knew we were on Kasim’s side in the third row but what we didn’t realise was that the block went way past the sides of the stage. Thankfully it wasn’t too bad where we were sitting but for people right on the ends, they would have had to really strain their necks to see properly. Consequently my view of the concert was mainly concentrated on Kasim and Randy Flowers as I could see them the easiest (not that I was complaining!).

The concert was supposed to start at 6.00pm which seemed really early but it fitted in well for me as I had a 3.10am start the next day to get back to LAX for my flight. In the end they actually started at about 6.15pm with the 11 minute interval from 7.19pm onwards and then it was all over by 8.30pm.

Tonight we found the merchandise stall. It mainly consisted of T-shirts and sweatshirts and was a bit pricey IMHO (but they often are at concerts). There were some coffee mugs for sale at $20 and afterwards someone showed me their sweatshirt which was $65 but seemed to be of very good quality material. Unfortunately there were no tour programmes but on other tours they’ve only appeared after a few concerts too.

My personal opinion was that this was a much better concert than Pala. Not surprisingly the set list was the same (other than they only played one encore tonight) but there were a couple of special effects which I’ve come to expect from a Meat Loaf concert, the sound was better (at least where I was sitting) and the band just seemed a bit tighter. I remember when Kasim played at the Pala Casino with The New Cars last May that they couldn’t have all their set on stage so possibly the same thing occurred on Friday evening.

The most obvious thing was that there were three screens high up at the back of the stage which were used to good effect at various points in the concert. At the start they projected various photos of Meat Loaf through the years while the band walked on stage before they started playing the abbreviated version of All Revved Up. The band were wearing their football tops again (Kasim had his #18 Randy Moss top but with his white shirt sleeves showing below it). This song really emphasises Dave Luther on the saxophone and he seems quite comfortable coming down to the front of the stage to play the opening part of the song. Aspen Miller isn’t on stage at all for this song and both Meat Loaf and CC only walk on stage singing towards the end.

Paradise By The Dashboard Light was next. I know somebody complained about having this song near the start of the set but after seeing so many performances (of various lengths) of the song over the years I far prefer the less drawn out version and I think that with the visual disparity between their ages, it makes sense not to let people go home with that song at the forefront of their minds. Tonight Meat Loaf did talk a little bit more than he did in Pala and again instead of him singing the emphasised “Light” he just opened his arms and the tape was played of that one word.

On the screens they then showed Jim Steinman and Karla Devitta doing the Red Rose speech. For some reason Jim Steinman’s head looked only half the size of Karla’s which was weird! An abbreviated (but sufficiently long) version of You Took The Words Right Outta My Mouth was next . Someone pointed out that all the songs from Bat Out Of Hell except the title track are abbreviated versions which seems like a sensible decision to me as this tour is to promote Bat 3. Unfortunately this was a very staid audience (nobody stood until BOOH!) so even if Meat Loaf had wanted us all to clap and sing, he would have struggled to have got anywhere!

Probably the highlight of the evening for me was next – Out Of The Frying Pan as it was a brilliant performance! I thought they all played it so much better than in Pala and it was a really rocking version. Meat Loaf’s voice sounded strong in this song too so it was just wonderful to hear!

Anything For Love was next (abbreviated as it has been for a few tours now). Meat Loaf wore his velvet jacket but tonight he still had his football jersey on underneath which seemed an unusual choice. Obviously Aspen must have forgotten to take her microphone off stage with her at the end of Frying Pan as Kasim walked on stage and retrieved it for her near the start of the song!

Rock and Roll Dreams was next. I like the beginning of that song as Kasim can clearly be heard singing the "ah’s"! I could be wrong (as I’ve only seen the screens the once so far) but this may well be when they displayed this unusual pattern (pictured below) that reminded me of static on a TV! It certainly created a nice mood though. At another point in the show there was a cartoon playing throughout the whole song and right at the end it showed something scrolling down and down and then it was a burst of flame on the screen RIGHT in time with the end of the song which I thought was very impressive.

After a little bit of chat from Meat Loaf about how this is his second favourite song that he’s recorded, they played Objects In The Rear View Mirror May Appear Closer Than They Are. I really like this song and I think it’s a shame that they miss out the middle verse (but if I had my way all the songs would be the full versions and the concert would be 4 hours long!).

They then left the stage for the advertised intermission. (A word of warning that it is just the 10 minutes (or 11 tonight) so don’t wander off too far at the forthcoming concerts!)

(Just to wander off the subject slightly to answer an e-mail I received about my Pala review as I was asked how I remember the set list. I know there are people who religiously write down the songs after they’re played but I can’t be bothered with that so I just do it by memory. After sitting through the 42 StoryTellers concerts (which were all different) I got quite used to remembering a set list and the clue is to use mnemonics. Thankfully this tour is a godsend as all I had to remember was APT FARO S&M B,B,B,B 2Lemon and Gimme and that’s the set list! (Each leter is the strt of the song title) Easy!)

Kasim played his new (I’ve been told that it’s silver) KSulton Bass for the first half of the set and his black KSulton Bass for the second set. Kasim wore a black jacket and white shirt for the first set and a maroon coloured shirt for the second set.

Tonight they played over the PA the song Alive from Bat3 while on the screens there were clips from several of Meat Loaf’s films. It was interesting that the clips from The Rocky Horror Show received the most reaction from the audience and they showed some really gritty scenes from the other films too. The band walked on stage at this point and then they sang a brief except of Seize The Night (the name of the tour).

Next was The Monster Is Loose which was wonderful to hear live again! Although Meat Loaf is more famous for his strong ballads nowadays he really has recorded some great rocking songs and this is certainly one of them. Next was Bad For Good which has some amazing lyrics in the song and it's one of my favourites from Bat 3.

If it Ain’t Broke was next and at the start of the song 8 tall inflatable dolls shot up! (5 at the back of the stage and 3 at the front.) They were all shaped to be playing musical instruments and were about 15-20 feet tall. It was a very impressive effect! The one at the front near Meat Loaf kept folding backwards so Meat Loaf held it for a while and was obviously having fun with it (punching it and things) which was great to see! At the end of the song, they deflated them all and the one nearest us fell forwards onto some people in the audience! It was only afterwards that it was pointed out to me that the 8 dolls were supposed to represent the 8 members of the band so it must have been Randy, Meat Loaf and Paul’s at the front and Kasim’s doll must have been one of the ones at the back.

Blind As A Bat was next which was great to hear again (there’s a video clip below), followed by Bat Out Of Hell. Thankfully Meat Loaf made everyone stand for this song as I loathe sitting during it!

They then left the stage for a couple of minutes before returning for the band introductions and Two Outta Three Ain’t Bad. When Meat Loaf introduced CC he told us a story about her boots and her having to break them in. I felt sorry for Meat Loaf as at the end of his story, CC told him that she was wearing different boots anyway! He told her that she should have just played along with him.

The final song was Life Is A Lemon which thankfully was quite a long version tonight. Meat Loaf put on a guitar and did some of his playing with Paul Crook and Randy Flowers which he seems to enjoy so much!

All too soon for me they left the stage and unfortunately they didn’t come back for a second encore, although most of the audience were already leaving anyway as 2 encores isn’t expected.

After the concert I met up with a few Meat Loaf fans and (other than one exception) we all said that we preferred tonight’s concert to the Pala one but we all agreed that tonight was a great show.

Over the years I’ve seen over 400 Meat Loaf concerts (I daren’t count up how much I’ve spent in concert tickets and travel!) and not once has he not put on a great show and sung his heart out. There are times when his voice isn’t as good as at other shows and some concerts which I don’t enjoy as much as others but I don’t think that anybody can leave a Meat Loaf concert without thinking that he really entertains all the crowd and tonight was certainly no exception!

Video clips
Here are a few 15 second video clips from this concert. The sound isn't great on these (due to my cameras capabilities) but will give an indication about the concert:
Out Of The Frying Pan (And Into The Fire)
Objects In tHe Rear View Mirror (May Appear Closer Than They Are)
Bad For Good
Blind As A Bat

Meat Loaf Seize The Night Tour