Review by SueW:
After having bad experiences at my last two concerts (Sheffield and the Denmark Disaster) and finding myself with an unexpected day off work, I decided that I really fancied a good concert so I set my alarm for 4.00am and caught the 5.50am EuroTunnel train to Calais. It was just over 500 miles to drive to Stuttgart but thankfully there were no delays so I reached the city at about 4.00pm Germany time. My SatNav (GPS) set me in the area of the city fine and I easily found a garage to park in nearby. Having had to breakout of a garage in Germany back in 2005 when we discovered that it closed earlier than the concert finished, I ensured that this one was open all night!

I’ve seen Kasim playing with Meat Loaf in Stuttgart a few times since 1996 but this was the first time I’ve been here since the Porsche Arena was built so the entrance looked a lot different to how I remembered it. Thankfully there were about 20 fans there when I arrived and a couple of them helped me buy a "Stehplatz" (standing) ticket. At Euros 47.30 (about £30) it was about the cheapest concert that I’ve been to on this tour.

It was a baking hot day (probably in the 80s which is hotter than we’ve had in UK so far this year) and there was a line of people sitting against a wall so I went and joined the end. I realised later that they were just sitting there to keep out of the sun and then I remembered that Germans have no concept of the word "queue" as the later arrivals just went and gathered in front of the doors! Thankfully they are all very good natured and friendly and a few people started chatting to me. Later there were 3 people giving out official looking laminates (it was to advertise a competition for the Meat Loaf CD and live DVD) and one fan even brought one across for me! According to the ticket the doors were supposed to open at 7.00pm and the concert was due to start at 8.00pm but at about 6.00pm security came outside and stood near some metal barriers (away from the main doors) so I realised that they were letting us in through those doors instead. It meant standing in direct sunlight and it got very hot and uncomfortable (especially considering there was nowhere nearby to buy a drink). Thankfully they let us in at 6.30pm and then there was quite a trek to the front of the stage. As almost always is the case with concerts in Germany, the floor is standing with seats all around the sides and this was a massive standing area. It was very well organised though as they had barriers across about 50 feet back and they limited the number of people they allowed in there so it wasn’t a crush.

By the time I entered the barrier was full (other than at the very far sides) so I opted to stand in the second row, right in line with Kasim’s microphone which was the perfect spot for me! I was lucky too as the lady in front of me was shorter than me so I had a brilliant view! Thankfully people started sitting down which was great as I knew we’d be standing for over 3 hours once the concert started. At this point I began to feel slightly light headed (due to lack of fluids all day) so I asked the people behind me to save my spot which they did. I couldn’t get over how friendly the people were at this concert! (One thing I did find funny was that one well known German groupie was last seen heading round the back of the venue talking on her mobile phone and when we entered the venue she was on the barrier right in the middle!) At least three tracks from Kasim’s new album All Sides were played while we were waiting – Are You Happy Now, Yellow Cab and Minutes Slipping Past. After the concert I looked at the merchandise stand and All Sides (a double CD) was for sale at the same price as Bat Out Of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose (a one track CD) which I thought was great value!

At 7.30pm Marion Raven and Randy Flowers came on stage and played six songs. Marion Raven started off saying something in German which the crowd appreciated and then she went back to saying virtually word for word what she’d said at all the other concerts I’ve been to at the tour. I did realise that this is only the second time I’ve seen her whole set on the tour (although I’ve listened to part of it from the outside a few times) and she does improve the more times you hear the songs IMHO.

They left the stage at almost exactly 8.00pm and Meat Loaf’s section of the concert started at 8.30pm. They played until 11.15pm so it was a nice long show! I’ve very deliberately not posted any link to this review on MeatLoaf.net so hopefully this part will slip under the radar but after seeing over 250 Meat Loaf concerts, this was the worst I have ever heard his voice. It got better towards the end of the concert but lots of times he didn’t hit the right note or his voice went. Despite that (or maybe because of that) the concert tonight will easily rate in my top twenty Meat Loaf concerts that I’ve seen as Meat Loaf seemed to emphasise the non-musical parts far more and made it a really fun concert to watch. Several times during the show I thought to myself about how glad I was that I decided to come here tonight! I think the answer is that if you wanted to hear note perfect singing, stay at home and listen to Meat Loaf albums but if you want to see a really enjoyable rock concert, go to the show!

One of the things I first noticed when the band took the stage for the short version of All Revved Up was how much Kasim was smiling and joking with other band members – it’s certainly good to see as he’s been away from home for almost two months now! Kasim was wearing his blue and white smock top and he wore black trousers throughout all the concert. For the remainder of the first set he wore a black shirt (nicely undone a fair way!) and for the second set a nice tight black T-shirt. Kasim used his silver KSulton bass for the first set and encore and his black KSulton bass for the second set. Thankfully from where I was standing I could see Kasim changing his shirt after Paradise and, probably because it was so hot, he took a long time before he put his next shirt on which I certainly didn’t complain about!

The dialogue during Paradise By The Dashboard Light has hardly changed since the first UK concert (I think it’s slightly longer now) although tonight there was some discussion about whether Germans understand the words boob, tit or breast! I think that when Meat Loaf wears the wig, it really does age him as he looks far younger with his own hair. I do feel sorry for Aspen Miller in the snogging part of that song as Meat Loaf kisses her full on the lips – I bet they didn’t mention that indignity at her audition! Tonight Meat Loaf struggled when he took off his white shirt thing that’s under his main shirt as a button of that got caught up with a button from his shirt so that took a while for him to untangle!

Tonight’s version of You Took The Words Right Outta My Mouth was longer than at the UK shows as Meat Loaf got us all to sing along for quite a while (obviously saving his voice a bit). He then had a chat with someone off stage about whether or not they were actually in Stuttgart as he said that Stuttgart usually sings much better than we did tonight. I thought he laboured that joke a bit but there was a great bonus as Kasim started us all singing again so we had the chance to hear him sing on his own for a couple of bars which was just brilliant!!” Out Of The Frying Pan (And Into The Fire) was next which I thought was brilliant as always! I really like that song and the flames add so much to the presentation to it too, although we really didn’t need the additional heat in the venue tonight! I’m really going to miss the flames when I go to the US concerts in the summer!

Next they sang Life Is A Lemon and Aspen really missed up in that song as she sang "What about your town" twice and not "What about your school"! (She also came in at the wrong part on one line.) When she walked back to the back of the stage, Kasim (with a grin on his face!) said "School!" to her. After that song (during the intro to Anything For Love) Meat Loaf came over to where Kasim was standing near Randy Flowers and had quite a little chat to him. I could be wrong but from his hand movements and from what I thought it looked as though his mouth was saying, he said something along the lines about being "all over the place". Meat Loaf then took a while to get into his velvet jacket so we had one of the longest intros to Anything For Love ever! Unfortunately the song was one of the shortest ever versions as they went from Meat Loaf singing one of the verses to Aspen Miller coming on stage to sing the duet part! I remember that in the UK they’d cut the song down a fair bit but tonight there was no chorus at all! I couldn’t understand this as, if Meat Loaf wanted to save his voice, then he could have easily just let the band sing that part and him sing it just at the end as he did on a previous tour.

Meat Loaf’s chat before Objects In The Rear View Mirror was mainly about the fact that Chrysler had bought Mercedes Benz (apparently Stuttgart is the headquarters of Mercedes) and that he didn’t like that idea. Earlier one guy had shouted out during one song so Meat Loaf informed us that at the UK concerts he’d struggled to hear what hecklers called out so “how the f’@@k can I know what you’re calling when you’re talking in German?”!!! After Objects they played Rock 'n' Roll Dreams which was just brilliant to hear again. At the end of that song they have a shower of sparks going up and it may have been my imagination but it seemed to me to be a lot higher than it was at the UK concerts.

They then played the montage of Meat Loaf films while the recording of Alive was played before the band came back on stage to sing a brief part of Seize The Night. (It’s a shame that the don’t extend that song a bit as that would give save Meat Loaf’s voice a bit more.) Next was If It Ain’t Broke, Break It (with all the inflatable dolls) before they played Bad For Good. Kasim plays some amazing bass (and a lot of notes!) in that song. I can understand why they’ve dropped Blind As A Bat (as Meat Loaf does a lot of singing in that song) but I do think it’s a shame as that was one of my favourites from Bat Out Of Hell III.

After In The Land Of Pigs (The Butcher Is King) we then had probably the longest band introduction ever as it probably lasted 10 or 15 minutes! (Meat Loaf said afterwards that it was the first time that he’d done that in 30 years!) First of all Randy Flowers came out and played his guitar as he usually does. Meat Loaf was sitting on the steps (as usual) but instead of talking he just looked at Randy so poor Randy didn’t know whether to play some more or what as Meat Loaf was really playing with him! Next Meat Loaf got one of Paul Crook’s guitars and played a little bit of lead guitar on it. (The first guitar he tried wasn’t plugged in!) He then got Paul to play the guitar and he sounded really good. Meat Loaf then got Mark Alexander to play the piano a bit before he interrupted him and said that he was the most interrupted musician in the music business (which he probably is as Meat Loaf will often stop him playing so that he can talk!). Meat Loaf got John Micelli walk to the front of the stage for his introduction and told us that he so rarely comes out from behind his drums. Next Meat Loaf got Dave Luther to bring his saxophone to the front of the stage. Meat Loaf explained that his nickname was "Dancing Dave Luther" so he was going to demonstrate why he’s called that. Dave played a sax solo but all the time he was playing he was moving backwards and forwards on the stage in time to the music!

Kasim’s introduction was next! He came on stage with a big grin on his face and Meat Loaf said that he was glad he was holding his bass as "nobody" wants to hear a bas solo as they are "boring"! Kasim then pleaded (jokingly) with him to let him play one and the crowd were really cheering and clapping for one so Meat Loaf relented! This was when I KNEW that my 1,089 mile roundtrip was worth it as at first Kasim played an artistic type of bass solo and then Meat Loaf told him that a dum-dum-dum type would go down better. He was right as all the crowd started clapping along to it which was brilliant to see!

Next CC came on stage with a (small) bottle of beer which Meat Loaf downed in one go. She then sang the song Mercedes Benz with Meat Loaf joining in at the end of the second verse. Finally Meat loaf introduced Aspen Miller and she took off her high boots and did a load of side leg kicks bare-footed! Meat Loaf called her a dancing leprechaun (as she’s so small).

Meat Loaf then introduced Marion Raven and they all sang It’s All Coming Back To Me Now before going into Bat Out Of Hell. The thing I really like about German audiences is that they really enjoy themselves which makes a lovely atmosphere at concerts! They will also all clap A LOT at times in the concerts (even during some slow songs) and they certainly did that throughout all of Bat Out Of Hell tonight! I’ve been to Meat Loaf concerts in 13 countries and I think German audiences are the best – they get into the concerts far more than UK or US ones (Sue insulting millions of people with just one sentence!!!).

After BOOH, we had the band bow (with Meat Loaf running from one side of the stage to another) before they briefly left the stage before coming back for the usual three song encore. I’ve always noticed that Kasim covers the stage more than the rest of the band (of course it’s far easier for him than musicians like John on the drums and Mark on the piano!) but in the encore he seems to cover the stage even more as he spent time standing up using CC’s microphone and standing on Mark’s stool as well as to the far right and left of the stage! Often when Paul Crook goes across to play next to Randy Flowers, Kasim will go to Paul’s side of the stage to balance up the stage. I think it was during Black Betty tonight that Paul Crook took one of Kasim’s guitar pics from his stand. Kasim saw him do that and gave him a look (jokingly) so Paul just put it into his guitar strap. Later during Mercury Blues when Paul Crook gets Aspen to strum his guitar for a while, he deliberately went over and took another one of Kasim’s guitar pics!

All too soon for me, it was the end of the concert and time for me to drive the over 500 miles (plus train under the channel) trek home. I didn’t get indoors under 9.00am and after a quick shower I had to go straight into work so it meant that I was awake for 40 hours. I used to do this back in 1996 (11 years ago) and I’m sure I found it far easier than I do now so I’m really amazed at how Meat Loaf keeps his energy going through the concerts 11 years on, especially as he’s several years older than me!

The highlights of the concert for me (in no particular order) were Kasim’s solo singing in You Took The Words Right Outta My Mouth, him taking ages to change his shirt after Paradise By The Dashboard Light and, of course, the bass solo. I knew it was going to be a long day and a long drive but I was determined to really enjoy a concert and I certainly did this one!!!

(As I was intent on enjoying the concert tonight, I only took a few photos during the encore.)

Just before this photo was taken Meat Loaf obviously asked Kasim
which key they were playing. It was E but Meat Loaf couldn't hear that so Kasim put 3 fingers
horizontily and one vertically to indicate it!

Comments posted by fans on various mailing lists and messageboards:
"The talking/jokes/... between the songs was great tonight."

"On several german pages and also in the media is a big discussion about the concerts. the comments are really bad... no voice, terrible sound.... I never noticed so much people leaving the concert after 1 hour..it´s really sad."

"Man was it hot in the "Schleyerhalle"."

Kasim standing on Mark Alexander's stool during the encore.
(This would have been a good photo if it wasn't for the microphone stand right through Kasim's face!)

Other websites:
The messageboard attached to MLUKFC.com has a thread about this concert here.

Meat Loaf's official website MeatLoaf.net has a thread about this concert here.

Yvonne Bender has some great photos of this concert on her website here. Direct links to the photos of Kasim are here, here, here, here and here.

Meat Loaf Bat Out Of Hell III Tour