Review by SueW:
It’s about 4 – 5 hours to Dortmund once I got through the Channel Tunnel so I arrived at the venue at about 4.30pm and already there were quite a few people queuing up. My original plan was to go to the Leipzig gig (as it’s on a Saturday) but as Kasim decided not to book any solo gigs this year, I have some holiday left from work so I opted to take today off and go to Dortmund instead. Consequently I didn’t have a ticket so as soon as I got there I asked about buying one and was told that the box office opened at 7.00pm which was half an hour after the doors opened! As this was a standing concert (with seats around the outside) I was not too impressed!

As it was bitterly cold I sat in my car to wait and watched the people being allowed in just after 6.30pm to get to the front. The box office eventually opened at about 7.10pm but the only window they initially opened was for the guest list and will call. When the purchasing window opened I was told that they were only selling (the more expensive) seated tickets! As I was doing a round trip of 670 miles I didn’t want to sit back in the seats as they are a long way from the stage and Kasim was unlikely to be shown much on the big screens. Thankfully the guy behind me in the queue said that the ticket touts (scalpers) were selling standing tickets so for the first time ever in over 250 Meat Loaf concerts I bought one from a tout. I was quite pleased with my negotiating skills as I managed to get it for less than face value too!

It did mean though that I didn’t get into the venue until about an hour after the doors opened so I didn’t expect to get anywhere near the front but I was lucky as I ended up only about 4 or 5 rows back (on Kasim’s side of the stage of course). Unfortunately with the Bat Caves this did mean that I was about 50 feet away from him (hence the reason my photos aren’t very good). The hall filled up later but when I first went in, the crowd was much smaller than on other occasions when I’ve been to concerts here. I was also lucky as a Dutch guy I’ve met at a few concerts over the years recognised me so we stood and chatted which made the time go faster.

The concert was supposed to start at 8.00pm according to the website but CC Coletti came on stage at about 7.45pm. She was accompanied by Randy Flowers and another guy who she said was from Berlin (the city I assume rather than the band) who was covered in tattoos but his voice blended really well with Randy and CC’s. Both the guys played acoustic guitars plus Randy went onto keyboards for one song. They sang 5 songs. I didn’t recognise any of them but her CD was available on the merchandise stall so maybe they are on there. A recording (?) of Meat Loaf introducing CC’s set was played before she walked on stage. She received quite a muted reaction from the people around where I was standing but she was far better than I expected.

This concert was the first one where the Bat Cave concept was used. It may be different at concerts were there are seats in front of the stage but my own opinion of it was that I wasn’t impressed. For us in the main crowd it meant that we were further back than normal and for those in the Bat Cave, for at least a third of the concert (if not half) Meat Loaf had his back to them! Considering they had paid double what everybody else had paid (plus they get a T-shirt and a plastic laminate), I wouldn’t have been too impressed by that. However, having said all that, it would be better for someone like me who is there to see Kasim as he only went out onto the "spikes" twice during the whole set.

Above is a (rough!) drawing of the stage area. It's not to scale and I think the audience were closer than indicated on this but the 3 black bits (spikes) are where Meat Loaf and the band could walk out. It may be different when it's a seated venue but certainly at this venue the main audience were further back from the stage (probably 50 feet) which is maybe why Meat Loaf went up the middle spike so much, so that he could get nearer the crowd. There was also a gap between the caves and the main crowd where the people entered the cave (although it wasn't as wide as it looks on this drawing).

  The people in the Bat Cave had to turn around to see his back view and often they were having to shield their eyes as the lights on Meat Loaf were directly in their faces. The caves were basically staging that was about 5 foot high so you could just see the people's heads above it.

The band came out on stage at about 8.25pm and the concert lasted almost exactly 2 hours. My first impression was that I was a bit disappointed that this show was very similar to the concerts in the US in the summer but I realise that (a) this was only the first concert of the tour and (b) there will be very few people at these concerts who are aware that they are so similar. Also, in hindsight, Mark Alexander had posted that they had only made a few changes to the set list. Additions to the set list were DeadRinger For Love and I’m Gonna Love Her For Both Of Us plus It’s All Coming Back To Me Now returned.

Meat Loaf’s voice was really strong tonight (my Dutch friend made that observation after a couple of lines too) which was great to hear. He held some long notes really well and powerfully and there was only one part (one of the duets) when his voice broke slightly. There are concerts like tonight when you think he can go on touring for ever!

Kasim Sulton wore a black jacket and pants with a white T-shirt through the whole set (there was no change of clothes other than Meat Loaf putting on a #55 jersey for You Took The Words). For most of the concert Kasim was playing a different bass (see photo below) which did not appear to be a KSulton Bass. Kasim only used his black KSulton Bass during In The Land Of The Pigs, Rock 'n' Roll Dreams and songs at the end of the set.

The concert started with the band playing part of All Revved Up and even included the part from the US tour where the 2 girls cross across the front of the stage. Meat Loaf then walked on stage and they sung If It Ain’t Broke. I thought at first that they weren’t going to use the inflatable dolls as they didn’t burst up for the first few bars but then they were there!

Out Of The Frying Pan (And Into The Fire) and Life Is A Lemon were next with (to my untrained ears) the same arrangement as in US. During Frying Pan they used the projected fire video onto the backdrop and not actual flames like they used to in UK. (The backdrop was the 3 album covers that they’ve used since last year.)

Next they dropped 3 video screens and played the video of Jim Steinman and Carlo Divitto(???) doing the Red Rose speech before they played You Took The Words Right Outta My Mouth. Being a great German audience, they didn’t need any encouragement to sing the words and Meat Loaf looked really pleased with the singing.

The first addition to the set list was next – DeadRinger For Love. I know it really gets the crowd going but this is one of my least favourite Meat Loaf tracks. The thing I found funny tonight was that Meat Loaf obviously didn’t know when to start singing (he often seems to have trouble starting with this particular song) so Kasim had to count him in. On this tour, CC sang the female lead with Meat Loaf and her voice sounded really good in the song, They ended the song singing it on both side spikes from the stage. One part I did like about this song was that during the second verse (I think) they emphasised the bass (as they did on an earlier tour) and had Kasim, Randy and Paul playing together.

Next they played In The Land Of The Pigs (The Butcher Is King) and they used the same black and white video clips that they used before. We then had what was probably the highlight of the concert for me - I'm Gonna Love Her For Both Of Us! I remember my brother playing the DeadRinger album (loudly!) most mornings for about a year and this was always one of my favourite tracks on it so it was brilliant to hear it live. It was quite heavy on the bass and was a great long version. I did think that Meat Loaf seemed slightly hesitant during the song and afterwards he said that he’d like to sing it again as he wasn’t entirely happy with his performance but I’m sure that the song will improve as the tour continues.

Next they sang It’s All Coming Back To Me Now. When they played in Europe (earlier this year) Marion Raven was the opening act so she sang it as a duet with Meat Loaf but this time Aspen Miller did. As her voice is stronger than Marion’s IMHO it made for a more powerful version of the song tonight.

Rock ‘n’ Roll Dreams was next and it was a brilliant performance as always as they played it for ages towards the end. One funny thing happened as on the big screens they had one of the swirly graphics stuck on there so they showed Meat Loaf’s body with that graphic where his face should be for a while! Generally tonight I thought the cameras didn’t do as good a job as usual as a few times they missed things that were happening and instead showed something like Meat Loaf when he wasn’t being lit up but I’m sure that after a few more concerts all the kinks will be ironed out.

Paradise By The Dashboard Light was next and it was the same version as in US. When Aspen Miller sat at Meat Loaf’s feet (and he asks what she’s doing down there) it was on the stage right spike. Other than using the silver disco ball there was nothing to indicate it was back in the 70s again and they didn’t show any baseball footage during the making out section. Thankfully there was hardly any chat during the song.

This, of course, led into Bat Out Of Hell which was just brilliant as always. I especially like this song at German concerts as the audience always clap along throughout out the whole song! The surprising thing though was that they immediately left the stage afterwards rather than doing a band bow. However they soon came back out and played Anything For Love. This was the version with the really long musical introduction that I really like. While they played that Kasim, Randy and Paul all went out onto the stage spikes (Kasim was on the middle one) while Meat Loaf stayed back on the stage allowing them their time in the spotlight.

The remainder of the encore was back to being Mercury Blues and The Rolling Stones song Gimme Shelter. During Mercury Blues Meat Loaf put on his cowboy hat and a guitar and had to check with Kasim about which chords or key to play! They all really seem to enjoy that song. It was during Gimme Shelter that Meat Loaf introduced the band – Kasim was back to being Kasim ‘The Kid’ Sulton.

Meat Loaf then went up towards the back of the stage and waved goodbye before the band finished playing the song and then they too left the stage. As I don’t speak German I couldn’t understand what people were saying afterwards but from their tones it sounded as though most people really enjoyed the concert. Thankfully for me the car park was well organised so I got out really quickly as I only had four and a half hours to drive back through Holland, Belgium and France to catch the Eurostar train that I was booked on. Thankfully I made it so I got to bed for two and a half hours which wasn’t bad for going to a concert over 350 miles away!

Unfortunately, from where I was standing, I couldn’t really see Mark Alexander and John Miceli very well but all the rest of the band (and Meat Loaf) seemed to really enjoy the concert and they looked quite relaxed for a first concert of a tour.

1 down, 17 to go (although I’m only going to 12 of the concerts)!!!

Other websites:
Meat Loaf's official website MeatLoaf.net has a thread about this concert here and MLUKFC.com has a thread here.

Many thanks to the kind person who sent the photos of CC's opening set plus the last 2 photos above.

Meat Loaf Bat Out Of Hell III Tour