I Want You So Hard (Boy’s Bad News)
If It Ain’t Broke, Break It
Out Of The Frying Pan (And Into The Fire)
Life Is A Lemon (And I Want My Money Back)
Bad For Good
DeadRinger For Love
45 Seconds Of Ecstasy
Amnesty Is Granted
Bible And A Beer
Blind As A Bat
Dissentience (Band Instrumental)
Paradise By The Dashboard Light
Anything For Love
Bat Out Of Hell
Rock’n’Roll Dreams
Why Don't We Do It In The Road?
Roadhouse Blues
Review by SueW:
No time to write a real review so a number of comments instead! (There's a really detailed review of the Plymouth concert here.)
It's now no secret that I lent Kasim my SatNav so that he could get to his solo gig in London. I glibly told him to return it to me in Nottingham as I'd have no trouble finding a big venue like the Trent FM Arena in Nottingham....how wrong I was! The first problem was that there was a big accident on the motorway so they shut a section of it. Apparently all the roads were really packed in the area (it even made the news on a national radio station!) so I resorted to something called a map (which will never catch on!!!) to find my way. I drove around a load of little A and B roads to get to Nottingham and the when I got there I couldn't see any signs for the Arena! Thankfully I remembered that it was in The Lace Market area but there were still no signs and it was pure luck that I found it.
There was some problem with my ticket so literally as soon as my bum hit my seat, I heard someone introducing the opening act, Pearl and thought that I recognised that great voice - it was Kasim on stage introducing her!
Pearl's set lasted 30 minutes but I didn't think it was great, certainly no better than the band who played after Kasim last night. Her set is more lively than last year but I really doubt that many people would be as interested in her as they are if she wasn't Meat Loaf's adopted daughter.
The 10,000 seater arena was quite full and most people stood for the majority of the show, at least where I was sitting (in the middle of third row).
As soon as Meat Loaf came on stage, people went right up to the barrier.
Taking photos seemed to be okay (despite there being signs on the doors). Certainly during Pearl's set people were openly taking them. I chose to just take them through Dissentience.
The sound was very muddy where I was especially, especially at the beginning of the set although it did improve later. The vocals especially were difficult to make out during If It Ain't Broke.
Kasim used his black KSulton Bass through all the concert tonight. Kasim was wearing black trousers and a black shirt with a distinct pattern that really suited him.
Meat Loaf didn't seem quite as happy as at the other concerts tonight.
After Bat Out Of Hell when they came back for the encore Meat Loaf and Kasim sat chatting on the stage for a couple of minutes in the dark. The audience then started calling out for more so Kasim made a hearing sound with his hand which was when they both got up and did the encore.
Right at the beginning of the concert, Meat Loaf apologised for having to cancel the concert there in November and thanked us all for buying tickets for tonight's gig.
At the end of Roadhouse Blues Kasim stopped the band but Meat Loaf appeared to want them to continue playing for longer than they usually do. There appeared to be a lot of confusion with Kasim ending up having to apologise to Meat Loaf (even though Kasim was in the right) but eventually it all appeared to be smoothed over.
During the encore Meat Loaf mentioned that it had been raining during almost all his outdoor concerts and so that we could get the feel of it, they were going to turn the fire sprinklers on in the venue! In fact tonight I did nearly get sprayed as when Meat Loaf opened his bottle of beer in DeadRinger, it sprayed over a lot of the audience!
There was one ticket machine at the car park so it took me almost an hour to get out!
Other websites:
There is a thread of posts of this gig on Meat Loaf's official website MeatLoaf.net here.
MLUKFC.com has a thread of reviews and (sometimes) photos of this gig here.
ThisIsNottigham.com has a review and comments of this gig here.
Comments posted by fans on mailing lists and messageboards include:
"Whilst waiting for the encore Kasim and Meat sat on the steps laughing and chatting! You could only see their sillouettes but it was wonderful to witness! I adore how Kasim spends most of the show looking out for Meat... constantly checking he's ok and giving him the positive feedback he soooooooooooooo deserves!"
"Highlights for me were Frying Pan, RnRD and 45 Seconds / Amnesty ... CC seems to be suffering with a bit of a sore throat but she battled on bravely and produced a very husky and sexy performance tonight."
"Absolutely the very best of the three I have seen on the tour so far. Meat's vocals were fantastic during this show! He was not struggling with any of the low parts like he was at Bath and Liverpool. He sounded spot on during most parts of most of the songs. Very, very, very impressive in my opinion."
"One of the funniest moments to me came in the encore. When the inflatables went up at an earlier show (I think it was Bath) the dress on Pattis inflatable was hitched up around its waist so Patti tried to pull it down. Last night when the inflatables went up Meat went over to Pattis inflatable and pulled the dress up!!!! You had to have seen the first incident to get it but I thought it was typical Meat humour, and we are seeing more and more of that as the tour goes on. He is so obviously relaxing more and enjoying himself more."
"He had a false start with R 'n R Dreams, and made a joke about it being one of his 60 year old moments."
"I gotta say that the show last night was out of this world, vocally amazing, the atmosphere was electric! The show for me was up there with the RAH, probably even better cos Patti is back! No disrespect to Aspen, but Patti fetches out the best in Meat, together the chemistry is palatable!"
"Three cheers for security too! I heard the head chap briefing the others! He told them not to let people stand in the aisles but as for the front row... don't try to stop them from standing at the barrier cos it'll never happen! Sensible talk at last!!!"
"All in all last night was a dream, we so very nearly didn't go to this show, thank God we did, because i have seen Meat and the band completely nail the show. There are not enough superlatives in the world to describe last night!"
"Indoor venues certainly suit Meat better than a cold, wet and blowy outdoor one."
"Once again on stage we saw a very relaxed and happy Meat, and this rubs off on the rest of the band."
"His voice is no longer there, his timing has gone completely, the piano player finds it hard to play along as meats singing is so laboured. In my opinion the band should tell him if we are cringeing imagine how they are feeling."
"Last night we were extremely disappointed, there was no buzz for us and we left when he came on to sing his encore. We weren't the only one to do so there were quite a large number leaving. The backing singers and musicians were fantastic but we hardly knew any of the music."
The venue (taken from the KasimInfo.com Blog that day):
Tonight Kasim Sulton plays the 6th concert of the 20 concert The Meat Loaf Casa De Carne Tour. The concert tonight is at the Trent FM Arena in Nottingham, England. Nottingham is in central England and is famous for its history of lace-making.
The concert tonight starts at 8.00pm and the address of the venue is Bolero Square, The Lace Market, Nottingham, NG1 1LA. Click here to view the venue website. It opened on 1st April 2000 and was visited by The Queen the following year. It seats 10,000 people.
Tickets for this concert are £39 ($80) to £45 ($90) and the best seats still available are in the rear of the venue. There was also a Meet and Greet package from the Fan Club for £155 ($300) but it entails arriving at the venue at about 4.00pm.
This will be Kasim Sulton's first appearance in this city since 1994. He was supposed to play here last year but that was canceled due to Meat Loaf being unable to perform.
