|
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 You Took The Words Right Outta My Mouth Anything For Love Bat Out Of Hell Roadhouse Blues Why Don't We Do It In The Road? Mercury Blues 
Review by SueW:
It was a 5.00am start for me and then I had to catch the ferry (as it’s the first weekend of the summer holidays so Eurostar was fully booked). It took me just under 5 hours to drive from France, into Belgium, Holland and Germany so I got to the venue at about 3.30pm. The band were doing their soundcheck and at first it was just testing their instruments. There was then a massive rain shower for about 10 minutes (including several claps of thunder) before they started playing recognisable songs. They started with Bad For Good and it was just like hearing a karaoke version as I could hear the band’s background vocals really clearly. Next they sang A Bible And A Beer and then part of You Took The Words before playing some of Blind As A Bat. It was then that Meat Loaf arrived and his first comment was that the sound was echoing a lot and that it sounded just like singing in his shower! They then played (and sang) all of Mercury Blues before finishing up with part of Blind As A Bat again.
 I’m not quite sure what time the gates opened but I spoke to some people later who had started queuing at 11.00am! By the time I went in most of the front area was already full and I really didn’t fancy standing for 5 hours so I opted to sit on the cement seats as it was quite a small amphitheatre and they were all relatively near the stage. I sat in direct line with Kasim’s microphone and had a great view all evening! It was also nice to be able to go and get a drink and not lose your place. I was told that the amphitheatre holds 3,000 but it wasn’t fully sold out. It backed onto a canal so it was the first Meat Loaf concert that I’ve been to where we could watch boats going past! Often people would wave from the boats so the audience would wave back which was a nice touch! There were also about 50 people watching for free from the other bank – I’m not sure how much they could actually see but they were clapping along and obviously enjoyed it!
 There was a gap in the fence so most of the band (John, Dave, Randy and Paul) and lots of crew members appeared at various times to look at the crowd and John Micelli took a few photos. Pearl’s set started at about 7.20pm and lasted about half an hour. Unfortunately it was unnecessarily loud again and I could barely make out any of the words – even in Nut Bush City Limits it was hard to understand what she was singing and I know those words! She was lucky though as soon after she started the heavens opened for a quick (maybe 2 minutes) but heavy shower so loads of people dashed to the area in front of the stage as that was under cover so that doubled the audience size who were standing! Everyone else whipped out their waterproofs and I was amazed that the lady next to me offered me her spare one so I could keep dry! This then resulted in a beautiful full half circle rainbow for about 10 minutes! Boats and a rainbow at a Meat Loaf concert! It seemed as though it was ages from the time the stage was ready to when they finally came out and there was lots of impatient clapping from the audience. As Kasim walked past the gap in the fence, he had an absolutely massive smile on his face which is always good to see!
 Right from the first song (I Want You So Hard (Boy’s Bad News)) people started taking photos and video and security made no attempt to stop them despite the no recording policy boards being displayed at the entrance to the venue! It was during the beginning of If It Ain’t Broke, Break It that I remembered how much I enjoy seeing a concert in Germany as all the audience were clapping along right from the start which makes a really great atmosphere! I’ve been to Meat Loaf concerts in lots of countries in Europe and US but I really think that German audiences are the most enthusiastic. Out Of The Frying Pan (And Into The Fire) was next and sitting back I got the full effect of the mini paper flames. I’m sure I saw them change colour at a UK venue but tonight they stayed white the whole time but that may have been because it was sunny at this point!.
 After Life Is A Lemon (And I Want My Money Back) we had one of my favourites, Bad For Good. Tonight the German crowd clapped through a lot of the song too so obviously most people knew it. We then had DeadRinger For Love. The story for this song on this tour is that Meat Loaf (wearing a dodgy looking plaid shirt and baseball cap) makes it obvious that he fancies Patti and sidelines CC. For example he’ll take off the top of Patti’s beer very carefully and gently blows the froth off but just shoves another bottle at CC. He often shakes a bottle of beer and sprays part of the audience. Tonight he threw the bottle to someone near the front but I doubt that much was in the bottle if they caught it! On previous tours when they play this song, they’ve had all the band gather around Kasim when he plays the part that emphasises the bass but on this tour they all stand in their usual places and usually Kasim’s bass can be clearly heard. Tonight I was all ready to video this part but unfortunately Patti and Meat Loaf’s vocals were loud (or Kasim’s bass was quieter) so the video didn’t come out as well as I’d hoped. (It’s below in the video section.)
 Generally the sound (at least where I was sitting) was excellent, probably the best I’ve heard on this tour so far but that may have been because I was further back where the sound is supposed to be the best. Kasim said at the beginning of the tour that the whole set has a storyline which I’ve never really understood but this part of the set I can understand because after DeadRinger, CC then makes her play for Meat Loaf by singing 45 Seconds Of Ecstasy. As the tour has continued this song has got more explicit but it is fun to watch.
 CC and Meat Loaf then sing Amnesty Is Granted together. In the musical part of the song CC goes across to the icebox and takes out another beer which she then makes a big play of ignoring Meat Loaf and giving the beer to Randy. Tonight was one of the better versions of Amnesty that I’ve heard on this tour as far more of the words were clearer.
 The end of the part of the storyline that I can understand ends with Patti Russo singing her song Bible And A Beer (with Meat Loaf just standing on stage) before they all sing Blind As A Bat. That’s a song from Bat 3 that I really like but once again tonight Meat Loaf sang a quite unique version of the song with several lines in the wrong places! There’s one part of this song when Meat Loaf always goes and sits on the drum riser (opposite Patti) for a couple of lines – I’m not sure quite why he always does that (other than if it’s so he can have a good look at Kasim’s bum at that part!!!).
 We then had Dissentience (the band instrumental) which was just brilliant again tonight although once again it was only Kasim that moved much around the stage (admittedly John, Mark and Dave can’t!) as both Paul and Randy just stood on their respective sides of the stage. I do wonder though if there's a fan of Protest The Hero in the band who suggested this tune! Meat Loaf then came back on stage with his wig on and they sang Paradise By The Dashboard Light. Before they started the song Meat Loaf introduced the band (and CC) and called Kasim the second biggest sex god on the stage! (Meat Loaf always jokes that he’s the biggest sex god himself!) Tonight’s version of Paradise didn’t contain much chat in it (which I much prefer). It may be because Meat Loaf isn’t sure how much English most Germans understand (he’s mentioned that a few times in the past on stage) or it may have been in order to fit all the songs in tonight. Either way it suited me just fine!
 We then had a great surprise for me as I heard the beginning bars of Rock’n’Roll Dreams starting! After they’d dropped it at the Blickling Hall concert I had a horrible feeling that they wouldn’t play that song again on this tour but thankfully it was back in the set again! The best part for me was the background vocals at the beginning! I’d noticed that before the end of Paradise CC had left the stage to get changed so it meant that at the beginning of Rock’n’Roll Dreams for part of the intro, Kasim was singing both parts by himself which was just brilliant! This was a great rocking version of Rock’n’Roll Dreams again tonight, including a long sax solo by Dave Luther (that the German audience didn’t need to be told to applaud!). A funny thing happened during the song as I could see that Meat Loaf was grabbing his midriff area and he went towards the desk at the side of the stage. After the song he explained that one of his suspenders (what we call braces in UK) had broken and that his trousers were falling down! (I spoke to someone at the front later and was told that only his stomach was on display!) Kasim obviously found all of this hilarious!
 They then played the first recorded line of the Red Rose speech before Meat Loaf interrupted it to ask Patti something among the lines of asking her if she’d fancy someone whose trousers were falling down! She replied with the I bet you say that to all the girls line! They then went straight into the chorus of You Took The Words Right Outta My Mouth which they sang five or six times before the crowd started singing it. We then went back to the original set list with Anything For Love. Unfortunately this is the song that Meat Loaf really struggles with at the beginning as he sings a slow version but other than that his voice was good tonight. This is one of the songs where German audiences really show up British ones as people were clapping and singing along to the whole song!
 Bat Out Of Hell was next and again it was the audience that made the song as much as those on stage as, from where I was sitting, almost all the people standing at the front of the stage (and the people sitting) were clapping along every chorus! That must give those on stage such a buzz to see that!
 They then went almost straight into Roadhouse Blues (complete with the inflatable dolls) followed by Why Don't We Do It In The Road? Although they are both cover songs the people still seemed to be clapping along to those songs.
 Next they left the stage (briefly) before they came back and Meat Loaf asked us if we actually wanted an encore! Of course the audience roared that they did so he teased us again by saying that he thought encores were passé (an American using a French word in Germany!) but he would play another song if we wanted it! Of course that got a massive reaction again so they played Mercury Blues. Meat Loaf played guitar for part of this song. Kasim was all over the stage again in that song which is lovely to watch! (Kasim used his black KSulton bass throughout the whole concert tonight.)
 It was then just time for the band bow before they all left the stage about 2 hours 10 minutes after the concert had started.
 I go to a lot of concerts and I’ve certainly been to more Meat Loaf concerts than most fans have so it’s rare for me to get a big buzz after a concert but I certainly did after tonight’s gig and it’s made me look forward to the remaining concerts on the tour! I then went for a drink with a couple of friends (and tried to convince them that Meat Loaf may have lost some weight but he can not be described as "skinny"!) before the 5 hour drive back to Calais and an earlier ferry than I had intended so I managed to get to bed at 7.00am. For some reason my car was chosen by Customs to be searched at Dover and when they asked why I had been abroad, I was quite impressed that the guy knew that Meat Loaf was playing a gig at ExCel in a couple of weeks!
Videoclips
Click here for the 9 second clip of Meat Loaf introducing Kasim Sulton on stage (unfortunately without the sex god part).
Click here for a 20 second clip of Amything For Love. I mainly took this clip to show the audience's reaction but I couldn't resist on panning up to Kasim too! Unfortunately my camera isn't good enough to fully appreciate the sound on stage.
Click here and here for clips of the audience's reaction at the end of Bat Out Of Hell.
Other websites:
MLUKFC.com has a thread of reviews and (sometimes) photos of this gig here.
Comments posted by fans on mailing lists and messageboards include:
The venue (taken from the KasimInfo.com Blog that day):
Tickets for this General Admission gig are Euros 48.10 (about $50) plus charges. There are also Meet and Greet packages available for an additional $300. (When I ordered my tickets I received an e-mail in English to say that if DHL could not deliver the tickets they would be returned as "Tickets lose value and detoriate"!)
The concert starts at 8.00pm (2.00pm in New York City).
Meat Loaf 2008 Casa De Carne Tour
All Rights Reserved |
Tonight Kasim Sulton plays the 10th gig of