It was a really light hearted concert tonight! Yesterday was a public holiday in Belgium and lots of people seem to have taken today off too so the venue was really packed. It was probably the most packed of the concerts so far and the crowd was certainly the rowdiest. At the beginning, there were a few times when they swayed and I almost lost my feet - a couple of people fainted and were pulled out too!

As I made my way to only about ten foot from the stage(!) during the interval, I was unable to take any photos tonight as I didn’t want to risk being shouted at by security again! Kasim was wearing all black but it was his velvety shirt tonight.

Both Meat Loaf and the whole concert was the same set list as last night, with John Miles and Marco Borsato being the hits of the first half. Unfortunately Martin Fry (“the voice of ABC”) only receives a lukewarm reception. John Miles starts his set by singing ELO’s Mister Blue Sky which gets the whole crowd clapping and then he sings his Music (Was My First Love) as the place erupts! Apparently that song wasn’t much of a hit in US but it was MASSIVE in Europe in the late 70s! It only has a few words (Music was my first love and it will be my last; Music of the future and music of the past; To live without my music would be impossible to do; Cos in this world of trouble my music pulls me through) but they’re sung three times with stirring music in between which is perfect for a large orchestra production.

Meat Loaf’s set starts with the orchestra playing the intro to Home By Now. Kasim leads the band onto the stage (Meat comes on last) and Kasim always receives a cheer - I’m not sure if it’s because they see his guitar or whether they recognise Meat’s music (or if it’s because it’s Kasim!). Usually people sing along to the No Matter What part of the song. Someone asked me if they use a backing tape for that song (as it’s so similar to the album version) but the choir were definitely singing along. Kasim makes some great faces as he sings that song!

Next we had You Took The Words Right Outta My Mouth and that song is getting longer each night! Meat Loaf did his ad-libbing part for even longer tonight. Kasim, Patti and Pearl sing very quietly at that point and, as Meat went on for some long, they were almost whispering it! Unfortunately the band didn’t do the clapping at the front of the stage tonight. There were actually a few problems during that song as Meat’s microphone wasn’t working properly and then the sound in their earpieces was obviously not correct either.

The intro into Anything For Love always receives a massive cheer and people know it well enough to sing along to. During the “screwing around” part of that song, the last couple of nights, Kasim has stood chatting to the guitarist from John Miles’ Electric Band, Laurie Wisefield, who plays lead guitar for them (he only joins them at the front of the stage for Paradise).

As they play the looooong intro into Paradise By The Dashboard Light (Meat is spotlighting Laurie Wisefield and then Mark Alexander on the piano), Kasim wandered over and spoke to the guy on the double bass for quite a while. He came back to the centre of the stage as Meat started to sing and then he obviously realised that Meat was singing the second verse instead of the first! It took quite a while for Meat to get all of the orchestra to stop playing in order for him to start singing it correctly!

Again tonight Kasim went and stood by the soundboard so that they started the baseball commentary part at the right time! Kasim certainly racks up some mileage on the stage but personally I think it’s a shame as it means that he’s out of the spotlight a lot!

Tonight was probably the best version of Yellow Submarine that I’ve heard so far on the tour but that’s because the lead singer from Rolls Royce gave Kasim her microphone so he was singing clearly though it too! During the song, Meat Loaf went into the orchestra and played one of the violins for a while!

Roll on tomorrow night!

Back to Kasim Sulton at Night Of The Proms