This was one of the better German audiences of the tour, partly because there was standing at the front. During the Dutch and Belgian shows, the compere says that it is a researched fact that people sing louder when they are standing than when seated so he gets both groups of people to sing and compares them before getting the standing people to sit and the seated to stand and does a comparison again. All I know is that, although my feet groan at standing for three or four hours, I far prefer the atmosphere at a standing show! Despite writing all that, tonight I had a seat but I managed to sneak into the standing area for the second half of the concert!

It was the same set list as at all the German concerts (although the rumours are that Chris de Burgh goes home tomorrow so I’m not sure what will happen at Cologne next week) but it really works well. The percussion guy, Patrick de Smeet, produced his Father Christmas hat and played the intro into Jingle Bells (surprisingly the crowd sang it in English!) before leading into The Look Of Love. Martin Fry had his black suit on tonight!

John Miles was great as always! It takes a very special song (like The One Sure Thing) to “get” to me but Music (Was My First Love) always does. Those 41 words have such a meaning to me and when John Miles is singing it with a whole orchestra behind him and most people (but not me!) have handheld lights, it’s an amazing experience! John Miles will often joke about how he wrote the song and tonight he reckoned that he wrote it while he was in a queue at Marks and Spencer (a UK chain store)! For the last time that the words are repeated, the whole orchestra stand up. I don’t quite know what Charles II did but John Miles grabbed his microphone off the stand and sang it right in his face whilst laughing!

Chris de Burgh was good tonight but predictable. His voice has improved tenfold since the start of his part of the tour and his banter is better but is still based on one script! He told the story last night and tonight of a girl he met, last night she was walking in Bremen and tonight he met her at a market in Dortmund! Chris de Burgh’s set must also contain the most sycophantic, corny, crawling statement ever……”tonight you sing like the angels”……yuck!

Laith Al-Deen sang and posed again tonight too.

After Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody, Kasim lead the band out! (Actually he only leads Meat Loaf and Mark Alexander out as John Miceli is already at his drum kit and Patti Russo and Pearl Aday appear on the other side of the stage.) In some ways I find it better not to be able to see Kasim too well in Home By Now / No Matter What so that I can concentrate on his great vocals! I always thought that HIS vocals come across far more strong than Patti and Pearl’s but after the show I was chatting to a German Meat Loaf fan who said that he has trouble distinguishing Kasim’s vocals from the group!

Kasim seems to have stopped doing the behind the back hand clapping trick (one thing I like about going to several shows is seeing how the set evolves) but I still like the You Took The Words Right Outta My Mouth part of the show as Kasim is well lit in it!

I think I’ll always associate Anything For Love with German audiences as UK crowds seem to just listen to it (and sing along) but it was In Germany in 1996 that I first saw a whole audience clap all the intro into the song! I was in line with the side of the stage tonight so I noticed that after Kasim has finished his singing part of the song, as usual he went and stood near Laurie Wisefield, but tonight they were having a really long chat - it was almost a shame to interrupt them to play Paradise!

Although Meat Loaf has stopped spotlighting John Miceli and then John Miles, the “chat up” part of Paradise By The Dashboard Light seems to just get longer and longer! I think that some of the complaints by the German fans is because of the length of this part of the song - personally my only complaint is if I’m positioned so that I can’t see Kasim inside the orchestra!

Tonight at the beginning of Yellow Submarine, Kasim stood behind John Miceli and put his arms around him (he must have long arms!) so that Kasim’s hands appeared to be John’s!

Roll on tomorrow night…..!

The Night of the Proms show in Dortmund, Germany was a wonderful experience. After having read several complaints from German audience members of previous shows on the Official German Proms Forum, I wasn't sure what to expect. The Dortmund crowd, however, seemed to love every minute of the show and it was easy to see why. Every performer onstage put out 110% to the crowd. I wish a show like this would come to America -- not only would it open many younger people to the world of Classical music (as it did me -- my only familiarity with the songs prior were mostly from cartoons!), it is really a fun and amazing experience to have! There are sing alongs, dancing everywhere possible, and great interaction between the artists and audience, making it one amazing night. In America, audiences, for the most part, sit and enjoy the show they're watching, which has it's nice qualities, but once you experience what it's like to watch a show in the middle of thousands of people all having such a great time and including you, whether you like it or not, it just isn't the same.

I'm not familiar with a few of the artists, but I'll try and replay something here. Martin Fry from ABC -- the only time I actually even realized I had heard him before, was during the Proms radio webcast, when he sang "When Smokey Sings." I remember the song was a hit in America back in the early 80's. I was about 14 then, and never liked the song then (I still don't care for it much!), but it was a bit more tolerable in this concert format. Tonight, I was not "treated" to his gold lame' suit, so I guess I should be thankful, or I might've wound up with a cracked photo lense from the light of it. Now, I've shot lots of dance pop acts, like Destiny's Child, Jessica Simpson, and Dream and it's quite hard, to say the least, to photograph people that are doing fast dance choreography, especially as they move all over the stage while doing it. But Martin was even harder to shoot, as he doesn't seem to want to stand in one spot for more then 30 seconds(and I think I'm grateful he didn't try to dance!)!

Laith Al Deen -- he holds a microphone in a really odd way, and well, he sort of struts around the stage more then actually walks it, almost like a rooster! His songs went down well with the crowd, and his fast songs were kind of catchy in a way.

Chris de Burgh - Like Sue has stated, he really milks the applause out of the audience. His performance was nice, and he sang really well, but his set was set in stone, on what he would do and where he will stand at certain times and such. We had to be cleared out of the pit area immediately after his first song, as during his second song, he comes down into it to shake hands and sing with the crowd. Everyone loved it. I think a major part of the Proms shows is that the artists really try to interact a lot with the crowd and include them in as much as they can. Which really does make it a fun and rowdy environment. During his first song, Lady in Red, four of the orchestra got up and slow danced. Charles the II, as Sue calls him, is quite funny to watch during most of the entire show, but he's especially amusing when he gets up to dance -- this time his partner was a wigged out lady (or was it a man??) with a feather boa and glasses. You had to be there to see that scene!

John Miles was good, his first song apparently is a cover, but he does perform it really well, and Fine Fleur have a spot in it as well. Everyone goes nuts when he performs Music Was My First Love (apparently it's popular, but I never heard it before the shows), I swear I think it only has two basic verses, but it really is done well. At the end of Music, Charles II and another violinist or two got up from their seats and played to John at his piano -- from the look on his face, it seemed to be something new, and he got up from his piano and goofed around with them a little.

Now onto the best part of the show.....Kasim!! Oh, yeah that's right he was onstage with some guy named Loaf, I think :) ! Kidding!

The set list is the same as it has been. Home by Now/No Matter What was the first; Patti and Pearl to the right of Meat and Kasim and Mark to his left. This was the first time I saw Mark with his blonde hair (in person) and it took a little to get used to! They do such a wonderful job with the backing vocals for this song, Kasim has some nice spots in the song, where it's briefly just him, and he really sounds great! Pearl is improving with her onstage work more and more. Granted, she doesn't get to move around the stage, but she doesn't seem as shy as she used to and does try and smile out at the audience at times. Her voice has improved too. I can't believe it, but Patti has gotten even more stage presence and a stronger voice then she had before, and I always thought she was a wonderful performer before, but now, Wow! Oh yeah, and where was John in all of this?? At the time, I actually couldn't see him at all from the pit area; he was back in front of Fine Fleur, and I could hardly see them from where I was, unless I was stretching as high as I could. If he was the only drummer during Meat's set, and I do believe he was, he too sounded great as always.

Took the Words sounded wonderful -- It has a slightly different sound to it from prior performances, especially in the middle when they start reciting the first part of the chorus over and over, while Meat runs around-- Kasim, Patti and Pearl are harmonizing (quite well I must say), but at times, Patti could be heard slightly more, then at others Kasim could be; then when the orchestra and choir joins in, the sound is absolutely amazing with the combined talents of all involved.

Anything for Love wound up being the song we could shoot Meat during (I was told it would be different before I left). Meat paces the stage like a caged lion almost, and all the photographers would try and follow him to each side that he'd go to (or start to go to); actually it might have been a slight game for Meat -- these guys wound up running into each other quite a lot trying to follow him. I knew better and just decided to stay in one spot until he made his way to his mike (guess it's good I know his basic routine!). I know I'm mostly supposed to shoot the "star", and of course I got quite a few shots of Meat, but the other photographers seem to only focus on him (unless Patti was singing the song with him), and nothing more. So while everyone was shooting their 14th frame of Meat with his eyes shut, I'd also go around and try and get shots of Kasim and Mark, and Patti and Pearl. Yes, I'm quite partial to everyone onstage with Meat, but even in the other artists' sets, I would also take photos of, say the orchestra, or the backing singers, as I like to try and capture as much as I can. Maybe it's one of the reasons why I'm not yet successful with my photos yet! I'm trying though.

Anyway, it was so nice to see Kasim in his director role again; I don't know why, but I'm always happy to see him with the "big man behind the scenes" job, I guess it's because it's nice to watch him authoritate points in the songs to the others, and it's also nice to see how much they all, including sometimes the orchestra and the conductor, look to him to know what to do (he's got the power!); I always am so proud to watch him in his various roles, he's such an amazing person, friend and performer. Briefly about Paradise -- they're back to doing a sketch again during it, it basically is always the same, but there are very slight differences during the different shows. It was looooong! I think that song alone makes up most of the set. During that song, there is so much going on all at the same time, it's hard to keep track! Things happen in the Orchestra, Fine Fleur are dancing, Kasim wanders about, and Patti and Meat are doing their thing at the front. Then all too soon, the song is over and Meat and The Band are leaving.

The Orchestra and audience then sing Land of Hope and Glory (something new to me -- I've heard the instrumental of this song before, but I didn't know it had actual lyrics). They then introduce the artists again and Yellow Submarine is then sung. The artists have such a good time during this song, but when photographers are in the pit, they do seem to control themselves a little bit. Which is a shame, because seeing them all enjoying themselves and getting really goofy is really nice and is kind of contagious. Then the show came to an end!

Some side comments -- around Chris De Burgh's set, I saw Mark, Kasim and John at separate instances checking out the show from the side stage area/audience. Fine Fleur, when coming back from intermission, do their own line slap, like Meat does with the Orchestra. The lighting for the show really has some great colors and combinations, but then they also throw in a lot of white light which sometimes washes out everyone onstage and then even tends to overexagerate the nice colors as well. I really enjoyed myself at these shows, and thank goodness I have a few more to see!

Back to Kasim Sulton at Night Of The Proms