After two great FREE concerts yesterday I was quite peeved at having to pay a full $70 (about £50 in proper money) to get in today! RockFest is an absolutely massive annual rock festival with people there already reserving their seats and camping sites for 2003! Meat Loaf reckoned that there were 25,000 people there but I'm not sure if that was over the four days or just today.
Unlike UK rock festivals there was very little drug taking there and very few drunks too. Lots of people were wearing necklaces of beads and one girl was dancing around and then asking those with necklaces if she could have them. Those that gave her theirs were rewarded with a flash of her boobs(!) but I was surprised that when she started talking to the people around me, she was totally sober and lucid!
As I wasn't sure whether Kasim would be playing an acoustic set there or not, I arrived at about 5.00pm when the temperature was 95 degrees - wonderful! Unfortunately though it soon clouded over and it started raining. By this time Cinderella were on stage and, just as they were singing a song about needing Shelter, the heavens opened in a massive downpour so that all but the hard core fans left the front of the stage to find shelter!
I wasn't too impressed with Cinderella but Poison played next and they were quite excellent - definitely a band I'd like to see again sometime! Unfortunately by the end of their set (at about 10.00pm) it began to cool down and, with being in wet clothes, I got quite chilly!
It was impossible for me to get anywhere near the front of the stage as that whole area was sealed off for people with four day VIP passes that cost $400! Instead, as soon as Poison left the stage, I moved up to the barrier that separated us commoners from the toffs so, although I was about 80 foot from the stage, I was as close as I could be. I also stood on Patti's side of the stage so that I could see Kasim when he went to the back of the stage the most clearly.
The recorded drumming track started at almost exactly 11.00pm and then Meat Loaf walked on stage. Again, I wondered what sort of a reaction he'd receive (as Poison fans aren’t his core audience) but they all seemed to enjoy the show and played along well!
Thankfully the cameraman showed lots of close-ups of Kasim on the large screens (well, he is the best looking guy on stage and, with the exception of Meat Loaf, he moves around more than the others) and tonight I knew to expect Kasim's dramatic entrance! Meat messed up in Life Is A Lemon as he sang Kasim's first "And I want" with Kasim so Kasim just sang the other two on his own - brilliant!
The Mercury song really is growing on me the more I hear it (loads of Kasim vocals!) but unfortunately Tear Me Down still leaves me cold. Again tonight Kasim spent too long talking with Damon during All Revved Up that he missed part of his singing!
After Anything For Love, I was getting all ready to take some photos of the large screens when Kasim came to the front of the stage in Rock And Roll Dreams but they omitted that song and went straight into Paradise By The Dashboard Light! During that song, Meat decided that we weren't singing loud enough and that it was because of the rain (it had started again by now) so, with a "f*%k the rain" he went out into the audience and sang there to prove that it could be done!
They omitted the stools but we next had probably the longest intro ever into Two Outta Three Ain't Bad as they must have played it for over ten minutes! Meat had spotted that some people were wearing those necklaces so he took a couple from some people. He then joked that we were to forget the necklaces as he wanted bras and panties on the stage so girls started throwing them on stage! It was very funny as he said that the record was 497 bras on a stage! He didn't quite beat that but he did get about 40 up there, with a 44DD being the largest! Considering how soaked through I was at this point I should think that most of the girls were pleased to be rid of the soaking things and the cameramen had great fun showing us close-ups of girls removing them! Although personally I would have preferred another song, it made an amusing diversion! Kasim and the rest of the band just stood there playing with bemused expressions on their faces!
After Bat Out Of Hell and the band bow, it was 12.45 before they left the stage....maybe it was worth £50 after all!
Roll on Hyde Park On Wednesday
Back to Kasim Sulton's Meat Loaf Summer 2002 Tour
