It was a very friendly crowd with no pushing although by the end of the evening, after standing for five hours, my feet really ached! The tickets again said “no cameras” so I smuggled my camera in (which made it very difficult to walk!) only to find that some of those disposable cameras were actually being sold in the venue! A nice touch I saw was that some people were handing their cameras to people closer to the front to take photos and then they were handed back!

All the time that we were standing there they were setting up the equipment for the support group (The Real People) - I’ve never seen a band take so long to set up! They played the same set as yesterday (I think) which lasted half an hour (but seemed far longer again!).

After their roadies had removed all their equipment from the stage, they then set up ready for Meat Loaf and I was devastated to see that no stool or acoustic guitar was put out!

At about 8.30pm Patti took the stage with the rest of the band for her set. She played the same three songs as last night and Kasim wore his camel coloured jacket over his jumper for the set!

Kasim during Patti Russo's set

About two minutes after they left the stage, the drum tape started and Meat Loaf walked out and started his pacing which really whipped up the crowd! After he’d bashed the drums a few times at strategic intervals, they started the music to Life Is A Lemon and then Kasim made his dramatic entrance on stage wearing a black jumper and trousers.

They played the same set list as last night with the (unwelcome) addition of DeadRinger For Love again (I had great fun explaining what a “DeadRinger” was to a Dutch lady there - “I know “dead” and I know “ringer” but it doesn’t make any sense!”) until they got the stools out and sang Two Outta Three Ain't Bad (the crowd really sang their part loudly tonight!).

Meat Loaf (who already had some bras tied onto his microphone stand) then said that they were going to sing a song that had been released in UK, I’d Lie For You (And That’s The Truth). They started it and got further than they did last night but it was obvious that they hadn’t even ever rehearsed it as Kasim had to tell the new guy, John Golden, the notes (“A…D Minor….C”)! Meat Loaf then decided that he’d heard some 15 year old girl at the front request Mony Mony which John Golden (“who is older than all of us”!) sang! Meat Loaf also told us that it was his birthday tomorrow (it isn’t!) so spontaneously the audience sang Happy Birthday to him!

Next Meat Loaf, as it is his birthday tomorrow, asked Pearl to sing a song so she sang a slow blues song. They then went into the Red Rose speech and You Took The Words Right Outta My Mouth before their great Bat Out Of Hell!

After the band bow, they left the stage but the audience kept applauding so Meat Loaf came back on and they all sang Johnny Be Good (“only the second time in 15 years that I’ve come back on stage after Bat Out OF Hell”!) before leaving the stage again to massive applause!

Roll on Dublin on Saturday….!

Millennium Sqaure in Leeds is pretty much slap bang in the centre of the city, one side is bounded by the Civic Hall, another by the Leeds General Infirmary, for an outdoor venue it's a strange place, but fair play to Leeds City Council for hosting the event, otherwise we wouldn't have had the chance to see Meat in Yorkshire again.

As outdoor venues go, it's pretty small really, holding a maximum of 6,000 people, and it was pretty close to capacity, even though Ticketmaster still had tickets on sale the day before. Thankfully the Yorkshire weather held firm, so it was clear skies and setting sun over Leeds, which if you know the area can make a pleasant change.

About 7.30 the support act came on stage "The Real People" who were average in a Beatlesy kind of way, nothing special, but then again I've heard worse. The Real People were incidentally well received by the crowd, which in my experience was a bit of a surprise, Meat Loaf concert crowds can be a little hostile or cold towards unknown support acts.

After the support act it was the usual flurry of activity on stage as roadies earned their wages by wandering around and banging drums and saying "One two" now and again, time for a slow edge through the crowd towards the front of the stage.

Around about 8.30 Patti came on stage, with the band and proceeded to give a rocking version of the Queen standard Tie Your Mother Down, and then two or three of her own songs, again very well received and a much better warm up for the main event than the previous band. I was disappointed not to get to see Kasim's solo spot, as I've heard so much about him as a performer. (Maybe that will be redressed in Liverpool?).

Just before 9 Meat appears on stage, dressed all in black, clutching a drumstick, he looked bemused as he stood on stage and looked at the audience. Pretty soon he'd whipped the crowd into a frenzy as he prowled back and forth, cajoling the screams and applause and hitting the drum centre stage. After about 5 minutes the band appeared again, and slowly the opening to Life Is A Lemon became clear through the screams.

The first 3 and a half numbers sounded truly dreadful to me, the sound was distorted and Meat really didn't sound in top form at all. This ruined Life Is A Lemon, (one of my current faves) and spoiled the first hearing of Crazy About A Mercury.

I'd have happily swapped Lawyers, Guns and Money for any other song of Meat's (a recurring theme in fact, but more of that later). It's a good song, but it's not on of his! Eventually during Tear me Down the sound board op finally either turned up, or got his act together and the whole sound balance was sorted out. OK so it can't be easy to run the sound on an outdoor concert in the middle of a busy city centre with the inner city ring road no more than 30 feet from the speakers, but I reckon even my dog could have done a better job of the opening numbers.

Deadringer For Love followed next, the same on stage formula that anyone who's seen Meat Loaf in concert will recognise, but it is one of the standards that these days no Loaf concert would be complete without really, even though I'd swap it for something else quite happily.

All Revved up followed, and finally Meat was sounding like being in the top form that everyone who's seen him so far this tour has claimed him to be in. John Golden and Damon on guitars amply filling in for the Saxophone that's on the original recorded version. After being All Revved Up Meat ripped into Anything For Love, it's hardly surprising that this song got the 2nd biggest reaction from the audience considering it's Meats most succesful record in the singles charts. Meat again worked the crowd incredibly during this, but to me stretched the song out a little too long. We were then treated to another concert standard, Paradise, followed by the appearance of the stools. After introducing the band and including a full on red neck Texan rant at some bloke in the qudience who made some lewd comment about Pearl. They launched into 2 out of 3, and then a brief snippet of I'd Lie For You, which to me was spoilt by the "staged" stoppage of the song and the over extended pre-amble into John Goldens, excellent rendition of Mony Mony. Pearl then got her chancein the spotlight with some Blues tune. Meat remained on his stool for You Took The Words.

Then the biggest audience reaction of the night as the opening chords of Bat were struck. It was the only song that everyone in the crown instantly recognised judging by the reactions. All the other songs were greeted with cheers that gradually built up as the crowd finally recognised the tune, Bat was instantaneous. In 17 years of seeing meat live, this was one of the best ever renditions of Bat Out of Hell I have seen him perform, when he wants to this man can really rock!!

The crowd got their wish with an encore, the Rock n roll classic Johnny B Goode, and then 2 hours after he'd come on stage, the concert was over.

A fantastic night, don't get me wrong, but I know I've been spoilt, I've been lucky I've seen many Meat Loaf shows over the years, and I'm always hoping for something a little more, something a little different. Meats on stage theatrics certainly work the crowd into a frenzy, and obviously give him recovery time and breathing space, but from a personal point of view I'd rather he cut it down a little and squeezed in another song or two.

I'd also like to see him change the set list a little bit, OK so the songs he performed are all brilliant, but consider the choice he has from his back catalogue? What about More Than You Deserve, For Crying Out Loud, Jumping The Gun, A Man and A Woman, Surfs Up, Out Of The Frying Pan, Everything Is Permitted???? The list is endless.

I loved every minute of Meats show, and am looking forward to the repeat next Tuesday, and I know that many people aren't as lucky as I am in terms of seeing Meat twice on a tour or even as many times in all, so they perhaps want to hear the classics, I guess I'm just being selfish - but I can't help that.

Back to Kasim Sulton's Meat Loaf Summer 2002 Tour