Who remembers Victor Borge...anyone? He was considered the absolute best at musical comedy in his day. I may have seen competition for the title with last night's Meat Loaf and Friends concert. Not only was there great music (which incidentally tops Victor), but the whole show was just plain fun.

Well, after much deliberation I'm trying to put this incredible experience into words.

Cedar Rapids seems to have very enthusiatic Meat Loaf fans. Which was obvious as we were waiting for the concert to start. Kasim came on for his opening set. The house was mostly seated and there was very little talking, compared to some other venues. For a very enthusiatic ML crowd, I was impressed with how attentive they were to Kas.

He started with Sacrifice. Then Don't Hold Me Back followed by Before She Was Gone w/ John Miceli and Mark Alexander joining in. All from his new CD, Quid Pro Quo, which he said was for sale there, autographed and you could personalize it yourself by writing your name above. He got a pretty big laugh when he repeated the bit before the next song, like he hadn't just said that already. While you could have had impatient calls for ML, they loved it and laughed. Kas really grabbed the audience, I think he gained some new fans last night.

Patti came on next, with back-up from the band to start with Tie Your Mother Down. She joked she was once "Queen For a Day". The crowd loved it. She went on to perform Madeleine (I love that song) and Just Not Enough, her own compositions. Patti got the crowd really jazzed up for Meat's appearance.

Then...after a short pause, Meat was at the sound board talking, he came on to a very well warmed up crowd. From what I've seen of this years tour, Meat would work the crowd into a frenzy. Well, they were already there. He turned it into a competition between the two sides of the theater. The right side won!

As they started Life is a Lemon, the band members appeared one-at-time, but this time Kas did the most awesome bass solo along with the drumming. Then Mercury Blues, Lawyers Guns and Money, Tear Me Down, All Revved Up and Anything For Love. Meat was in fine voice and really put on a great performance during these songs.

Paradise began with the usual intro, then John Miceli did an excellent drum solo. The next thing you know, Meat popped up behind John and dumped a bottle of water on John and his drums. Guess he thought they needed to be cooled off! Paradise ended with the Reggae sound and was fun as usual.

The crew brought out the stools for the acoustic portion of the show and things really started to get comedic. Meat was in rare form and was truly enjoying himself. Before the band was introduced Meat mentioned he will be shooting a video next week and that he has a new CD coming out called Couldn't Have Said It Better. Meat also mentioned Testify was nothing more than a red herring and he did that on purpose.

Meat introduced the band next and was quite funny. Kasim was introduced as Frank O'Hare. When it came to Mark Alexander, the piano was missing because it couldn't fit on the stage. So Mark had to go back to the keyboards. Meat then introduced Damon LaScot and made a comment on Damon's sexy shirt, then he asked him to take it off, but changed his mind when he figured out how great Damon looks. When John Micheli was introduced, he started to take off his shirt, the crowd loved it but Meat had no clue he did it. When Patti was introduced, she flashed a little skin and finally Meat figured out what was going on.

We were then treated to the chorus of the title track from the new CD, Couldn't Have Said It Better. From what I saw, it is a duet with Patti and it sounded very promising. Of course Meat messed up the lyrics and had to ask Patti what they were!

2 Out of 3 was next and Meat introduced it by babbling about how he still doesn't understand the lyrics even though he has been singing it forever. Then he mentioned how Pearl has to think her father is out of his mind and that she must be very embarrassed.

Meat then announced he had broken his toe and was on pain killers. He then announced "I'm very happy, Whoo Hoo". This lead up to the song Mony Mony, after some very funny banter with the crowd.

Meat asked Pearl to sing Guilty, and it was a very moving performance. You could tell Meat was totally broken up by it. Pearl received a standing ovation from the entire house.

You Took the Words Right Out Of My Mouth was very impromptu. During the beginning dialogue when the line about starving was done, Meat launched into a bluesy rendition on food. No kidding. He sang about strawberrry shortcake, fried okra and SPAM, with Patti joining in. That was really something special to see.

Bat Out of Hell ended the show and really rocked. After Bat, Meat announced let's just skip the part about us leaving the stage and you yelling and screaming, let's just do the song! The band then launched into Run Run Rudolph, but they couldn't remember all of the lyrics so Kas went back stage and grabbed sheets with the words for Meat and Patti!

All in all, a very funny, moving and enjoyable show. I hope the band has recovered from all the abuse they endured as no one was immune to Meat's antics! Meat was definitely in fine voice and VERY entertaining.

Click here to hear an MP3 of Kasim's bass playing at the start of Life Is A Lemon

Back to Kasim Sulton's Meat Loaf Winter 2002 / 2003 Tour