Long Island is just that, a loooong Island of traffic. It takes me longer to get to a destination here then if I was traveling to NYC itself or cities north of it. So I allotted three hours to get there, and just about made it in time for a change. Once I arrived, they were not yet letting anyone upstairs so we were stuck waiting in the lobby. I managed to chat with a few people while waiting and there were two women there who declared themselves the only fans of Russell Watson's who would probably be there! They knew Russell's manager and when he came down, they found out seating wasn't going to be happening anywhere near the stage, that it was mostly a standing event, and that nothing would be going on afterwards as Meat was not sticking around. (it was Russell who didn't stay, as Meat and the band jammed a little after taping was done, more on that later). There were VIP seats and people with passes. John Miceli came down and not only had some guests who had to wait with everyone, he also had his whole lovely family with him. John Golden had a few guests there as well. VIP seats seemed to be somewhat like how they were for the VH-1 Hard Rock Live taping -- general admission were standing in front of the stage and the seated VIP's were seated on the outskirts; in this case, the second level of the club. The guards were also wondering why there didn't seem to be that many people showing up just yet, but I'd say later the crowd maybe reached around the hundredish mark, not bad considering this was only announced over the weekend. They also said taping would end around 10pm, which had me wondering since there were supposed to only be two songs recorded.

We were finally let in a little after 7.30pm. I made my way to the front of the stage, left hand side if you're looking at it -- that's becoming a habit, I don't know why :), right up to the barricade, it wasn't hard like I said, the crowd wasn't overwhelming. There were some young boys and their dad to my right a little ways back from the stage, and I turned and told them they should get right up front and enjoy themselves, they happily obliged as people were starting to crowd the area a little more. The four boys seemed in age range from, oh, about 12 to 18, and they all said this was their first Meat Loaf show and were really excited about being there.

I noticed Kasim backstage, the side opposite the sound board side, and he was at some computer, I guess doing last minute sound checks and all that sort of stuff -- he's so good at every aspect of his job. I'm always so impressed by even the littlest things, because hey, sometimes the things that no one really notices are actually the big important things that make the artist, band and everything come together as one and work well. Like I later wrote to someone, Kasim is the Turkish Taffy that holds it all together. He disappeared a few moments later. And I found out where not too long after. I was staring off into space and heard this loud 'ping' on the barricade directly where I stood. While looking down to see what hit, I saw someone from the sound board from the corner of my eye, throw something right towards me, and then quickly disappeared. The little bugger was already hurling picks! :) I tried not to act like I possibly knew what was just occurring, besides I was too late to even acknowledge it, but I did immediately think of the boys next to me, and told them that there were two picks on the ground and they should get them as they'd be cool to have. After begging a guard, they did just that, and i happily explained who the picks were from as they checked them out, and mentioned Kasim's website (how could i not, it was on the back of the pick itself!), and some of the people he's played with etc. (i only mention this pick hurling incident, as it really did make their day to get picks from Kasim, it was so cool to see!). Then just to get them a little more psyched then they already were, I let them know there would be chances all evening for them to get more picks from everyone and possibly drumsticks too if they were thrown as well. They managed to get a few more from John G. and Meat, I was as thrilled for them as they were!! Anyway.....

A little after 8, maybe close to 8.15 someone came out and announced how the evening would be. From the fact the drums were placed on stage, I figured there had to be more to the show then what was announced online and I'm glad I was correct, as the announcer said Meat and the band would come out and play a few songs to 'warm us up,' then do the two songs for the show and that would be it. So not even a few minutes later, The show starts with Lemon. It was so cool! The did a lot more musical intros. into it, Mark got some more piano time and Paul got some more guitar lead work too. Kasim did a great bass intro as well but didn't get to do any extra flourishes, which wasn't fair (in my opinion) but he jammed really well for a while with the guys nonetheless. There were a few more differences to the song too, but it could also be different to me sound wise because this was a TV taping, and to me it seems the sound gets piped into the speakers a little differently for TV, especially if you're in the front you'll notice this. But it also enabled me to hear a few things that I normally wouldn't have noticed, but we'll save those 'trade secrets' for another time.

Ooops, fashion check for those interested. Kasim was wearing beige shirt, black pants and goatee (some people don't like him with facial hair, I think he's a cutey facial hair, no hair or anything in between, but maybe its cause I also don't easily judge by looks, whether the person's a babe or not, and well we know what the case is in this scenario :) , but Mr. K is a babe inside and out!). Pearl was in black -- pants with a t-strap shirt that could almost pass for a dress on its own, cant recall what those types of shirts are called at the moment. John G., oh my bad, although I did look from time to time, I just cant seem to remember what he had on. John M. was in black too, the basics, pants and a shirt. Patti -- above knee black dress with fishnet stockings, knee length boots with a four or five inch heel (how can she dance in those suckers?! although when she was barefoot, later in the evening, she did move much more so maybe it wasn't super easy) and a long black and white jacket. Paul Crook, again the basic black ensemble but he went to a sleeveless T-shirt when taping started for some reason. Mark, cant recall anything other then he had some sort of sleeveless shirt on too (gotta show off the arms I guess!). Meat Loaf had on his usual black pants and satiny black shirt but also had on a flowered black vest over top which actually made him look a little better then what his usual black concert wardrobe does. OK back to the show.....

They then went right into Mercury Blues. Again, it seemed a little longer on the instrumental side to me, which believe me, I'm NOT complaining about in the slightest! Kasim did this whistle thingy right before the middle musical part where they all raise their hands and such. I'm pretty sure it was quickly in between Mercury Blues and All Revved up but Kasim went around to everyone in the band at one point, and i THINK it might have been to let them know what was coming up next, either song wise or that Meat was planning to talk soon possibly. Not sure. They then performed All Revved Up and it seemed to be the basic idea of the summer shows -- Meat hammed it up a little at the beginning trying to call a girl but it wasn't drawn out like it tended to be sometimes during the last tour. Some audience members did wonder what he was doing though.

Then, Meat talks to everyone and was actually pretty funny, even the tour manager Jason (don't ask me to spell his last name correct!) Raphaelian got into it a little bit. He was basically going on about what the show was and was leading up into a funny intro about Russell Watson, going on about how much younger he was then Meat and how he was even wearing a coat he wished he could wear if he was younger and more fit -- it was a long black leather trench coat, and i recall that Kasim already wore a coat like this back in 99 at the Rock and Roar for a Cure Benefit concert -- ahh, a man ahead of his time in the fashion world :) I say he could still pull it off today too. Russell is 29 according to Meat, but the woman from the audience who's a big fan yelled out that he was 36, and Meat told her to shut up because she was ruining his intro and that Russell told him at rehearsal he was 29. It was funny, hard to explain it though! She was laughing the whole time too!

Meat then explained how he and Russell were going to perform Couldn't Have Said It Better Myself but there was a catch to it, as its usually a duet he performs with Patti and he intro'd Patti. So there was a chuckle or two from the audience about that (guess they had visions of Russell taking over Patti's part of the duet), but at the same time, Meat explained they'd be performing it as a trio and one of them would 'win' Patti at the end and 'guess which one.' This song worked actually pretty well and Russell didn't sound bad or out of place at all on it. The only thing I found a little weird is near the end, when Meat was 'winning' Patti, Russell went back to stand near Pearl and then the four of them came to the front to sing the last couple of lines. Maybe it will make more sense for the show why Pearl came down front, but it seemed out of place to me at the time, it didn't look bad visually it just seemed a little odd she came down front all of a sudden.

Bat Out of Hell was performed next. It was a little different in that they hardly alternated lines much but sang it together at the same time for most of it. It was interesting to see though! I have to say although Russell sounded nice, he didn't fair as well with this song as he did with the newer song. Guess no one can do this song quite like Meat and the band can. Russell and Meat took turns at the end of the song doing the chest pounds in time to the ending drum/bass build up. Meat then said that Russell was really wanting a turn with the Rock star stuff and had practiced another song, and Russell broke into Hound Dog with the band backing him up all the way. Meat joined in on the song only for a small portion.

Then the show seemed to be over but after a couple of minutes, Meat came back out, said something to the effect that they needed to do CHSIBM over again but Russell was already gone, and as everyone but Patti had managed to come back onstage (and although people were yelling for Patti onstage), Meat didn't want to wait and was turning to Pearl and asking her if she knew the spoken word part to Took The Words and she looked stunned/puzzled, like either she didn't or she just didn't want to do that with her poppa, but right as he asked her the first question, Patti came out carrying her boots saying she thought the show was over. So barefoot and all, Meat started asking Patti the questions, and one time she replied with "Will he offer me his feet?" or something like that and so that made John M. start to get up and leave; and as Meat declared how John has this aversion to bare feet and doesn't like it if someone is shoeless on the bus, Patti starts chasing him off the stage while she's barefoot. It was pretty funny! So they get through the song finally and then break into Johnny B. Goode and Meat leaves the stage as the band continues to play. Oh, there actually were a couple of other Russell fans there, as a man in a suit behind me talked to his friend a few times throughout the night, and it was easy to tell who they were there for. But while the band still played on during Johnny B. Goode at the end, he declared to his friend how he really like Meat Loaf, that 'he didn't know they performed this well and were so tight and were such amazing musicians' (some people consider Meat Loaf to be like a band name and not just the singer's name). I smiled to myself when I heard that, cause well hey, its my opinion that yes the band IS amazing, but they're even moreso due to the direction of Kasim. Paul Crook looked to him all night long for cues, either that or he has a thing for the soundboard guy and couldn't take his eyes off him, haa! :) Kasim just knows Meat and the music so well, and is just on the ball in general, that he seems to just sense when its time to stop or start or extend a piece longer then planned, its really cool to watch. But I am really fascinated by the music and entertainment business in general as well.

And that was the end of the evening! I was really glad to see this taping, even though i was a little bummed to not be able to photograph it (I'm a photographer, and been trying to do some work for a few people), as it was visually stunning, not too much lights, everyone looked great and the scenarios and poses were in overdrive throughout the evening; but although my shooting it wasn't meant to be, of course I went nonetheless and had a great time; I am always amazed how well Meat Loaf and the band perform together and how wonderful they are onstage, so I would've had a great time regardless of shooting it or not! The BBC was recording with cameras for every song, so hopefully they were doing more then just test shots and such and will maybe consider releasing more of the evening's festivities then they originally planned. It was a great evening with what could have been a possibly odd scenario (Russell and Meat singing together), but I think it worked out pretty well. Do try and catch the show if you can!

[No transmission date as yet been announced for this show but it is likely to be April.]