When I walked in, I noticed a STOOL at the centre front of the stage! Brilliant - Kasim will be opening! My seat was in the front row but at the far right (on Paul’s side of the stage). What they didn’t say was that it was actually a restricted view seat as, if I’d remained in my seat, I wouldn’t have been able to have seen Mark or CC at all! As I paid full price for the tickets, I did expect to see the full band!

The first place that I ever saw Kasim play was Wembley Arena. I suppose it’s my local venue and certainly it is London (and probably UK’s) most prestigious venue so to see Kasim play there was something that I thought I would only ever see in my dreams! Thankfully tonight my dream came true. Of course I’d prefer it if it was Kasim’s concert and his name was on the board outside but it’s a start.

Kasim was introduced and walked on stage at about 7.45pm. When the announcer just says that it’s “Kasim Sulton” I always get the impression that people are thinking “wtf? Where’s Meat Loaf?” and tonight as he walked on, nobody clapped for a few seconds (being a London audience I was worried that people might even start booing!) before he received what I believe they call a polite reception. Thankfully Kasim went straight into explaining that he plays for Meat Loaf (I am SURE that I hear sighs of acceptance always at that point) and that Meat Loaf sometimes says that he can play a few of his songs before Meat Loaf’s set. Kasim also always stresses that he’s only going to play a few songs!

This was the ninth time I’ve seen Kasim play an opening set at a Meat Loaf concert and this was by far his best performance in my humble opinion. Kasim’s voice tonight was just brilliant. He sounded very strong and exceptionally clear (probably as they haven’t played for 5 days). He certainly has one of the best voices there is.

Another added bonus tonight was that the cameramen and the guy who decided which shots to show on the big screens was just excellent! As I was over on the side, it was far easier for me to watch Kasim on the 10 foot(?) high screen in front of me and they didn’t miss a trick. They were showing one side of his face and then the other, then his hands on the guitar from the front and then from down the neck of the guitar. They also panned the shots across him and faded to the next shot which gave a lovely smooth feel to the presentation that suited Kasim’s music so well (for Meat Loaf’s set that did short cut-out shots).

Kasim’s first song was Don’t Hold Me Back and he sang it perfectly. He started it with his impressive (and loud) “I gave no promise or guarantee” beginning which is so effective. He sang a strong “strong” and then hit the next note perfectly. It’s strong beginning also always makes people sit up and listen right from the start!

Next Kasim mentioned Quid Pro Quo and then sang Before She Was Gone and sang it beautifully. Unfortunately there was only time for Kasim to sing one more song so he put his capo in place so I knew it was going to be Sacrifice. He then had a bit of a problem getting his guitar fully in tune (it probably only took about 10 seconds in total). That song went down really well with the crowd but I wonder how many people really listened to the words? It’s a great up-beat song but the words are very thought-provoking which is unusual for a fast song.

All too soon for me, it was time for Kasim to leave the stage …..to loads of applause and cheers.

For photos and a more detailed review of Kasim's opening set, click here.)

After about 10-15 minutes, Meat Loaf came on stage and most people in my block stood up and we moved nearer to the front but some little dictators disguised as security guys sent lots of people back - there was only 2 rows of being standing up and we weren’t blocking the aisle! It was so different from the NEC when we were TOLD to stand at the barrier! When I looked across almost all the middle block were sitting all the time! They never did stand up.

We had the usual Wasted Youth speech into Do It which is a dramatic start to the evening. The first proper song is Life Is A Lemon and tonight it was a good but shorter performance as Meat Loaf didn’t do his guitar competition bit with Paul and Randy for very long. Certainly when Patti and CC come to the front of the stage and trade vocals for the “What about” lines, it seems far more slicker than when I saw them first do it at Halle.

After Mercury Blues and Lawyers, Guns and Money, they sang DeadRinger For Love. The introduction into that song seems to get longer and longer as first Meat Loaf tries to pick up CC and the Patti. My favourite part of that song is still the bit in the middle where Kasim, CC, Randy and Paul all stand by the drums and they emphasis Kasim’s bass playing which is just brilliant. Often throughout the concert, Meat will highlight both Randy and Paul’s guitar playing so it is good to see Kasim getting his time in the spotlight. As Kasim can’t get back to his microphone in time for the next line, he’s started sharing CC’s microphone for those couple of lines.

They then went into the long intro into All Revved Up and I was still naively thinking that everything was fine. Later my friends told me that throughout all the concert, Meat Loaf’s voice wasn’t as strong as normal and they all said that he looked very drawn on stage. (I was concentrating on how good Kasim looked and sounded!)

At the end of All Revved Up, Meat Loaf had finished singing (the girls and Kasim were finishing their lines) and he walked behind the girls who were at the front of the stage and sat down heavy on his bum and then went flat onto his back. He didn’t drop like a sack of potatoes but sat first which made me think that he felt faint first. They blackened the lights and Kasim dashed over to him. He just ripped off his bass and let it almost fall to the ground so that it clanged through the speakers! He then yelled at the rest of the band to play something. I could see Kasim shouting and nobody much was doing anything! Patti soon moved to them but CC was just doing something to her hair! I appreciate that she’s not a paramedic but honestly….!

Some guys came on stage and surrounded him. Apparently he was given oxygen but I didn’t see that. I could hear Kasim shouting at John and Mark to play something….I can’t tell you what they did play. All the fans around me were (understandably) “oohing” and looked worried. After a few minutes, he got up and started Testify. As soon as he started singing, he received a round of applause. He sounded okay in Testify and Kasim sings a lot of that song so obviously I was concentrating on him but even I could see that Meat Loaf was just walking (lumbering) around the stage and didn’t have much energy. Afte the concert, loads of fans remarked on how much Kasim “carried” Meat Loaf through that song.

They then changed the lights to the Rock ‘n’ Roll Dreams lighting and the band started playing the intro. After a few minutes they switched to the beginning of Anything For Love. I’m pretty sure that this was all pre-arranged as it was just to give Meat Loaf longer to change his clothes as he didn’t have enough time last week. Certainly CC wasn’t on stage at this point and she starts the singing in that song.

Meat Loaf sat down beside Mark for the intro to Anything For Love (as he always does). As this was almost out of my view, I switched places with a friend so that she could see him (Kasim was off stage then) so I did actually listen to Meat Loaf at this point! His voice sounded strong to me (and others I asked later). That was why I was so surprised that he chose that point to get up and walk to the front of the stage and said that he was going to stop the concert as he couldn’t continue.

Almost everyone was silent around me and in the hall as he walked off stage. We just stood around (they didn’t bring up the house lights at first). One friend was the first to move and just said goodbye - I could see that she was upset. Later it was obvious that some of our clan had been crying. After about 5 minutes, over the tannoy they asked us to leave but the security guys were quite sensitive about it all.

In all, Meat Loaf was on stage for a couple of minutes under an hour.

Many thanks to Frank Ciapanna for all the photos on this page.

Click here for more photos from this concert.