I’ve come to the conclusion that these concerts are 10 times better when I can actually see Kasim on stage! Thankfully I was seated in only the 4th row on Kasim’s side tonight so I had a great view!

By the time of Kasim’s opening set (about 7.45pm) everybody was already in their seats. Tonight after Kasim’s introduction, he bounced on stage and said his “Hello Sheffield!” before explaining that he plays bass in Meat Loaf’s band and that he will just be playing a few songs.

Kasim’s first song tonight was Sometimes Love Is A Dangerous Thing which sounded really good as there was a lot of echo in the speakers for that song which was very effective. Probably the one thing that most people at the concert won’t know is that SLIADT was originally written for Meat Loaf too!

Kasim next mentioned that it was coming up to Christmas and that in America there is an advert that mentions “Give the gift of music” which nicely lead to Kasim saying that we should give the “gift of Kasim music” and that Quid Pro Quo was available to purchase at the venue! Kasim then sang Don’t Hold Me Back from Quid Pro Quo (there didn’t seem to be so much of an echo on this song).

Kasim next spoke about Meat Loaf and his comment that “Meat Loaf is 100% better” received probably the loudest cheer of the whole evening!

Kasim’s final song tonight was his third version of Sacrifice in three concerts as, when he got to the guitar part, he stopped before singing his final chorus - I’ve not heard Kasim play Sacrifice this way before.

All too soon for me it was time for Kasim to leave the stage and we had the two videos before the stage blacked and we had the morbid opening of the concert.

There was a slight change in Do IT as they used the “flames” from Frying Pan but kept them as a white light (they are white coloured sheets anyway) so it looked like 4 white ghosts billowing at the back of the stage. They also have 4 masks on sticks that people wave around at the back of the stage which is effective too (I first saw one of those in Belfast last weekend and they seem to be reproducing!). I was watching tonight and all the three guitarists DO move around far less in this song than they did in say Plymouth (they also used to move their hands around at one point and they don’t do that either now).

There was a change in Life Is A Lemon too as after all the “What about…..” that Patti and CC sing, they both walked off stage and Meat Loaf made the comment about who were they as though they were a figment of his imagination.

When they started playing Mercury Blues at the concerts last year, I wasn’t too keen on the song but now it seems to have replaced Life Is A Lemon for being “the” rocking song at the concerts and the guitar “battle” seems to get longer and longer! When Meat Loaf gave both Randy and Paul the finger tonight, Paul ran off behind the drums so that Meat had to go from one side to another to get him! In fact I began to think that maybe they’d set up a snack stall behind the drums as Kasim seemed to spend quite a while round there tonight too (as did Meat Loaf too at one point)!

At the beginning of Testify, Randy plays some sort of blues guitar while Meat Loaf waffles on a bit (singing). Tonight Kasim obviously thought that he was going to do the Testify bit as he ran to a microphone but Meat Loaf kept on waffling for a while longer! I was a bit disappointed with Testify tonight as it’s not a duet any more because CC was singing the verses along with Kasim and Meat Loaf too. (Her voice is harsher than Kasim’s which sounds good to me on a song like Life Is A Lemon but I didn’t think that it gelled so well on Testify.) Meat Loaf dragged the new microphone stand to the centre of the stage (for the two of them to sing into) and then dragged it back again. There was also some debate after the concert about whether or not CC is actually playing the acoustic intro into the song! She’s certainly strumming in time but, as someone pointed out to me, she may not be actually playing the chords. Whichever way it was, again tonight, it wasn’t loud enough. Kasim always stands by her when she’s playing which makes me wonder if he’s on hand as she is actually playing it?

Tonight Meat Loaf totally missed a line near the end of All Revved Up but he just looked at Kasim and shrugged his shoulders. He then said at the beginning of You Took The Words Right Outta My Mouth that he was going to try to sing all the words to that song! One thing I noticed at the concert in Amsterdam earlier this year was that he gets the words wrong to the songs that he’s been singing for 20+ years but sings his new songs correct!

When they play the Red Rose speech at the beginning of You Took The Words, the cameras focus on Patti (who is usually looking upwards) but tonight during that part, Meat Loaf put on one of the Do It masks and lumbered around like a hunchback back calling out “Esmeralda!”! The crowd tonight started doing the clapping in this song without being prompted at all although the initial singing obviously disappointed Meat Loaf.

One of my favourite parts of Meat Loaf’s set is the Couldn’t Have Said It Better / Frying Pan section and most people around me seemed to really enjoy that tonight too. Meat Loaf changes Frying Pan each evening and tonight he made (allowed?) the band to sing a lot of “Fire”s which was great.

For some reason Randy’s guitar intro into I’d Lie For You was dreadful tonight! I’m not sure if the guitar wasn’t 100% in tune or whether he played a wrong note but there was definitely something not right! Meat Loaf even made him play it twice too. Meat Loaf has taken to commenting on the stools that he and Patti sit on for that song as Patti gets the taller stool (the one that Kasim uses in his opening set) and tonight he made the comment that he had the Queen Mother stool that she left for Prince William! He also joked that he has 56 guys working for him but he still has to move the props around the stage!

Next we had a VERY long musical interlude (mainly based on Randy’s acoustic guitar playing) and all the people around me didn’t have a clue what they were going to play! It was rather like All Revved Up in that it takes a while before they play the intro on the album. Eventually it became apparent that they were playing Two Outta Three Ain’t Bad and Meat Loaf said that it was the first time that they’ve played it in Europe. Unfortunately there were a couple of abortive starts as the first time Meat Loaf sang a couple of lines and then stopped and checked with Kasim that he was singing the first verse (he was but I have seen him start with the second verse on more than one occasion)! The second time Meat Loaf stopped because he couldn’t hear Mark’s piano playing through his earpiece. Near the end of this song, it was Kasim that got most of the audience to sing part of it which was lovely to see!

Next (unfortunately!) it was Paradise By The Dashboard Light and that silly “guess the animal” part. Just as they started that, Kasim was walking across the stage as he stands on Paul’s side for the musical part and Meat Loaf got him to stop in the middle of the stage and used him as a human microphone stand by shoving his microphone down the front of Kasim’s shirt as Meat was doing his silly rabbit impression! For such a talented musician that seemed like such an insult to him but Kasim just calmly stood there with a microphone sticking out of his shirt….I guess that after over 10 years of working for Meat Loaf, he’s probably used to this kind of usage! Earlier in the concert, Meat Loaf had asked Kasim about Michael Flattley and Riverdance! The thing a Musical Director has to cover….!

They had changed a couple of the introductions on the screens tonight and it was just lovely to watch both Kasim and Randy straining to read the words backwards through the screens and roaring with laughter! John Miceli’s was changed to something about him wanting a rich girl but that they had to prove it by leaving a wad of cash backstage and CC’s had changed slightly too. Kasim’s “ready for action” was the same.

Anything For Love and Bat Out Of Hell were just brilliant as always and then it was time for the band bow, the three Union Jacks to be displayed and then (sadly) time for Kasim to leave the stage!