Review by Mike B:
Meat Loaf's Hair of the Dog Tour visited the University of New Hampshire's hockey arena on Sunday night of Labor Day weekend. Music director and bassist Kasim Sulton has put together a tight and talented band to back up the burly singer on this world tour, including singers Patti Russo and CC, guitarists Randy Flowers and Paul Crook, drummer John Miceli and keyboardist Mark Alexander.

This is the first appearance of Meat Loaf and company in New Hampshire since 2003 and since Meat Loaf's near-collapse on stage and hospitalization 2 years ago. None of that seems to have slowed him down, however his voice is showing more signs of depletion than 2 years ago, despite an easier schedule of shows, with nights off between concerts now. Luckily, Meat's stage presence, over-emoting, and the band's backup singing, choreography and the fantastic light show and stage set make up for his vocal issues.

The set list of songs has been mixed up since previous tours and arrangements have been changed on the old favorites to mix things up as well, and included some more obscure songs such as Dead Ringer for Love from his 1981 `Dead Ringer' album and a cover version of Black Betty (Bam-a-Lam).

One of the least-kept secrets in the music world is that Meat's next album will be called Bat Out of Hell 3 and it has finally been announced that it will be released in September of 2006. One song from that future CD was played, called Only When I Feel, another Jim Steinman-penned epic. Meat Loaf has suggested that after recording the CD next year he will do a limited world tour to support the release, but will not be doing any more 170-show tours such as his last World tour according to the tour program.

When asked if he gets sick of the Todd Rundgren-produced 1977 debut album Bat Out of Hell, Meat Loaf responded: ".there is so much quality, so much intrigue and so much passion inside those lyrics and that music that I could never get tired of singing it. It's a new moment every time I do it. I have Bat Out of Hell in my car and I listen to it there. It's magic."

Never one to disappoint his audiences, the final part of the Sunday night show included three of the biggest songs from that album, Paradise By The Dashboard Light, Two Out of 3 Ain't Bad and Bat Out of Hell, as well as the biggest hit from the 1993 Bat Out of Hell 2, I Would Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That). The night's only encore was a cover tune classic that Meat has been performing for a while, Mercury Blues.

The show was not a sell out, but the 2-3000 people at this show, a mix of middle-aged classic rock fans and younger college kids, had a fun time!

Other websites
According to this article 100% of the profits of TONIGHT's performance in Durham, NH will benefit the American Red Cross in its efforts to assist the residents of Louisiana and Mississippi who became victims of Hurricane Katrina.

"Speaking of the NLE....again, simply one of the best backing bands I have ever seen with ANYone! Its tremendous how Kasim, Mark and the rest of the gang manage to follow Meat...regardless of the direction he takes - mad props to those guys for their consistency and amazing musicianship!"

"During "You Took The Words" though, Meat did not have to chastise anyone for sitting...which was a first. However, he was not happy with the volume of the singing so he and the band walked off the stage. Needless to say, the crowd was ready to give it another shot and Kasim spoke up for us and told Meat to give us another go....much better the second time around I must say!"

Jo Milos has 95 photos of this concert. Click here to view them all. The best ones that feature Kasim are:
This photo is so close-up you can even see the hairs on his chest!
So close you can see the signature on his bass in this photo!
In the shadows

Back to Meat Loaf's Hair Of The Dog Tour