Set List:
Warrior
Whore
Life Is A Lemon
Black Betty
DeadRinger For Love
Out Of The Frying Pan (And Into The Fire)
You Took The Words Right Outta My Mouth
Only When I Feel
All Revved Up
Paradise By The Dashboard Light
Two Outta Three Ain't Bad
Anything For Love
Bat Out Of Hell
Mercury Blues
Comments by SueW:
I took loads of photos tonight so just a few comments rather than a review.
On the way into the venue I saw a T-shirt with Johnny Lives on it so I had this horrible sinking feeling that Kasim wouldn’t be opening after all and sadly I was correct. People who saw the whole band said that Johnny playing acoustically was better so I dread to think how bad the whole band was. He may have been called Johnny Lives but he certainly died on stage tonight. He was actually quite a good guitar player but unfortunately he seemed to think that he could sing too and he certainly couldn’t! Possibly it may have been better if he hadn’t had a microphone but as it was he shouted (not sung) into the mic and his songs all pretty much sounded the same….bad. It can’t be easy playing in front of an audience with just a voice and a guitar but Kasim does a brilliant job at it (with songs that all sound different too) and other than the fact that it was explained to me that an opening act like this would pay to play so it’s a way to make money, for the life of me, I can’t see why Kasim isn’t opening all these concerts. Johnny said that he had a day off in Clearwater tomorrow before he’s (unfortunately) opening in Orlando on Wednesday and asked for suggestions on what he should do. The suggestions I heard varied from taking singing lessons to taking the I95 north back to New York! It wasn’t just my view that he was bad either as several people walked out (especially when he said he had 2 more songs) and his largest cheer was when he said that it was his final song! After the concert I saw that just 5 people had joined his mailing list.
On the whole this was a great audience who stood when Meat Loaf came on stage and during the usual songs like Paradise By The Dashboard Light (and didn’t need to be encouraged to sing in You Took The Words) but I was shocked that they didn’t stand for Bat Out Of Hell!! There were a few pockets of people who did but most people keep their bums firmly on their seats! I hate sitting for that particular song so, as they reached the crescendo at the end, I nudged the girl next to me (who I did know anyway) and we both stood which meant that people around us did too and then the whole audience stood for the encore Mercury Blues.
Finally we had a venue where the temperature was comfortable enough to just wear a T-shirt!
Kasim seemed all over the stage again tonight which was great to see! He often moved over to talk to Paul Crook and tonight he again stood with Patti Russo (and shared her microphone) for Two Outta Three Ain’t Bad.
Meat Loaf messed up the words a bit in Only When I Feel as he only sang one line of the slow part after the fast part and usually it’s longer than that. I got the impression that he’d forgotten the words and the band started playing to cover for him. It’s interesting to note that despite this being the 40th concert of the tour, he still has the words to this song by his feet! He reads them too as if you watch his eyes you can see they go to each line before he sings it! He’s been making a joke at these concerts about how long it took them to think of the title Bat Out Of Hell III - it was seconds! He always stresses too that this song is called Only When I Feel (If It Ain’t Broke) with the emphasis on the parenthesises which he says that him and Jim Steinman are famous for using!
At the last few shows Meat Loaf has been raising Paul Crook’s right hand in the air when he plays the long note in Two Outta Three Ain’t Bad (he plays it for 2 or 3 minutes). He still has his left hand holding strings on his guitar, plus he’s using a foot pedal. Tonight as he was holding it, Meat Loaf got all the rest of the band except the keyboardist Mark Alexander to leave the stage while Paul held the note!
Kasim was introduced as Kasim “The Kid” Sulton again and CC was introduced as originally being from Clearwater! Meat Loaf made quite a thing about Paul dying his hair (and him denying it) so that he forgot to introduce John Miceli (the drummer). The light guy realised that he’d been omitted and lit him up but as he sits behind Meat Loaf he didn’t notice.
Meat Loaf seemed to be having a lot of fun on stage tonight. At the end of Paradise By The Dashboard Light, Kasim was just roaring with laughter at something. I couldn’t see what it was from where I was sitting but apparently it was because Meat Loaf was turning round and round on the floor of the stage!
I didn’t think that Meat Loaf’s voice was as good tonight as a couple of concerts ago but when he lacked in tone, he more than made up in energy.
Comments from messageboards and mailing lists about this concert wil be added soon
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