Well, I certainly complained when I saw the price of tickets for these two gigs ($75!) and the fact that it was maitre d’ seating but I thought that both shows were just brilliant gigs!

I started queuing at about 8.00 outside the venue and the queue was already around the corner. All of us “poor” non high rollers were seated in the back half of the room but, as it only seated about 1,100, we could still see fine. At other casino gigs that I’ve attended the high rollers often don’t seem to have a clue about who is playing so they only stay for a couple of songs but tonight I only saw one couple leave. Drinks were very expensive but it was great to catch up with some Meat Loaf fans that I met on the StoryTellers tour.

The show was supposed to have started at 10.00 so when they came on at 10.10, there was a real buzz of excitement in the air! The curtain lifted and they burst into All Revved Up with the long musical introduction that I much prefer. Everybody on stage was wearing black with Kasim in a nice tight jumper! It was great to see Mark Alexander back playing with Kasim again too!

They then kept the pace and frenzy level up high with Life Is A Lemon and Lawyers, Guns And Money! They played a shorter intro into Life Is A Lemon (more like the album version) than on previous tours. I did notice that once again they played the pre-recorded “oohs” in it! Unfortunately during the “What about faith” part of the song Meat Loaf’s microphone was cutting in and out constantly. Fortunately that meant that Kasim sang along with him (rather than there being gaps in the song) which was just brilliant for me to hear! Thankfully a sound guy swooped Meat’s microphone soon after that.

There was a slight cock-up in the “Ooh” part of Lawyers, Guns And Money which was amusing! They usually sing it four times round with Meat just singing “Ooh” the first time, the second time round Kasim sings “Ooh” and then Meat sings “Ooh”, the third time round it’s Pearl, Kasim and Meat and the fourth time Patti, Pearl, Kasim and Meat. Anyway tonight the first two rounds were fine but then Meat miscounted and sang “Ooh” when Kasim was singing it which meant that there was silence when it came to Meat’s turn!

They then slowed down the pace a bit to sing You Took The Words Right Outta My Mouth. Meat said that they were going to sing it in the original key that was on the Bat Out Of Hell album and that we should watch the girls (Patti Russo and Pearl Aday) to see how much they had to strain to sing it! What he didn’t mention though is that Kasim always sings a lot of the part that the girls sing too! Tonight when John Miceli started drumming in the song, Meat stopped him and told him to bash the drums harder - on previous occasions, Meat has picked him up for drumming too hard as it’s a gentle song!

We next had the duo part of the set with I'd Lie For You (And That's The Truth) and then Anything For Love. I KNOW that Anything For Love was the bigger hit but personally I far prefer I’d Lie For You and, as it was rarely played on the StoryTellers Tour, it was great to hear it again! The arrangement was the same as on the Greatest Hits Tour. Surprisingly when Patti sang the “screwing around” line in Anything For Love, Meat immediately sang the next line rather than pausing at all.

Paradise By The Dashboard Light was next. It’s not personally one of my favourites but it’s always a massive hit with the crowd. The acting out part wasn’t too long tonight with Meat and Patti just snogging through the Phil Rizzuto part and then when it came to the “praying for the end of time” part, Meat sang his lines in the middle of the stage so Patti joined in at the side and he kept telling her to stop. Eventually he went over and told her to stop as he was “emoting” and Patti got a big laugh by saying that she thought he was trying to get some ass!

They then all left the stage but soon returned for the wonderful Rock And Roll Dreams. Meat Loaf seemed to come in slightly early on this song as Pearl and Kasim had only sang two “Ahhs” before he started (they used to sing about six). I’m not sure if the lighting guy was the same as on previous tours but the lighting itself certainly was (which was great as it meant that I knew exactly when Kasim was likely to be lit up so I could take photos!). Either way it was a spectacular lightening display throughout the whole show, and through Rock And Roll Dreams in particular as the casino had a black backdrop with lights on it that they used to an amazing effect. As on the StoryTellers Tour, they extended the end of Rock And Roll Dreams so Ray Andersen came off his shelf and joined Kasim and Damon La Scott at the front of the stage!

Next they brought on some stools and sang You Took The Words Right Outta My Mouth with the audience singing the three lines on their own which was great to hear. The roadies then started to remove the stalls but Meat told them to bring them back as they played “Stump The Band”. This was previously done on the 1999 European Greatest Hits Tour and they only sang songs that they played back then but I tend to think that this wasn’t actually rehearsed as the band (especially Kasim!) all looked very surprised! The concert also played for considerably longer than was intended.

They started off with Honkey Tonk Woman but sang it with Patti singing the first verse and Kasim the second which was the opposite to how it was played in 1999. Next Meat got Pearl to sing Joan Jett’s I Love Rock And Roll but she had obviously forgotten the words so Kasim (who used to play with Joan Jett) stood behind her and whispered them to her! Next Meat introduced all of the band except that he forgot Patti for some reason! He asked Kasim if he wanted to be introduced second or last, Kasim said last so Meat introduced him second! Pearl was introduced last and then Meat got her to sing Mercedes Benz on her own. During that song Meat whispered something to Kasim who went around all the band telling them so they went straight back into I Love Rock And Roll before launching into the wonderful Bat Out Of Hell! This really got lots of the crowd up on their feet and it was just wonderful to hear it again! The arrangement was the same as on the most recent tours. And then the band left the stage after a great hour and three quarters show!

Although after last year’s Power Trio Tour, I said a few times that I prefer Kasim playing with Todd Rundgren to Meat Loaf, I was brought up listening to my brother playing Meat’s music so I really do know those songs well! It was also fascinating tonight to see how impressive Kasim was as the Musical Director - I’d forgotten that! He really worked his butt off (to use a US expression!) moving around the stage, counting the band into the songs and then finishing them all together. Afterwards I was talking to a guy who had only ever seen a Meat Loaf concert once before and even he remarked on how much Kasim kept the band playing well together!

$75 (plus taxes!) for a concert is a lot of money to me but I really felt that I got my money’s worth tonight!

Click here for a great review by Frank Ciapanna of these concerts

Click here for some great photos by Frank Ciapanna of this appearance

Video Clips
These files are quite large (they will take about five minutes each to download on a standard modem) but are well worth the wait!
Meat Loaf introducing Kasim Sulton
Two Outta Three Ain't Bad
Honkey Tonk Woman
Kasim whispering the words to Pearl and then singing I Love Rock And Roll

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