Mohegan Sun
The concert tickets were obviously subsidised by the casino ($25!) but it also meant that the casino itself were given a large proportion of the tickets for their high rollers who were obviously not Meat Loaf fans - Meat asked a guy in the front row which song he wanted and he couldn't even name a Meat Loaf track!
As I got there early, I watched some of the soundcheck which was just great but ironically I thought that it was the sound itself that spoilt the concert a bit for me. Perhaps it was the casino's crap PA system (the concert was held in the 1,400 seater Bingo hall - population of Uncasville is only 1,500!) but often while Meat was talking it came across as though he was lisping and the background vocals never seemed to really blend in with Meat's vocals but were two distinct noises.
The concert was shorter than others as it only lasted two hours and thirty five minutes but we still had twelve songs but a bit less chat. Unfortunately this also included less instruction to the Paradise couple so they hardly kissed or cuddled!
Meat came on stage and announced (as usual) that Home by Now / No Matter What was his third favourite track but later somebody asked him what his actual fav was, he just replied that he was going to sing I'd Lie For You and his second favourite Rock and Roll Dreams - I didn't understand the logic of this other than he ensures that he sings these two tracks at every concert.
Later someone did ask for For Crying Out Loud so we did get to hear Meat's favourite track after all! He explained that it wasn't his favourite just because "my friend Jim Steinman" wrote it but because he thought it was the best love song ever written! I believe that Meat Loaf has sung For Crying Out Loud less than ten times in the last twenty years and I've been at all those concerts but tonight's has to have been the best performance of it that I've seen! Not only did Meat's voice sound really strong but there were more background vocals than other times and the song sounded so much stronger for it! It was pure magic!
One interesting point that came out during the concert was that Meat said that he was starting to film a new movie on 31st January 2000 and that the tour will end on 24th January (not 1st January as we all thought)!
The girls were in their evening dresses again. Meat wore a black tunic and trousers as he has all the tour and Kasim wore his painter's smock (I don't know how else to describe it but if you've seen it you'll know what I mean - he really does look great in it!) and black trousers, as he did in Newark. When Meat introduces the band, he always credits Ray with having been born in or living in that particular town so today he announced that Ray lived in Connecticut and followed it by introducing Kasim as a guy who wishes he could afford to live in Connecticut!
