Review by SueW:
Tonight was rather a landmark concert for me as it was my 250th Meat Loaf show!! (I say show as I’ve included a few TV show tapings in that total.) By coincidence it was back at the Wembley Arena where I saw my first concert too.

Thankfully FanFire had done me proud again as I had a fourth row seat, in the middle block but the best part was that it was right in line with Kasim’s microphone – perfect! I bought my tickets as soon as the fan club presale started but adversely the lady sitting next to me said that she had bought her ticket from TicketMaster only a couple of weeks previously.

Although I thoroughly enjoyed the concert, it was a concert of several technical problems. As soon as Kasim walked on stage with the band for the abbreviated version of All Revved Up, he spent a while appearing to count (to 4) with John Micelli once they had started playing which I haven’t seen him do before. In Paradise By The Dashboard Light the middle screen didn't work initially. Another problem they had during that song was that there’s a part where Meat Loaf indicates with his hands for a recording of the word "light" to be played but tonight it was played very late so we could just hear Meat Loaf singing it (but not into the microphone as that was under his arm at the time!). Meat Loaf stopped the song and did it again and they played the recording perfectly. The final main technical problem I noticed was that at the beginning of It’s All Coming Back To Me Now, Marion Raven’s microphone wasn’t switched on. I was close enough to hear her sing naturally but obviously most people in the hall couldn’t hear her until they switched it on for the chorus part.

Kasim played his light colored KSulton Bass for the first set, switched to his black KSulton Bass for the second set and then switched back to his light colored KSulton Bass for the encore. Kasim wore his blue and white smocktop for the 1977 part of the concert, a black shirt for the remainder of the first set and then he changed to his velvety jacket and lilac shirt for the second set. He wore black trousers throughout the concert and he removed his jacket for the encore.

One disconcerting thing about the concert tonight was the security guards there as they were real jobsworths (a UK saying that comes from "it’s more than my job’s worth"). Over my Meat Loaf years people have complained about the security at Wembley and tonight the security guys in the aisle near me seemed quite reasonable but they never stopped pacing up and down the aisle! I was sitting in the end seat of the row so they were constantly in my peripheral vision. Considering this was generally probably a 30+ audience, I really didn’t see the call for it. They did stop a guy in my row from taking a video but security guards at other venues just sit at the front facing the audience and stop them like that rather than all this pacing. Consequently I didn’t take many photos tonight (I only took them during the encore).

Apart from Kasim’s bass playing and vocals there are lots of highlights in these concerts for me. One of the earliest ones each night is Out Of The Frying Pan (And Into The Fire). I think it’s such a great song anyway and they way they perform it live each night gives it an amazing lot of energy. Also the use of fire at parts in the song is SO impressive! It’s great listening to all the audience gasp with awe when that happens each night! Other highlights (IMHO) are Rock ‘n’ Roll Dreams, Bad For Good, Blind As A Bat and, of course, Bat Out Of Hell.

There are several parts during the concert where Kasim and Paul get together (they seem to have a good rapport on stage). Tonight Meat Loaf shouted out for CC to "kick Paul’s ass" when he was playing a long solo. She went over and punched him but really didn’t have too much beef behind her punch so Meat Loaf went over and almost knocked him flying when he did it!

Tonight Meat Loaf’s little chat to the audience before Objects In The Rear View Mirror was quite touching as he said that if anyone had bet back in 2003 (when he collapsed on the stage here) that he wouldn’t still be around to be 59 years of age, that they would have had a good bet!

Tonight Meat Loaf also praised Aspen quite a bit as he told us that during Anything For Love his chewing gum flew out of his mouth but that she had kept singing. When he introduced her he also said that she didn’t stay at the front of the stage for long enough so he brought her back and introduced her again!

Unfortunately tonight they only had a two song encore (they omitted Mercury Blues). The chat had been slightly longer today but they didn’t seem to be over-running at all and, in fact, the concert finished at 10.50pm whereas the last two on this tour have finished at 11.00pm.

Roll on Wembley on Friday for Meat Loaf concert #251!

Meat Loaf Bat Out Of Hell III Tour