The concert was advertised as the support act Pearl Aday at 7.30pm, interval at 7.50pm and then Meat Loaf from 8.10pm until 10.50pm. However at about 7.45pm the recording of Meat Loaf’s voice came on to introduce CC Coletti! She played her set (I stayed out in the main crowd for that so that I could walk around a bit) but it was slightly different to the set she played in Dortmund as she only had Randy with her (on guitar and then keyboards) and she sang 6 songs. Her set was pleasant enough but it’s really not my sort of music and by about her third song people around me were chatting quite loudly which was quite rude. She did receive a good round of applause at the end but that was probably because her final words were that Meat Loaf would be out soon.

Kasim was doing his Johnny Cash impersonation tonight as he was dressed all in black (black shirt, black trousers and black boots). Kasim started the set with his brown and white bass and then from In The Land Of The Pigs onwards he switched to his black KSulton Bass. I had thought that his brown and white bass (which isn’t a KSulton Bass) was new but after looking at it close up, it’s obviously a well used guitar. It looks wooden and has a couple of chips out of it. The main difference between the two basses is that the brown and white one has five strings and the black KSulton bass has four. For some reason Kasim hardly ventured across to the right hand side of the stage at all tonight.

Meat Loaf was obviously having really great fun throughout all the concert tonight! Even before he started singing he was smiling at loads of the band which was nice to see. It was a fun show all the way and continued until 10.50pm so was well over 2 hours long. They even omitted Gimme Shelter which I assume was due to running late. During Break It, Meat Loaf was playing with his inflatable doll and at the end was almost playing peek-a-boo on either side of it with the audience!

Meat Loaf had a long and expletive-filled rant against The Sun newspaper tonight and that became a running theme of the concert. Meat Loaf apparently had decided that no newspaper photographers would be allowed at any of the UK concerts last week. The Manchester Evening News ran this story and then the national newspaper The Independent picked this up. Finally last Thursday or Friday The Sun ran with the story but added the reason that photographers had been banned was because Meat Loaf had “piled on the pounds” as they put it. The Sun is Britain’s biggest selling newspaper (circulation is about 8 million) but it’s also Britain’s most trashiest (it makes The National Enquirer looked sophisticated!) and it’s certainly not known for the accuracy of its reporting but rather what makes a good story. (Reporters from The Sun are known to snoop around a non-music messageboard that I frequent and have reported some rumours from fans as articles in their newspapers as facts!) Tonight Meat Loaf had heard that The Sun had said that he had recently put on 80 pounds (almost 6 stone) but he said that he wore 4 pairs of trousers at the concerts in May and the pair he was wearing tonight was one of them so he could still fit in them okay. (Later when he put on a jacket he also said that was a jacket that he wore in May too.) Meat Loaf then went on to say that he was going to all the UK newspapers with 5 pairs of scales and that if he weighed 22 stone he was going to pay The Sun £1 million but if he didn’t then they would have to pay him £5 million. I didn’t really understand that part as the version of the article I read was that it said that he used to weigh 22 stone (back in the 1970s) and I don’t see The Sun agreeing to that arrangement about the money! On the plus side this has generated more publicity for Meat Loaf’s concerts than any he received back in May.

Meat Loaf also said that somebody had apparently posted in a review that he was drinking shots through one of the concerts but he showed us the bottle and said that it was Cod Liver Oil. That used to be my mother’s benchmark that if we were sick enough to agree to be dosed with that then we were sick enough to stay off school so I don’t envy Meat Loaf having to drink that!

Out Of The Frying Pan (And Into The Fire) was just brilliant again tonight. They only used the projection of fire on the screens but it’s just such a wonderful song that it probably doesn’t need any more stage presentation.

When it came to the part of You Took The Words Right Outta My Mouth when the audience sing, the audience needed no encouragement as they were singing their hearts out right from the first bar! Meat Loaf walked back to the stage and got a stool which he sat on at the end of the centre projection listening to the crowd with a smile on his face! He then called out “Kasim” ! I thought he was going to get him to sing but instead he told Kasim to play bass along with the crowd which was brilliant to hear! He then brought Randy and Mark in too.

They’ve worked out a better stage presentation for DeadRinger For Love since Dortmund as tonight CC and Aspen came out with drinks and sat chatting and drinking on the left hand side speaker. Meat Loaf then pointed them out to Paul, Kasim and Randy before they started singing the song. At the end of the song CC starts to come onto Meat Loaf but he walks over to where the girls had left their cups and says that it is beer and that he can get a girl anytime but not free beer! (During the part when Kasim, Randy and Paul all play together and it emphasises Kasim’s bass, they all stood by Kasim’s microphone stand so even then Kasim didn’t move across to the right.)

There were a few technical problems with the video screens during In The Land Of The Pigs as at first they only used the two side screens and not the 3 that they had lowered above the backdrop. They then got that sorted out but later in the song all the screens stopped working!

When I saw this tour in Dortmund, I was too amazed to hear that they were actually playing I’m Gonna Love Her For Both Of Us to really take much notice of the arrangement but tonight the highlight for me was that Kasim starts the song with several bars of just bass which is wonderful to hear! That’s definitely a highlight of the concert for me!

Rock ‘n’ Roll Dreams was brilliant again tonight (as always!). I’ve always liked that song but the live version (especially when they keep on and on playing at the end) is just amazing to watch. A funny part tonight was that Paul was playing at his side of the stage when he realised that it was the part when he and Randy Flowers are supposed to play up the centre projection together so he ran across the stage to get there in time. Meat Loaf then mimicked him by running across to Paul’s side of the stage in a mad dash!

Meat Loaf said once on stage in US this summer that when he sings the Paradise By The Dashboard Light part after he’s been chatting that it’s difficult to hit that note (he didn’t on that occasion!) but tonight he hit it perfectly! There was also a part later in Anything For Love when he sang the word “I” a few times and each time he sang it spot-on and his voice sounded really strong. Thankfully Paradise wasn’t too long tonight but the most unsettling part of the song for me was that when Meat Loaf sat on the speaker to chat, I turned around to look at him and his groin was right at my eye level!

Bat Out Of Hell was just brilliant as always! They then all bowed and left the stage. It was a slightly longer break than usual but they came back for Anything For Love. That is the one song that Kasim goes along the stage projections (the middle one) but tonight he started to walk along it and stopped and returned to the stage (he’d only gone about a foot) as something was amiss (I wondered if maybe his bass wasn’t switched on). After whistling (very!) loudly to get the guys off-stage attention and they corrected the problem, he then walked back out!

After BOOH they sang Mercury Blues which was fun to see. There’s a part in that song that for months Paul has let Aspen to strum his guitar with a pic and tonight Kasim walked across to CC and let her strum his bass too. Also during the song the two girls went and sat on Mark’s piano stool for a while. Another nice part in that song was that someone in the audience gave Meat Loaf some roses and he bowed down to whoever it was!

Meat Loaf then said goodbye to the crowd and left the stage leaving the band to play the final few notes. I would imagine the reason they didn’t play Gimme Shelter (and that Meat Loaf didn’t introduce the band) was that the concert was over-running.

All in all I thought this was a really great concert and it bodes well for some great concerts in England over the next week or so! I still don’t like the Bat Cave idea (although at double the normal ticket price, it’s obviously very lucrative for Meat Loaf!) but it was interesting having experienced it. I went to a different concert last weekend and, although the band were great, their bass player just stood back at the drums all evening staring at the floor, not making eye contact at all. Although Kasim didn’t move around the stage as much tonight as he usually does, the contrast between the two was amazing!

Roll on Newcastle on Tuesday!

Comments from fans on various messageboards and mailing lists include:
"I was at the concert here in May and thought that was good, it was but it was nothing compared to tonight. The crowd were in top singing form, which I think surprised the big man."
"Paul's guitar playing was just amazing, not forgetting the rest of the band as each song was well rehearsed and played."
"I'm sorry to say this but I was disappointed in last night's concert, to the point that myself and two friends left early with alot of others in my section."
"Meat was on top form tonight, great humour and he looked well and ready for a good night, with lots of exchange and banter with the audience who also were definitely up for a good night"
"Meat was incoherent at best, throughout the evening and the rant (which may be justified) went on far too long. To be honest, I can see why he would not want any press there I wouldn't want to open any newspapers today if I were him. The band/backup basically carried the show. I know this will disapoint / inflame some fans but I think there should be an alternate view given, especially as I spoke to some fans who had come from Norway esp for the concert and were left bitterly disapointed as was I."
"The crowd went crazy when he started singing "You took the words right out of my Mouth" as they sung their hearts out along with Meat."
"I feel I was completely ripped off by paying £45 to hear at best a really bad (under some influence?) karaoke pub singer and I think that Meat should realise how badly he came off last night. Other performers would have been booed off, but lucky for him he has a loyal fan base which he should not be taken for granted..... "
"The only part of the show I would change is that he did so much talking that there was no time for Gimme Shelter despite it being down on the set list, that was a disappointment as I love that one but it certainly didn't take away from the rest of the night."

Meat Loaf:
Meat Loaf described this concert as:
"Thanks to those who enjoyed the show, I did go to other sites and read about 50 reviews , 7 of which did not like the show. The show was going well up until I did a stupid thing . After that I will admit I was very unhappy with myself .. The band was coming up and saying good show I was saying yes, it was ok, till after "love her for both of us" The stupid thing !!!! I screamed about the Sun newspaper and strained my voice and I suffered the rest of the night all by myself . So I am very sorry to those who had to suffer with me for being angry. Not to make an excuse but I have fought with my weight all my life and for the last 18 years I have watched what I ate and l tried to keep the almost 100 pounds I lost in "89" off. So when thos e bastards at the "SUN" said I gained 80 pounds since June , I lost it. I will not do it again ( scream like that so that the show is hurt, that was very wrong of me) and I will make the shows the rest of you are coming to , even better , I will work harder, and I will do everything in my power to have 100% of the people walk out happy . I am sorry that I am 60 and still not 28 but we will all get older, that is life. I know Tom Jones cares about his shows and would be upset if he was off. The one thing people need to know is that I suffer with these shows even if I think they are ok. As far as I am am concerned no show is ever good enough, sometimes they are ok but that's it. Again thanks for the support and sorry for the disappointment. Here's hoping Newcastle is perfect. By the way Karaoke is Devil worship . I pray every night and before every show that I will find strength, wisdom and courage to give everything I have to that show. I live and Die with these shows. When I sing I in "frying Pan" I live too take you, I mean it."

Other websites:
Meat Loaf's official website MeatLoaf.net has a thread about this concert here but although there are over 12 pages a lot of it is the usual inter-fanbase squabbles (plus some criticisms of the concert have been deleted). MLUKFC.com has a thread here.

The venue (taken from the KasimInfo.com Blog that day):
Tonight Kasim Sulton plays the 6th concert on the second European leg of the Meat Loaf Bat Out Of Hell III Tour. The concert is at the SECC in Glasgow, Scotland and is the only concert in that country. SECC stands for Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre.