I think it was the same running order as last night (they got Martin Fry out of the way earlier on and had John Miles later) but the highlight of the first half was easily Marco Borsato who brought the house down again! Actually for the first time in the show he got the whole audience standing! People even came running to stand at the front of the barrier and others were doing a congo around the arena to his set!

Obviously I preferred the second half of the show as that's when we get the treble dose of Kasim! Tonight Kasim was wearing his lovely red and black loose shirt. Unfortunately this venue does not allow people to take photos and as I was sitting in the front row (right in front of a security guard), I didn’t dare get my camera out tonight! Kasim played an acoustic guitar with Bonnie Tyler and his black Spector bass with Meat Loaf.

Kasim always comes out and sits amongst the Electric Band for Bonnie Tyler singing Total Eclipse Of The Heart and then stands while he plays It’s A Heartache, thankfully they have now started putting a spotlight on him too.

After that Kasim goes off stage. The other nights there’s been two pieces of classical music before Meat Loaf comes on stage but tonight it was just the one. They dim the lights as the orchestra plays the intro into Home By Now but people soon start cheering as they see them walk on stage. Meat Loaf sat on a stool for the start of Home By Now (apparently he’s done that the other nights too but I’ve been too busy looking “elsewhere” to notice!). Again Mark Alexander didn’t have a microphone on the piano so the background vocals have just been Kasim, Patti and Pearl (at one part in Paradise it’s just Kasim and Pearl singing them so Kasim’s voice comes across really clearly - wonderful!).

It was the same arrangement of You Took The Words Right Outta My Mouth as it was last night except that Meat Loaf continued his ad-libbing part for a lot longer. They did the part where the band come to the front of the stage and clap which I really like (It’s essential too as the audience just don’t get the clapping part correct!).

Anything For Love is probably the most together part of the set as Meat Loaf always keeps more to the script in that song than in the others so the orchestra know what exactly to play, however he’s started pausing for longer after the “screwing around” line.

Paradise By The Dashboard Light was better tonight - I think the orchestra and conductor is beginning to understand Meat Loaf’s little quirks a bit more now. During the intro, Meat Loaf went up to the conductor and got him to jive a bit too! During the chat-up part, the whole string section of the orchestra were swaying and jumping in their seats together! As this was an afternoon concert and there were more children in the crowd, Meat opted to shout “Screw you” at Patti instead of “F**k you”. During the musical part before the baseball commentary (when Meat and Patti are beginning to act it out), I noticed that Kasim moved to the other side of the piano. It was only when he indicated to a sound guy to start the Phil Rizzuto tape that I realised why as last night they had been very late at starting it……..the tasks a Musical Director has to do!

After the stirring Land Of Hope And Glory, all the artists came back on stage and tonight Kasim was given a bouquet of flowers (all the stars get one, but they often have some left over), much to his obvious amusement! I’m not sure why they opted for Yellow Submarine as a finale but everybody (the artists and audience) really gets into it! The choir all produced towels, snorkels and rubber rings so Meat Loaf went and got himself one of them and ran across the stage with it.

Another great concert on the Kasim Sulton Night Of The Proms Tour!

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