It was the same set list for the show but I thought I noticed a couple of changes in the arrangements of Carl Jenkins’ music. The French guy was there again tonight and he was a big hit but, other than Meat Loaf, the main applause always goes to Marco Borsato! Apparently he’s trying to make it bigger in Belgium which is why he’s playing these Antwerp shows.

Just before Meat Loaf comes on stage there’s a nice Strauss tune (do you call Strauss’ music “tunes”?!!) which leads really nicely into the Home By Now / No Matter What intro. At one part of the song tonight Meat was definitely nowhere near in time with the orchestra (or should that be that the orchestra wasn’t in time with Meat Loaf?!) but they made it through okay. I know I’ve mentioned it before but Kasim’s vocals really come through strongly in that song (maybe the strongest that they do all evening).

As usual, straight after No Matter What, they lead into You Took The Words Right Outta My Mouth but it was a shorter version tonight as Meat Loaf didn’t do any ad-libbing at all so Kasim, Patti and Pearl just sang a few gentle “It must have been when you were kissing me”s before they all went into the strong part again with the clapping (although Kasim took a while to start clapping!).

The crowd always seem to recognise the beginning of Anything For Love almost immediately and tonight was no exception. We did have one interesting line in the song tonight though as Patti sang “Give me some place that I can hold onto”! Kasim seemed to find that hilarious!

Kasim was definitely in a transient mood tonight! At the “screwing around” part, he went and stood near Laurie Wisefield, then at the beginning of Paradise By The Dashboard Light he went and chatted to his friend on the double bass. He next moved near the sound board (to tell the guy when to start the tape) but tonight, instead of returning to his spotlight, he wandered off into the orchestra for a while! He needs to be super-glued to his microphone stand! He was wearing a different outfit tonight (the set list may not change but Kasim’s clothes thankfully do!), a black suit with a light blue shirt that really looked good on him.

Maybe it’s because the crowd were quieter tonight but the people around me weren’t singing the words to Paradise as much as normal. At the end, Meat Loaf and Patti Russo were singing it quietly and the crowd started clapping as though they thought it was the end of the song!

They all seem to really let their hair down during Yellow Submarine! Tonight Kasim was featured several times on the video monitor screens as he and some of the others were kicking their legs in the air! Most of the bunches of flowers are thrown into the crowd by the artists and tonight Kasim even threw one - I’m sure he’d be picked for any rounders team the distance that he threw it!

Roll on tomorrow…..!

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