There were a few changes in the orchestra too (the first violinist wasn’t there and one of the two guys who keep jumping up and down was sadly missing), plus we didn’t have Carl Huybrechts with his multi coloured shiny jacket - instead it was a German guy, Uwe Bahn, who wore a two tone grey suit. He didn’t sing Michael Row The Boat Ashore but instead he did a mini skit using a clipboard which the people (who could understand German!) seemed to find quite amusing.

The Preussag Arena is a really modern concert hall that was all seated (which didn’t help the atmosphere) but nobody stood until the end of the second half! Martin Fry usually receives a lukewarm reaction but I really felt sorry for him tonight as hardly anybody clapped along to his last song although they always did in Belgium!

John Miles was well received but again people didn’t clap along all that much to Mister Blue Sky - he wisely didn’t even bother to do the part where he stops in Music (Was My First Love) and the crowd encourages him to continue! His set was really funny for me to watch as I was sitting in the front row so I couldn’t see the big screens and with John Miles sitting behind the piano, all I could see of him was his hair and forehead and occasionally his eyebrows!! As they wheeled the piano on and off the stage, thankfully when it was wheeled back for Mark Alexander, it was further on the stage so I could see him clearly.

The featured act was Chris de Burgh who sang four songs (Lady In Red, The Snows Of New York, Don’t Pay The Ferryman and High On Emotion) but he certainly didn’t receive the same reaction that Marco Borsato always did! He just sang the first song but played guitar on the other three and at one point he jumped off the stage and ran around the first section of the arena! Unfortunately he didn’t hit any of the high notes in his first song Lady In Red but was okay after that.

Instead of a “Surprise Guest” they had another featured act (who was a real disappointment!). His name was Laith Al-Deen who sang two songs. I think the English expression “he really fancied himself” said it all about him!

For some reason they extended Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No 2 tonight but then the lights went down ready for Kasim to lead the band onto the stage! Unfortunately there was a camera right in front of Kasim (not that they took any close up photos of him though!) so he was the one person on stage that I couldn’t see too clearly - just my luck!

Meat Loaf’s voice was croaky during Home By Now / No Matter What but he sounded fine for the other songs thankfully. It was the same set list, the same arrangements and about the same actions but tonight Kasim was wearing a black shirt loose over his stretchy trousers which I think is a new combination for this tour!

I feel sorry for John Miceli on this tour as he’s situated right at the back of the orchestra (in front of the choir) and can hardly be seen by the crowd - for the first few concerts, I thought he only came on stage for Yellow Submarine! Other than hearing his great drumming and Meat Loaf saying “One more Johnny” during You Took The Words Right Outta My Mouth, nobody would know he was there!

At the beginning of Paradise By The Dashboard Light, Meat Loaf always pours water over his hand and I’d wondered why but tonight I noticed that it’s after Mark Alexander has played his piece on the piano, Meat touches the piano and makes out that it’s red hot so he pours the water to cool his hand off! Also in Paradise tonight, when Kasim did his jolting part (I don’t know how else to describe it) with the first violinist, she obviously didn’t quite know what to make of it, whereas the other guy used to join in too!

Before Yellow Submarine I noticed that one of the stage hands had to put cards with the words on the stage for some of the stars (the new guys)! Also Uwe Bahn introduced everybody far quicker than the Dutch guy did so they weren’t quite ready to get on stage in time before he was introducing the next person! Meat Loaf always runs on stage and then runs along the stars slapping hands with them all. Obviously Chris de Burg hadn’t been told this and he was busy chatting with someone so Meat Loaf had to tap him on his shoulder to get his attention! Unfortunately Kasim wasn’t given a microphone tonight so I’m not sure who sang the repeating part (as the third background singer wasn’t there) but it sounded okay. Towards the end of the song Kasim went across to the far right side of the stage and encouraged that part of the crowd to sing and clap along! Roll on tomorrow night…..!

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