This was a great concert and I even got to see the whole show!

The Olympiahalle in Munich is a large venue that Meat Loaf has played several times before and was actually larger than I remembered for a change! I was sitting up on the side so I could see the whole stage which is useful for watching Kasim’s wanderings!

As I amazingly got there before the show started, I saw Martin Fry’s set (in black suit - hopefully he’s retired the gold lame one!) for the first time in ages and his stage manner has improved tenfold since the tour started!

John Miles was great as always and the whole venue lights up with the giveaway-to-all-but-Sue lights when he sings Music (Was My First Love). He’s started talking a bit in his set too!

I know I’ve mentioned it before but the orchestra (especially certain members) are just amazing. There’s always something happening on stage to watch! The tour started with mainly two guys (Charles II and his mate) who kept standing and sitting but now in certain tunes the majority of the orchestra do it! I think you have to watch the show several times to pick up everything. Tonight I noticed that during Chris de Burgh’s song Don’t Pay The Ferryman, all the double bass players, start “rowing” with their bows!

Unfortunately German audiences just don’t get into the concerts as much as both the Belgian and Dutch crowds did - if they were playing UK it would be even worse though!! There’s one song where in Antwerp and Rotterdam the whole audience starts singing and swaying (I ended up with bruises on my arms the first night as I wasn’t moving!), but here there’s nothing! For the first time on the tour I could actually hear the choir sing this track!

I’ll freely admit that at the beginning of the tour I was very disappointed with Chris de Burgh as he seemed very effeminate and his voice was off key. Now he seems to have settled into the tour really well and even makes some off the cuff jokes. His voice has obviously changed since Lady In Red was recorded as he can’t sing as high but he must have had a cold when he played the first concerts as he hits the notes he’s aiming for now. It was unfortunate though that tonight he asked the crowd to sing a German football song that the compere had previously already asked them to sing! Also, during Lady In Red, when he gets the audience to sing some lines, this audience were just NOT singing so there was silence! Later he did tell them that it was okay to get up and dance (which made it easier for Meat Loaf) in the second half.

As soon as Kasim walked on stage tonight some people got to their feet and remained standing the whole set. Maybe it was where I was sitting but the acoustics throughout the whole NOTP show were very bad but at least tonight it hid slightly the imperfections in Meat Loaf’s voice.

The days of hoping that they would break into Bat Out Of Hell are long gone for me so it was the same set list but it really does go down well with the crowd. Unfortunately they’ve made You Took The Words Right Outta My Mouth rather a non-event (I feel because Meat rushes to get to Paradise By The Dashboard Light) but I do enjoy watching Kasim clapping with members of the orchestra! Tonight he began the clapping part by clapping normally and then had his hands behind his back while the first violinist and the guy behind him both clapped onto Kasim’s hands!

I didn’t time Meat Loaf’s set tonight but it seemed to be nearer the 45 minute mark rather than 50 minutes as he’s stopped high-lighting the two John’s. Unfortunately he found that darned four fingered white glove again (I was hoping that it had been left behind in Rotterdam!) so he waved that above Laurie Wisefield. Of course we didn’t manage to sing the word “Light” to Meat Loaf’s satisfaction again so it was mass walkout time before we were given “one more f@@king chance”! It was then sang by us quieter than the Dutch crowd used to sing the first time round but it satisfied Meat!

As I was sitting on the side tonight I could watch all of Kasim’s meanders around the stage - as soon as he finished singing in Anything For Love, he was off! First he stood by the side of the orchestra for a couple of seconds before he obviously spied a spare chair beside the harpist so he sat there until he accompaned Laurie Wisefield to the front of the stage for the beginning of Paradise! While Meat Loaf was doing whatever he does with Patti during the song (I rarely watch it!), Kasim wandered into the orchestra while they were doing their semi-choreographed stands and sits (Laurie came in too tonight). Next he had to move near the sound board to ensure that the baseball commentary tape is started at the correct time before he wandered back into the orchestra again! Wow! No wonder he had to sit down for a while! Whilst Kasim is doing all of that, Pearl just stands behind the guys on the double bases, alone, not talking to anyone!

There was a lovely part tonight at the end of Paradise! While Meat is introducing Patti and spouting his “Never stop rocking” speech, usually the orchestra hold the one note but tonight somehow (as I missed the beginning of the sequence), Kasim started conducting the orchestra into playing several of the same notes with the neck of his guitar! The conductor, Robert Groslot, was also following him with his baton but the look on Kasim’s face was pure magic!!

Yellow Submarine was as light-hearted and relaxed as always! The compere rather rushed the intros tonight so the stars were having to get up on stage a bit sharply but there was still sufficient time for Meat’s slapping hands line-up to be about 30 people long! Kasim didn’t slap hands tonight as he was walking around the piano at the time. During the song, Kasim joked with John Miceli for quite a while at the beginning, Mark Alexander had Patti Russo bent back across his knee while they were singing and during Chris de Burgh’s part, Meat Loaf knelt in front of him offering him a bouquet of flowers!

As soon as all the verses of the song were over, one could almost see the light in Kasim’s eye as he dashed across to where the double bases are! Tonight he played (plucked) about three rounds of the chorus which was brilliant to watch! (He stands to play it whereas the others mainly sit - it’s actually taller than Kasim is!) At one point, John Miles stood in front of him, with his hands on his hips, just starring at him in amazement! Roll on tomorow night…..!

Back to Kasim Sulton at Night Of The Proms