I was lucky enough to have a front row seat at this concert which was excellent.
At 7.30pm support act Picture House came on and really got the crowd going with some of their songs. They played for 30 mins and after they left the crowd started getting ready for the main event.
At approx 8.10 we were treated to a simulated thunderstorm with lightning effects and rain playing through the speakers. The atmosphere built up to a crescendo and at 8.30 it went totally dark. We were then led to believe that there was an electrical fault(this was all part of the show) with smoke rising from the mixer desk and men walking around with torches.
The crowd went wild as Meat appeared as a dark figure on stage, dressed in his customary black clothes, and took his seat on a cluster of imitation rocks. He opened with the beautiful, haunting Home by Now/No Matter What complete with a backdrop showing a menacing forest. He then launched straight into Life is a Lemon with the backdrop disappearing to show the band playing a new intro to this, complete with Patti, Pearl and Ray each playing a bass drum for all they were worth. This really brought the place alive. It was played with such anger and energy that it was unbelievable.
It was at this point that we got our first glimpse of Kasim tonight and instead of his usual leather coat he was wearing a long black coat with a velvet collar, black trousers and a red tight sweater.
This was followed by Dead Ringer for Love that was acted out on stage as in the video and was very entertaining. Then came the rock ballads I'd Lie for You and I Would do Anything for Love sung brilliantly by Meat and Patti. Meat then sang Lawyers Guns and Money, a relatively unknown song during which Meat, Kasim, Ray and Damon played a great guitar segment. This was followed by the magical Rock N Roll Dreams come Through sung as passionately as ever. It all went quiet as Ray and Tom played the intro to the new single Is Nothing Sacred. Meat and Patti sang with such emotion and passion that it just blew you away. The visual effects and fog were just stunning and left you in total awe of it all. If this is not a huge hit the world has gone mad!!.
The mood then changed and the crowd went mad as Damon played the intro to Paradise by the Dashboard Light. A huge metallic walk through curtain descended in the middle of the stage from which Meat emerged dressed in a tuxedo and bow tie. When Patti appeared she was wearing a wedding dress much to the shock and dismay of Meat Loaf. He remarked that he could not remember asking her to marry him, only being in the back seat with her at the lake. The pair of them then disappeared behind the curtain to re-enact the "Phil Rizzutto" part (and we all know how that goes). Meat reappeared several times with various parts of the wedding dress and threw them aside much to the cheering of the crowd. When they both re-emerged Patti was wearing a skimpy white dress and stockings, which seemed to send the male population of the crowd into a frenzy. They then launched into their usual insults and arguments with Patti upsetting Meat and making fun of his size and certain parts of his anatomy. The crowd found this very entertaining and amusing. After this blinding performance the band took a bow and left the stage, except Meat who helped set up stools at the front of the stage for the acoustic set. The piano and drums were also moved forward.
Meat introduced the band one by one, including "his girl" Pearl, and they took their seats. He almost forgot to introduce John the drummer until one of the band noticed he was missing. There was some heckling in the audience to which Meat replied that if they could do the intros better then they were welcome on stage, the stewards would not stop them but may "shoot" them.
The acoustic set got underway and included Midnight at the Lost and Found, Mercedes Benz (sung by Pearl), Honky Tonk Women (with Kasim singing the first verse on his own), 1999 and Two outta Three ain't Bad. He also made Patti sing the song that she sang at her audition and told the story about her kicking a city bus after believing that she'd failed. The last song of the acoustic set was You Took the Words Right out of My Mouth, and to hear over 10,000 people singing along and clapping was truly amazing. The acoustic versions were brilliant with Meat remarking that he has a lot of fun during this part of the show. It also showed the great talent that all the band members have, they were very good.
Last but not least came the awesome Bat Out Of Hell complete with the inflatable bat. This really made the place erupt with people singing, clapping and stamping their feet. Then it was over all too soon, the lights went up and everyone left with BOOH ringing in their ears.
I think this was the best concert so far and Meat seemed to put so much into this performance and appeared to thoroughly enjoy it. He still has what it takes to turn a concert into a totally mind-blowing piece of theatre. His voice is as strong as ever whether he is singing a ballad or a full blown rock song and he seems to sing with a passion that not many other singers have.
Well, since I haven't seen Meat live in over 2 years I was a little excited to say the least, and then whilst sitting in a traffic jam at 7.30 on the M4 I was a lot frantic. Thank you lord for support bands that's all I can say - arrived at Wembley at 8pm, rushed into the arena heard music, thought Oh S**t! darted into the hall itself and found the support band playing, great time for a beer, look at the merchandise and a visit to the little boys room (the excitement was getting to me!)
After what seemed like an age, the house lights went down, and Meat appeared on stage to perform a very powerful, yet badly backlit, version of No Matter What.
Without spoiling things too much for those of you who've yet to see Meat on this tour, the arrival of the for Life Is A Lemon, was in my opinion the best opening of a concert I have ever seen! Sure beats the introduction of the Motorbike Set for the Bad Attitude tour back in '85!
The sound was superb, Meat at his overblown theatrical best, Patti’s voice goes from strength to strength (yeah ok, visually she's not a patch on the Goff sisters but then again I'm just an old lech!!).
The songs rolled thick and fast, Deadringer, I'd Do Anything, Rock N Roll Dreams, Lawyers Guns & Money, I'd Lie For You, no song seeming to last less than 10 minutes in true Meat Loaf fashion.
Before too long Meat and the band were performing the BEST version of Paradise that I have ever heard live.
And then we were listening to a sort of Meat Loaf Unplugged. Including, at long last after 20 years of being a Meat Loaf Fan, I heard the big man perform For Crying Out Loud, my all time favourite, I reckon I wasn't the only one singing along to that one at Wembley with a tear rolling down their cheek! I NEVER thought I'd hear Meat perform that song, ok it was only part of it but it was still THAT SONG!!
And now for my complaints! Why oh Why do we have to listen to the rest of the band perform songs? I'd paid my money to hear Meat, not Patti, or Kasim or anyone else in the band take the lead vocal. For a tour promoting the Very Best Of Meat Loaf CD, this was very poor indeed!! Cut the non Meat Loaf cover versions and we could have been treated to at least another 3 Meat Loaf songs !! It was like paying to go and sit in a Karioke bar (although the quality of the singing was perhaps a little better).
Don't get me wrong I am and always will be a huge Meat Loaf fan, but I did leave Wembley very disappointed that Meat has to resort to this as a space filler - WHY ?
If he needs the rest, dump the support group come on earlier and have a break in the middle - that worked on his last two tours over here !!
The concert on Sunday was absolutely fantastic, Meat looked great and sounded good too. He sang Is Nothing Sacred and was fab. Patti looked stunning as did Pearl(what a great voice she has)KASIM was well, need I say more? LOL!!!!
This was my 3rd concert and we had pretty good seats 15 rows from the front, my daughter Jane this was 1st time was so worked up that she was nearly in tears before Meat came on. His voice sounded o.k and you certainly would not have guessed if anything was wrong. Overall it was greaaaattttt. He of course finished with BOOH which can still send shivers down my spine.
If I had one criticism of it it would have to have been the support act. I personally did not go too much on then I think it could have been because the Bass seemed to drown out the lead singer. My daughter was quite taken with them.
We bought a few things t-shirt ,programme and I got myself a key ring. We had a bit of a journey home, because of the engineering works on the main line Train Stations we had to go to Canon Street which was all right going but coming back we missed the last train home although we were not the only ones so the nice people at the station laid on a taxi for us. So instead of getting home about 1.15a.m we arrived home at 2.45p.m. But let me tell you all that have tickets IT IS WELL WORTH IT !!
I think if you go to see Meat you are seeing the whole band as they are what helps him be such a great singer, and you can not have one without the other. KEEP ON ROCKING MEAT