Meatloaf 20th May 07 Newcastle Metro Arena
Meatloaf 20th May 07 Newcastle Metro Arena
The larger than life legend that is Meatloaf is back and you’d better believe it. The Newcastle arena kicked off with a medley of songs from the legendary Bat out of Hell album sang by the rather attractive backing singers before the man himself entered the stage with a standing ovation from the 30 something crowd. Sporting long hair that took the audience back in time to Meatloaf’s sprightlier days, Meat launched into an up tempo rendition of “Paradise by the dashboard light”. But not everything is always as it seems with the mighty man and it was revealed that Meatloaf’s long hair was, in fact a wig.
Meatloaf has obviously lost a great deal of weight, and it is clearly evident that he has not been a well man. Taking frequent rests as well as a 10 minute interval half way through, he ensured that the audience was not disappointed and the show carried on through a total of 2 and a half hours of songs from the Bat Out of Hell 2&3 albums, before finishing the main set with a somewhat toned down original “Bat out of Hell”, the song that most of the audience was clearly waiting for. After a final short interval, the band returned for an encore that featured a cover version of “Black Betty” and finally ended with the Stones’ “Gimme Shelter”. Notably absent from the set were songs such as “Deadringer” and “Heaven can wait”, but this did not detract from an excellent show.
So has Meatloaf still got it? You bet he has. OK, he’s a lot slower on his feet these days but his voice is still incredibly powerful and the audience is still assured of a good show. The only downer was the price of merchandise at £22 for a T-shirt and £15 for a program, but that didn’t phase Roverthinksshe’srockchickbutisn’treally, as she must think that money grows on trees, but that’s another story.
PS yeh, I know the pic is sh!te, but hopefully it'll convince you all that I actually was there last night!!