Quarta-feira 15 Dez 2010, 8h:32
Newcastle Metro Radio Arena
14th December 2010
In a sold out arena there is much excitement amongst the crowd as Meat Loaf takes to the stage in Newcastle for the first time since his ill-fated concert in 2007 which saw him leave the gig less than half way through. Kicking off with the much loved 'Hot Patootie' from the Rocky Horror Picture Show it is clear that not only is Meat Loaf back, but his voice is still capable of holding thousands of people completely captive.
While this tour is to promote his new album "Hang Cool Teddy Bear", which all members of the audience were given a free copy of on arrival, the set is full of his biggest hits and when 'Bat Out of Hell' starts up only 3 songs in the noise from the crowd is completely deafening.
With a fairly simple stage set up; a couple of skulls, inflatable bat and an inflatable woman the focus is purely on the music and with one of his strongest backing bands in years, Meat Loaf has never sounded better. The only criticism would be that at times the band seem to drown out the singer and it is clear that at some points they are carrying him through songs. However, for a man of 63 (or sexty-three as long-time backing vocalist Patti Russo puts it) to deliver a show where a good portion of the songs last for at least 10 minutes, it can be excused if he needs a breather.
30 minutes into the show Meat Loaf jokes about the fact that he is still on stage and promises to still be there until the very end of the show. After 2 hours and 10 minutes, as the last strains of 'Dead Ringer' die out, his promise is fulfilled. The show packs in all of his biggest songs and during a medley of cover songs the big man takes up a Union Jack guitar to play a blinding version of Free Bird with the rest of his band.
A spirited version of 'Paradise by the Dashboard Light'…with an inflatable woman, a t-shirt cannon shaped like Meat's "Big Surprise" and some hilarious banter between Meat Loaf and Patti Russo has the audience dancing in their rows and the beautiful "Two Out of Three Ain't Bad" is a mass sing-a-long.
His voice isn't the same as it used to be and a few of the songs, especially "I Would Do Anything For Love" do suffer from it but as a whole performance you could not ask for better. He engages the audience with self-depracating humour and delivers a performance which puts a smile on the face of the 11,000 people in attendance.
3 years ago it seemed unlikely that Meat Loaf would ever record another album or tour again. On the basis of last nights performance it's safe to say that he is good for a few years yet. (8/10)
Jakk Knox
Taken from my Music Reviews Blog: http://rawnoise1.blogspot.com