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6:17pm Monday 7th July 2008
IF music be the food of love, then last night I suffered from acid indigestion.
Broadlands rocked to a huge helping of commitment and energy from Meat Loaf.
The level of appreciation was dependent on where you stood. Closer to the stage, the better the sound, the further back one stood, the worse it became as a swirling wind played havoc with the acoustics.
Many muttering about the quality walked out well before the end.
But Meat Loaf has always polarised opinion. Critics, accused of living in ivory towers, denounced the Bat out of Hell album as one of the worst of all time.
Fans have been registering their approval at the till for years.
If he was ever mechanised, he'd be transformed into a let it rip Californian dragster. There is nothing frill, nothing new wave about Meat Loaf - it's straight at you full-blooded.
Broadlands lifted its hamper for the third night of its party in the park concerts with a serving of Meat Loaf. With a stagnant economy and wretched weather, Pimms, picnics and patrons have understandably been less evident than expected.
But 10,000 plus still flocked to see the rocker eligible for a bus pass.
Dressed in all black, he prowled the stage, the consummate old pro using all his experience to work the audience in his near two-hour performance. I do not profess to be a walking encyclopaedia of Meat Loaf, his history would be an alien concept if I had targeted Mastermind.
So the simple question to fall back on was, Did I enjoy it?' and the answer was yes.' Okay, so I was within almost touching distance of the stage as he heavily dipped into Welcome to the Neighbourhood album for splendid renditions of Dead Ringer for Love, and Amnesty is Granted.
Donning an outrageous wig and tuxedo, he gave an outrageous performance of Paradise by the Dashboard Light and closed the main part of his act with his signature Bat Out of Hell.
He sang Thank you, thank you, very much the audience - but by then many were already streaming out.
Katie Melua opened the three-day extravaganza on Friday with a host of her hits in front of an estimated crowd of 2,500.
Saturday saw Irish boyband Boyzone back to their best after eight years apart, belting out all their hits including Words, Love Me For A Reason, and When The Going Gets Tough.
Ronan Keating and Co had their female fans drooling at the mouth just as they did in the 1990s on a cold and windy night.
Phew, soton says...
10:54am Mon 7 Jul 08
AJ, southampton says...
10:54am Mon 7 Jul 08
Peter Brown, Hamble says...
10:57am Mon 7 Jul 08
Fatfish, Chandlers Ford, says...
11:28am Mon 7 Jul 08
Disappointed, Southampton says...
11:34am Mon 7 Jul 08
Christine Woods, says...
11:34am Mon 7 Jul 08
George, says...
12:04pm Mon 7 Jul 08
Christine Woods wrote:You won't get a refund simply because you didn't enjoy it. Trust me
Does anybody out there know how you can get a refund if you have booked your tickets via Ticket Master?
Thanks in anticipation.
Donna, Eastleigh says...
12:09pm Mon 7 Jul 08
Christine Woods, says...
12:13pm Mon 7 Jul 08
George wrote:OK. That's what I thought. Tried going on the Meat Loaf website. Waste of time. Have complained though to Broadlands.
Christine Woods wrote: Does anybody out there know how you can get a refund if you have booked your tickets via Ticket Master? Thanks in anticipation.You won\'t get a refund simply because you didn\'t enjoy it. Trust me
jenny longyear, chandlers ford says...
12:29pm Mon 7 Jul 08
Franz Seabrook, Chandlers Ford says...
12:32pm Mon 7 Jul 08
Perry, Romsey says...
12:39pm Mon 7 Jul 08
Tracey Hurst, Southampton says...
12:47pm Mon 7 Jul 08
Franz Seabrook wrote:How come the likes of The Police, Paul Weller, The Who, Neil Diamond, etc. etc. still sound as fab this time round - theyre older now too! NO EXCUSE - he was an absolute disgrace to the music world & his memory
I must have been to a different concert!! Yes, me and my girlfriend were near the front but he neither appeared drunk or stoned! I did not hear anyone complaining about either the acoustics or the performance and it surely wasn\'t my imagination with the cheer that greeted the end of the concert (and not a sarcastic one before anyone says anything). Everone around me were having a great time. Indeed, as we were heading back to our car, I heard a group of female fans belting out \'Bat Out Of Hell\' with great gusto so they obviously weren\'t disappointed either. The only drunk that was annoying people was the plum near the front who was waving his arems about, being a complete idiot whiel his girlfriend (!) kept banging on about no one vlocking her mum\'s view of the stage! Thankfully, most people ignored them. My view? A brilliant concert (and, yes, I\'ve been to a fair few concerts and I thought Meat Loaf is a great showman) which had my girlfriend grinning from beginning to end and, for a life long Meat Loaf fan, made my day. And I feel privileged to have seen this great artist performing live. I think if you were all turning up to an outdoor concernt expecting him to be singing just like he was 30 plus years ago, you were going to be disappointed
Franz Seabrook, Chandlers Ford says...
12:55pm Mon 7 Jul 08
Tracey Hurst wrote:Blimey, anyone would have thought he'd smacked you one in the face! Calm down, love. Like I say, my girlfriend loves Meat Loaf and she enjoyed every minute of it which is all that matters to me.
Franz Seabrook wrote: I must have been to a different concert!! Yes, me and my girlfriend were near the front but he neither appeared drunk or stoned! I did not hear anyone complaining about either the acoustics or the performance and it surely wasn\\\'t my imagination with the cheer that greeted the end of the concert (and not a sarcastic one before anyone says anything). Everone around me were having a great time. Indeed, as we were heading back to our car, I heard a group of female fans belting out \\\'Bat Out Of Hell\\\' with great gusto so they obviously weren\\\'t disappointed either. The only drunk that was annoying people was the plum near the front who was waving his arems about, being a complete idiot whiel his girlfriend (!) kept banging on about no one vlocking her mum\\\'s view of the stage! Thankfully, most people ignored them. My view? A brilliant concert (and, yes, I\\\'ve been to a fair few concerts and I thought Meat Loaf is a great showman) which had my girlfriend grinning from beginning to end and, for a life long Meat Loaf fan, made my day. And I feel privileged to have seen this great artist performing live. I think if you were all turning up to an outdoor concernt expecting him to be singing just like he was 30 plus years ago, you were going to be disappointedHow come the likes of The Police, Paul Weller, The Who, Neil Diamond, etc. etc. still sound as fab this time round - theyre older now too! NO EXCUSE - he was an absolute disgrace to the music world & his memory
Jane Lewis, Isle of Wight says...
1:06pm Mon 7 Jul 08
Dom, Hythe says...
1:35pm Mon 7 Jul 08
Mikey, Southampton says...
1:50pm Mon 7 Jul 08
Lorette Keys, Eastleigh says...
1:55pm Mon 7 Jul 08
Franz Seabrook, Chandlers Ford says...
1:59pm Mon 7 Jul 08
Mikey wrote:The 'argument' was part of the act, which was blatantly obvious. What ever your views are were with the performance, don't misrepresent other aspects of it.
I went for free and still felt ripped off! The headline in Echo today should have been "Meat is Murder" It got so bad at one stage that his backing singer started arguing with him on stage. Asking what the hell are you doing Loaf, and he told her to **** Off! How very Romsey!
shaun cooper, wimborne. dorset says...
2:41pm Mon 7 Jul 08
Mikey, Setting fire to my meatloaf collection. says...
2:56pm Mon 7 Jul 08
Franz Seabrook wrote:Cheers Franz,
Mikey wrote:The 'argument' was part of the act, which was blatantly obvious. What ever your views are were with the performance, don't misrepresent other aspects of it.
I went for free and still felt ripped off! The headline in Echo today should have been "Meat is Murder" It got so bad at one stage that his backing singer started arguing with him on stage. Asking what the hell are you doing Loaf, and he told her to **** Off! How very Romsey!
Mr Spikels, Laughing at Franz says...
3:10pm Mon 7 Jul 08
Steve, Southampton says...
3:28pm Mon 7 Jul 08
Mikey, Ha Ha ha ha says...
3:30pm Mon 7 Jul 08
Mr Spikels, says...
3:40pm Mon 7 Jul 08
Deflated Fan, Hampshire says...
4:03pm Mon 7 Jul 08
kevin bailey, totton says...
4:38pm Mon 7 Jul 08
Bob, Oz says...
4:49pm Mon 7 Jul 08
Bob, Oz says...
4:55pm Mon 7 Jul 08
Donna, Eastleigh says...
4:56pm Mon 7 Jul 08
Steve wrote:Oh my god, I cant believe what I have just read. So Meatloaf was ill and you still think its acceptable for him to come on stage in front of all those people who have paid a LOT of money to be there, looked forward to the show for a long time and give the shocking performance that he gave. Im sure a lot of people would agree that if he was ill it would have been far better for him to cancel the show and either re-schedule it or give fans a refund and still have his dignity in tact AND more importantly the admiration he deserves from his fans. Instead we are left majorly disappointed in a legend of rock .
I can\'t believe how many people disliked the concert! I was at the front and had qued a long time to be there and I was not disappointed. Meat had been Ill since his gig at Liverpool and there were rumors that he was going to pull out of the Broadlands one, but he came out and still put on one hell of a performance (even having to take his medication on stage at one point). For a man in his 60\'s to still be able to sing with that much power after 40 years is quite something. Agreed that he failed to hit some notes and was slow coming in at times (at somepoints due to the volume in his earpiece, which he kept signalling to the soundman at stage-side), in my opinion he still give a very good performance. The chemistry between Meat and Patti was as usual, brilliant, with the amusing argument during \'Paradise\' another classic routine. The set-list was a bit unusual at points, and finishing with a Beatles song was very unexpected, but overall it was a good performance by a legend of Rock.
Sandra, Somerset says...
5:25pm Mon 7 Jul 08
Anthony, says...
5:32pm Mon 7 Jul 08
Christine Woods, Horndean says...
6:20pm Mon 7 Jul 08
sandy simpson, says...
6:25pm Mon 7 Jul 08
Disappointed, Southampton says...
6:29pm Mon 7 Jul 08
Christine Woods wrote:I've been in touch with 'Live Nation' and asked for my money back. They have said they will look into my complaints about the performance. I suggest you all do the same.
Have just heard back from Broadlands re my complaint of poor concert. Suggest everyone goes onto their website if they want refunds. They are going to contact the promoters. The more people who complain, will get a better impact for refunds.
Ken Snook, Dorset says...
6:29pm Mon 7 Jul 08
Kimberley, Southampton says...
6:38pm Mon 7 Jul 08
Shaun Philips, says...
8:12am Sat 12 Jul 08
mary, fareham says...
6:26pm Sun 13 Jul 08
gustav, says...
7:10pm Sun 13 Jul 08
Shaun Philips wrote:Live Nation wouldn't touch him with a protective suit and facemask
I suggest Live Nation book this guy www.meatloaf.org saw him last night and he rocked the place looked and sounded just like the big guy Awesome voice
sharon smalley, Mansbridge says...
11:19pm Mon 14 Jul 08
Meat Fan, Southampton says...
3:50pm Tue 22 Jul 08
Mr Spikels wrote:Get ****!!!!
Steve, I bet you have a a Lord of the Rings replica sword in your living room, go on admit it. Is her name really Patti, so it\'s Meat Patti. Genius. They must keep themselves up laughing over that one. Now again. Repeat after me \"The gig was total crap.\"
john bates, says...
7:26pm Tue 5 Aug 08
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The Romsey Raver, Romsey says...
10:39am Mon 7 Jul 08