Meatloaf Misery
So, as some of you may know I went to see Meatloaf last night.
What a disappointment.
When he came on stage, if I'm honest he looked (allegedly) drunk, or stoned, and his singing was frankly atrocious.
He was out of tune and his voice was weak and all over the place. If it wasn't for the two brilliant female backing singers, a tremendously talented acoustic guitar player and an excellent saxophonist, all would have been lost. They carried him through most of his numbers and whilst there were flashes of the Meatloaf we know and love, it was not enough to make up for the £105.00 me and my other half spent to see him perform. He was unable to maintain the tempo of his own songs and seemed, on occasion, to completely miss his cue to start.
He, in typical melodramatic form,out of the blue stated that this was likely to be his last ever performance,
Finally, maybe an hour into the show, he faltered at the start of 'Paradise by the Dashboard Light', before stopping altogether. He took off his coat, told the crowd he loved them but that he could not continue, and walked off the stage.
For a few minutes we sat thinking that maybe this was all a gag, a part of the stage show but we all, I think, thought that he had looked awful from the minute he had come on stage. He looked out of it and unfit to perform and whereas at first we (perhaps unfairly), thought maybe he had been under the influence, we started to worry that it was more ominous.
Some stage hands appeared on stage and tossed the audience some drumsticks, I mean, yeah that's what we came for....
Today in the papers I read that he was suffering from inflammation of the larynx and that his fans are unlikely to get a refund as we had him on stage for an hour.
Bollocks.
We had some musicians and a backing group on stage for an hour. We did not have Meatloaf, only a mere shade of the talent we had come to see.
My heart goes out to him, it truly does, and I wish him a speedy recovery.
But, given that something similar occurred earlier this year in the US, if I'm honest, I'm a little pissed.
You can't tell me that he didn't know he was unwell before the start of the performance and a cynical part of me is raging that the performance only lasted as long as it did to ensure that a refund was out of the question. If he was unfit to perform, either he, his agents or the venue, should have had the decency to apologise up front and cancel the show, or postpone it till such a time as he felt fit enough to perform.
If he was still unfit from earlier this year, this tour should never have been planned.
I hope I do not come across heartless or mean-spirited and I do understand these things happen. Maybe he thought he could perform and soldier on, but after his first song, he should have realised that he was not up to par and had he at least explained the problem, we would have been supportive. Hell, we still clapped when he left the stage. We just would like some form of an apology and a refund. Or replacement tickets for when he is well. At least some acknowledgement to his fans who paid hard earned cash, and its not like I have money to burn, you know?.
At the end of the day, we did not get what we paid for - a Meatloaf Concert.