| re: THE REVIEW | |
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Posted by: |
Rob 12:27 am UTC 07/01/07 |
| In reply to: | THE REVIEW - Rob 10:45 am UTC 06/30/07 |
| OK - had some sleep and time to collect my thoughts, so I'm going to do a song-by-song review, painful though it might be. Apologies if any of this is out of sync, but I think I've got the general running order right... All Revved Up (excerpt) - first impression, the band sounded great. CC and Aspen were a little low in the mix, but it works well as a build up to the show itself. Paradise - too long!! Meat's vocal problems weren't too apparent as they took it at breakneck speed and it was hard to hear any of the vocals. The 'let me sleep on it' part was handled well, but the set-piece arguement lasted about 5 minutes, and wasn't that great. Meat's wig was quite amusing though ("100% beaver" according to the man himself). Took the Words - shocking...just shocking Frying Pan - nearly as bad. By this point they were fading Meat's vocals in & out, it was hard to know if that was poor mixing, or if they were trying to disguise how out of tune he was. The contrast between this version and the last one I saw in Birmingham in 1994 was depressing. Anything for Love - first verse missed out as usual, the slow start to verse 2 was ruined by Meat's vocals being all over the shop. Aspen went painfully flat at the end, which was surprising given she was pretty good for the rest of the show - I think she was having trouble hearing herself thru the dodgy mix by then. But then, I wouldn;t use that excuse for Meat, so.... Life is a Lemon - loud, brash, Meat's voice well down in the mix, but the first song that sounded kinda ok. Ruined the "defective" part by screaming his lines out of time, but then he's always done that. Objects - Great to hear this song, even in it's cut down form. This was kinda the turning point for the night, Meat was shite at the beginning, but managed to summon himself up for the ending and actually sent shivers down my spine when he sang the "angel rising up from a tomb" line and NAILED something for the first time all night! Rock'N'Roll Dreams - continued the improvement. Still poor around the "remember everything that I told you" bridge, but then Meat's never sung that well live. Great sax playing in this song though - really dirty and reedy, just like the Bat 2 version should have been. Seize the Night (excerpt) - CC & Aspen sung this very well - just the opening refrain. I was torn between hoping he was gonna do the whole song and worrying what it would sound like if he did, but instead... Break It - Weirdly enough, this worked ok, even though I don't like the song. They just trashed it, Meat's voice was up & down in the mix all the time, but he managed it fairly easily in the end. Nothing special, but it did kick-start the crowd after the intermission. Bad For Good - the band really came into their own here, the music sounded as fresh and awesome as the first time I ever heard this song. Even the Bryan May guitar bit over the intro worked - actually it felt a lot less out of place than it did on the album! Loads of backing vocals made up for Meat's struggles and this went down very well with the crowd. Land of the Pigs - sounded awesome. I actually prefer the Bat 3 album version to Rob Evan's demo anyway and last night it really ROCKED. I'm pretty sure the chorus wasn't playback, as even then I could hear Meat being mixed up & down in the vocals, and it didn't sound like the chorus in the studio version, but either way he did the verses well, the light show was amazing, and I actually felt glad to be alive. Bat out of Hell - OK. Some sort of black magic exists somewhere because I have never witnessed a bad performance of this song. I don't know where it had been hiding all night, but suddenly the man could sing again and he bellowed this one out to the biggest reception of the night (obviously). The 3 high c's at the end may lack the power and sustain of the original album, but he still hit them and it finished the concert proper on a high. Black Betty/Mercury Blues - Technically, Black Betty was probably Meat's best vocal of the night, but then it's a pretty easy song to blag your way through, so I'm not surprised. Enjoyable enough though. Mercury was what it always is, loads of music, a few shouts by Meat over the top, not a lot else. Gimme Shelter - Interesting choice, the band were excellent once again, but Aspen handed most of the vocals. Strange choice to end on, but it was ok - the stadium was half empty by then (mass exodus after Bat...) but it was kinda nice to see Meat and the band just relaxing and enjoying playing a song. Well, hope that was interesting to some of you - all in all a huge disappointment, but at least it got better towards the end. I really hope Meat leaves it alone after this tour - he's 59, he ain't up to it anymore and it's a shame to hear something as amazing as his voice once was falling apart like this. He still puts on an amazing show - and as pidunk said earlier, that's enough for songwriters like Dylan or even Lou Reed, where a lot of the enjoyment comes from hearing them interpreting their own lyrics - but Jim's music needs more than fancy light shows and a great band. It needs a great singer, and sadly that just ain't Meat Loaf any more. | |
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