| We live in a sick world | |
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Jacqueline 12:04 pm UTC 03/01/07 |
| In reply to: | Loaf Concert Review - Jacqueline 11:46 am UTC 03/01/07 |
| I thought calling a venue "The Pepsi Arena"...or the "Continental Airlines Arena" was pretty sick...but the "Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre" takes the discounted cake. Anyone else get the feeling this review was written by a high-school student...and that their parents bought the ticket as a "Congratulations for getting an A on the vocabulary quiz!"? > > http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=2d577eeb-8a10-4ea1-a142-319f71c862eb&k=32223 > > Review: Meat Loaf gives 'em what they came for > But he sure wasn't taking any guff > > Adrian Chamberlain > Times Colonist > > Thursday, March 01, 2007 > > CREDIT: Darren Stone, Times Colonist > Legendary rock balladeer Meat Loaf performs his magnum > opus, Paradise by the Dashboard Light, with Aspen Miller > at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre last night. > Who: Meat Loaf (with guest Marion Raven) > Where: Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre > When: Wednesday night > Rating: 4 1/2 (out of five) > > Meat Loaf didn’t wait long to give 4,300 Victorians what > they’d came for. > > Sure, we all know Mr. Loaf has spawned a couple of Bat Out > of Hell sequels. But what most were waiting for Wednesday > night was Meat’s 1977 magnum opus from the first album: > Paradise by the Dashboard Light. Perhaps sensing our > impatience, Mr. Loaf kindly dished out the main course as > his second tune. > > And did the crowd — peppered with 50-somethings — care if > 59-year-old Meat looked, well, slightly pervy doing the > dirty dance with a pretty young back-up singer dressed in > the teeniest cheerleader outfit known to man? > > Did they care that, during the comedic baseball announcer > routine in which the cheerleader is supposed to be playing > hard to get, she leapt up and straddled Meat like those > reunion scenes in Trading Spouses? > > Nah. > > Still, this paean to teenaged lust didn’t make a heckuva > lot of sense in the first place. So we grooved on Mr. > Loaf’s horn-dog pleading and breast-beating-belting, > regardless. > > Paradise is one of greatest black velvet paintings in the > history of rock, and in concert it worked pretty well > despite its monumental goofiness — and despite the bassy, > muffled sound. (To be fair, I was seated way, way back in > the nose-bleed section, so maybe the sound down below was > OK.) > > Meat Loaf’s style of rock hasn’t changed much from 1977. > Even then, it had a dated quality. Ignoring the rumblings > of new wave and punk, oblivious to the popularity of > disco, Meat and songwriter/svengali Jim Steinman concocted > a style of operatic rock-kitsch that owes its greatest > debt to Broadway musical theatre. > > But while other purveyors of > art-rock-and/or-metal-influenced music have joined Larry > Gowan in the Rock Hall of Bombastic Ossification, Meat > Loaf continues to thrive after a fashion. > > His do-or-die protestations of amore and blood-’n’-guts > existential angst seem somehow endearing because... well, > it’s hard to say. > > In Victoria, his voice certainly didn’t sound as powerful > as on record. Can it be that his intense yet blubbery > posing has a vulnerability that’s oddly captivating > because it connects with our own blubbery, vulnerable > qualities? > > Mind you, Meat wasn’t taking any guff on Wednesday night. > When the audience didn’t sing along with sufficient gusto > to You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth, he halted the > band and demanded that we audition the chorus for him. > > My side of the arena didn’t come up to snuff. > > “You people! Are you too good to be doing what the rest of > the people are doing?” bellowed Mr. Loaf. > > It was sort of scary, actually. > > “I don’t give a damn! You are going to sing!” > > So we did. Even me. That Meat Loaf is one intense dude. > > The night was heavy on the Bat albums. The first set > included Out of the Frying Pan (And Into the Fire), I’d Do > Anything for Love and Objects in the Rearview Mirror May > Appear Close Than They Are. The second set delved into Bat > III territory, starting with The Monster Is Loose. > > (Note: Due to deadline considerations, the reviewer left > before the concert ended.) > | |
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