And I have this poster, except its the Wembley Arena date
> This is from a post that BMV made in 2007?
>
> "Michael Whelan, the artist who created the Bat II and
> Very Best of Meatloaf covers, is in Denver this weekend
> for a Fantasy Art convention. I took off a few hours of
> work today to go meet with him. I spent about 3 hours
> talking to him about his work. One on one. It was great!
> I've been a fan of his ever since Bat II.
>
> I asked a lot of questions about his work with Jim and
> Meat and here are some of the points he made:
>
> Joe Stefko (drummer touring with Meat at the time)
> recommended Whelan's work when Meat was looking for the
> Bat II artist. Meat and Jim conceptualized the cover, but
> had various disagreements (with Michael caught in the
> middle!). One of them wanted the view looking down into
> the city, the other wanted a view looking up. The end
> result is the bizarre perspective of NYC skyscrapers on
> the album cover.
>
> Apparently, Jim demanded an angel on the cover, but Meat
> told Whelan "ah, forget all that angel shit." But, Jim was
> adamant about having an angel on the cover. (Reminds me of
> "Todd...where's my motorcycle??? from Bat I).
>
> The idea was the biker going back into Hell, but this time
> the Bat was dominating and in charge.
>
> Regarding the Very Best of Meatloaf cover:
> Michael really wasn't interested in doing this piece. He
> had a great idea for the biker standing along a ruined
> highway. From the impression he gave, neither Jim nor Meat
> were directly involved with this concept, so it was left
> to the ad execs for the record label. They wanted the
> motorcycle in the sky. Michael did several versions (he
> estimated about 12) before they found one they liked.
> Michael had other commitments at the time and was finding
> himself increasingly behind schedule for these other
> projects. He was getting irritated with the record folks.
> After all their demands, he finished the painting by
> putting in a kitchen sink in the lower corner of the
> cover. He said he wasn't sure you could see it in the
> album cover, but when you view the full-size painting,
> it's there.
>
> Regarding Bat III:
> Meatloaf approached Michael about doing this cover. Meat's
> original idea was having the biker riding across the
> cover, with the girl/angel on the back of the bike,
> holding a samurai sword, and slicing the head off the bat.
> According to Michael the head was to be almost completely
> decapitated with large amounts of blood oozing all over
> the place. Michael turned down the conceptual sketch,
> knowing that the ad execs would never approve it for
> release. Eventually, the project went to Julie Bell.
>
> Michael mentioned that the original painting to Bat II was
> purchased by Meatloaf.
>
> Michael keeps his original concepts/sketches and
> occasionally brings them to shows for quick, cheaper sales
> to fans. I asked him about the Bat II concept work and he
> said he still had them, and that he'd run into them just a
> few weeks back. He and I exchanged information, so I'm
> going to try to buy a few off him. These will be the
> original pencil/charcoal/acrylic sketches. I'll keep you
> all updated!
>
> All in all, I've wanted to meet Michael Whelan for 13
> years. Nice to say I finally did. Guess I can check him
> off my list.
>
> --BMV"
>
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