What does 2018 hold for Meat Loaf.....?
 

- A new tour?
- A new record?
- A new book?
- Another dodgy film/tv series?
- Or nothing

I suspect the latter unfortunately.....

I can't imagine a new tour or record. Or a book, come to that. Maybe some film/TV. But there's always a chance we'll get a pleasant surprise.

Bat 2 25th Anniversary edition? Hopefully Virgin/UMG will show Sony up and do the job properly. :shrug:

They've done a decent Special Edition and Collector's Edition already, which takes care of the edits and live tracks (be it a bit edited here and there) from the singles, as well as the videos.

I wouldn't mind a DVD release of Bat II: Picture Show and/or that History of Meat Loaf show, though. But unless someone is willing to invest in preparing that for release, there's probably not a whole lot left to make such a release interesting enough for the more advanced fans.

A proper vinyl release of Bat 2 would be great.

Has it really been 25 years? Blimey. My first Meat album (and concert) was Bat 2. I'd still love to see some properly released tour footage from that era (bigger shows than the 'Picture Show/History Of' concert). A great period.

Out of those choices the most likely is nothing new, maybe a chance of a TV or film role popping up. Unless a new book is already begun it won't likely be published in 2018. I notice Meat on his Facebook is asking fans a lot about things they like. Either he is just asking questions for fun or maybe looking into some new idea.

I think the Facebook questions are just for fun - they don't seem to be geared towards anything specific. I think he's just keeping in touch with fans while he's otherwise out of the public eye.

they have done nothing for 40th anniversary.....i expect nothing..... :(:(:(:(

Apparently, Meat is having another back reconstruction surgery in January. :(

I saw he posted that on FB. Hopefully 2018 at least brings him greater health.

Meat has been in too much constant pain to carry through what he was hoping to. Rehabilitation after his back surgery will keep him out of action in terms of work for some considerable time .. but I'm sure his mind will be occupied on ideas for when he's through that :-)

i know he has been ill...and that has to be the 1st....but the discography could make some special edition...

For the UK Bat out of Hell's anniversary is actually next year. Bat out of Hell entered the UK chart on 11.03.1978 - celebrating the 40th year of Bat and the 25th year of Bat II makes perfect sense to me. And a combined special edition Bat & Bat II would be perfect.

Let's see what happens :)

In today's post on FB he said this would be his final post and his FB would be coming down after Christmas. So sad, and he sounded rather distressed and scared which is understandable. He did hint within the thread though that some sort of surprise is also on the way - so that is good!!!

Looks like he is retiring. Cutting FB. He is 70 maybe it's time?

No, he was dizzy with pain, and confused. He's felt the love today. He's back and started another question thread Hard to imagine what strain he is under right now, in constant pain, and worrying about a major surgery followed by weeks of more pain and discomfort, and months of rehabilitation stacked up like a vertical wall to be climbed ..

But he's a fighter .. one of the bravest and most stubbornly determined people I have ever known. He's always needed to be, and he will be next year! And his head is also still filled with things he wants to do. This surgery is about pain relief, but also about wanting to get back to doing what he loves to do. We just have to be patient, for he'll be in rehab for many months, but he's not thinking of retiring yet ;)

Are we expecting Meat to actually close his facebook page down in January? Hopefully Meat will see sense that there is more fans than "haters". If he did close it down I think he would miss it just as much as we would.

He has said he wants to still have somewhere he can interact with fans as he does on FB. He will be pursuing some alternative. I think his page is also being affected by FB's policy of removing Page Likes in order to try and force page owners to spend money "boosting" their page. They are doing this wholesale to business and pro-pages. Their assertion that they remove deactivated or inactive accounts if just obfuscation imo ..

It would be entirely reasonable that fans would like an artist's page to log their support and follow for notification of events only, and not see a reason to visit the page until an event was notified. Now FB is choosing to wipe them off, and they wouldn't even know. An average of 50-60 Page Likes are being removed daily. It is nonsense, and imo appalling.

FB makes millions from advertising that clutters up subscribers' pages, but not from business and pro pages. This is their way of trying to extort money from them.

I think we can expect the page to remain in January .. Meat will have other things to deal with. But when he gets out of hospital (and those who manage his page are back from holiday) he has said he will start looking into the future for interacting directly with his fans as he does currently on FB, that is he starts a thread with a statement or question, reads replies and pops in answers and comments, and fans can also "shout out" to the "also posted" column.

Perhaps Meat could start to use this forum more regularly? It would be great for him to interact with us more and breath freshness into a dying forum.

Caryl could you maybe suggest this to Meat through your communication channels?

Should he go for a forum I think he would choose his official page again. It would only make sense for whatever he goes for to be an official site owned solely by him, rather than a fan club forum in my view. Without a FB page his .net site would be his only window to the world, and the first one fans would go to.

Personally I think he would be happier on a forum that was very different .. one that replicated FB in that it consisted solely of threads he started, with an option for people to give a shout out. He has limited time, and other forums as we have here would imo prove a distraction, and as we have often seen a source of getting under his skin ;)

The guy is 70, in ill-health and rock n' roll itself is on life support. All the good bands are dead or dying - even the guys 20 years behind Meat are taking their bows. Guns N' Roses are a nostalgia act that never puts out material, Motley who I never rated anyway are done, Jon Bon Jovi is acknowledging he's wrecked his voice and can't sing anymore. Seems a lot like 'thanks for the memories' time all around, let's face it.

Yes, the guy is 70, but I would not describe him as "in ill health" but rather plagued by spinal mechanical problems currently, which I'd point out didn't stop him filming a TV series last year. He's also lost between 4 and 5 stone through dieting, so apart from severe back pain is probably fitter than he's been for some years.

He'll probably never RUN onto a stage again, nor bounce up and down like he used to, but his band are certainly not a dying rock'n'roll band (and I suspect many would fiercely argue that Bruce Springsteen isn't either ;), while the cast of the BOOH musical are still keeping Steinman's brand of rock'n'roll alive and taking it to a new generation). When he can get his back problem resolved Meat still wants to take to the stage with the NLE again, even if the long 3 plus months of touring may be over, and I believe he will still pack houses.

But Meat is far more than a rock'n'roll performer, he is an actor, and his career in acting is by no means ending. He is far from saying "thanks for the memories" .. just asking for some patience. He is a creative artist, and still planning ways of using that creativity to entertain :-) How much he will pack into 2018 I don't know, but he is by no means done.

There are plenty of legacy rock acts that are still out there performing great shows. They might not be at the same level as they were thirty years ago, but then, neither are we. ;) So, I think we need to cut them a little slack.

I saw B.B. King live twice, both times near the end of his life. He couldn't really play much anymore, and spent a lot of time talking, but he was still entertaining. But mostly, I was just happy that I got to see a living legend while I had the chance. As someone once said, "he gets points just for being B.B. King".

Likewise The Rolling Stones; I liked lots of their songs, but never had a real desire to see them live until a few years ago. As a rock music fan, I felt I needed to see them before they were gone. But, they blew me away! (Jagger is a freak of nature. ;))

Paul McCartney still plays three-hour shows at the age of 75.

And Bruce- he's doing his thing on Broadway these days, but I don't think he's ready to hang up his rock and roll shoes just yet. ;)

Yes, it wasn't me that said all the good bands are dead or dying ;) I think your reply is more aimed at Lorenzoduke's post.

I just said that Meat wasn't likely to do the long arena rock tours again (something he has said himself) but he still wants to get back on stage with the NLE .. and I shall be there if and when he is able :-)