[AndrewG]

Originally Posted by Adje

I really can't imagine many people care for this. Unlike Andrew's beliefs, I don't think you can compare the NLE to Queen, or AC/DC as those are real bands. The NLE is Meat's backing band with passing-through members. Some we liked more than others. But still.

But these aren't REAL bands you are pointing out if you look deeper at what has gone on and how often things have changed. ACDC is only really Angus Young. Queen are only Brian May and Roger Taylor. Both bands have gone through multiple iterations of replacing bandmembers beyond the very few that have stayed put and stayed alive.
Sure Meat Loaf is a singer and is always different but I still understand what they are trying. If Angus Young steps in front of a bus tomorrow I still suspect you'd see ACDC somewhere, sometime. If Brian May gets abducted by aliens there still will be Queen at some point I bet. If Roger Taylor falls down the stairs carrying his drumkit I bet May would continue with the Queen name too. If both disappear, Adam Lambert I bet still will continue with the Queen name somehow at some point.

That doesn't mean to say you need to like it or agree with it as the circumstances are of course a bit different. The Queen comparison makes sense since Adam Lambert was also an American Idol contestant. That doesn't make him Freddie as much as Caleb is not a Meat Loaf.

It was actually interesting when I was growing up in The Netherlands in the 90s many youngsters in those days often thought Meat Loaf in fact WAS a band. A cousin I have at the time thought Meat was married to Dana Patrick. The misinformation was fun to hear but I think does highlight that sometimes artists can use and I'm sure have used that type of ignorance to continue with stuff. I'm sure many don't know who the original ACDC bandmembers were and many probably don't care when they hear the hits performed well.

Jim Steinman's recycling of stuff I'm sure also doesn't matter to a large part of the audience who have enjoyed Meat Loaf's Rock N Roll Dreams and Celine Dion's It's all coming back and thus not giving a damn about the original renditions which often was superior.

Originally Posted by Adje

So basically now you get a backing band with some contest winner doing a Bat tribute. It's nothing like experiencing the real deal. In fact, I am a real Patti fan. In Stuttgart 2013 Patti did Dead Ringer on her own after Meat left the stage. The vibe was even then, inmediately, less entertaining.

I thought Patti was good with Spike Edney's band. Without them, not so much it appeared. Even with Spike's band she couldn't really draw a crowd beyond London. I guess that's what Brian May and Roger Taylor also had to endure and hence they decided to just continue with Queen. They were playing very small venues after their mid 1990s solo successes mostly.

I will be interested to see how it will pan out. I can't imagine it being that successful without Meat but who knows. It might just be one 10 date tour or so and you might never have to hear about it ever again. Or it could grow into something that lasts longer and gets its own legs beyond just the nostalgia factor.

It definitely won't be as good as the glory days of the 90s and early 2000s and flashes of brilliance since then we had from Meat. Impossible.

Originally Posted by Adje

Compared to my earlier comment about Picasso watching etc... Well Picasso is out of the picture. Enjoy!

True. And the last time Meat performed in the UK and the Netherlands was 5 (!) years ago. He's been out of the picture quite a long time now. Time goes fast.