I wouldn't normally get involved in a thread of this nature but I feel I must (I have a feeling I may lose some friends in the next 30 seconds!).
Whatever the reasons, whatever the facts - my view is quite simple - without Patti the last two shows I have seen Meat in would not have been acceptable.
We all love the legend that is Meat but it would be blind loyalty to not recognise that the vocals in 2013 are the not the same as the vocals recorded 36 years ago for example.
It would be unfair to say Patti carried the show, but there can be no doubt that her performance in particular meant that the more casual person perhaps coming to their first ever Meat show heard vocals which meant a great show took place.
Now I didn't see the shows this weekend so I cannot say how the new people were, but I am fairly confident they wouldn't be at the same level (and it would be unreasonable to expect that with such little rehearsal time).
However without that rapport which comes with 2 decades of working together it will lead to, in my view, a show which will not be at the level people would expect. Having a great band helps (and having people like Paul on guitar certainly helps) but I worry that without that rapport putting on an arena show will be very difficult.
That said the next engagement is clearly very different and it may be that actually that rapport isn't needed at all.
In conclusion
1 - We all love Meat
2 - We all love Patti
3 - We are all sad at the news
4 - None of us know what has (or hasn't) been said
5 - Some think that arena shows will be far worse without Patti
|