Yes, the promotion has been outstanding .. as of course it should be .. but great to see Meat getting what he and his show deserves
This show has SO much to offer, plays so well to all Meat's skills and stagecraft. As well as the new things he introduces each night, the improvements he makes, the different ways it develops between the songs .. the base foundation has so much packed into it. Each night I saw more as it unfolded in front of me. Even though each night as the intro to BOOH started up and I felt .. Oh no! It can't be over .. it must go on for longer!!, I've also been amazed that Meat has managed to pack so much into the hour and a half, which has felt so much longer.
As you say Lucy, this is not a concert show, nor Storytellers, and no-one should go expecting either. But if you love Meat, his band, his creative vision, his brilliance as a performer, all round entertainer and a magician rather than simply a singer of songs .. you will be delighted
I've said on the Review thread, to see this show is to feel you have experienced all Meat can offer after a long and successful career; each night you glimpse into just how creative his mind is, just how much he knows about staging, fun, excitement .. you start to see just how much he and Paul have put into bringing all the wealth of ideas about how to excite and entertain an audience into a reality on stage. This is a show that if you saw it a hundred times, it would never jade. There is SO much to see .. every night I saw something more that had been built in to make it a bigger experience than he has ever given us. I can readily understand why the producers' jaws were dropping as he laid out his vision. Everyone on stage is superb, as we expect .. Meat gives the showman performance of his life each time .. he has conceived something brilliant and spectacular, and he and Paul have brought that conception to a reality. It's big, bold, colourful, dramatic, all embracing. It's complex in its design and delivery, and I have not a doubt it will simply get bigger and better each night ..
I have been reminded each night of how I felt listening to HCTB the first time .. that finally someone had removed any boundaries on what Meat wanted to deliver musically .. this show is the same. Finally Meat has put into reality on stage the vast breadth of creative ideas he has for entertaining an audience, for filling their senses with what a "show" can be. We've seen how brilliantly he uses video to enhance the songs in recent tours and been amazed .. now he's doing this on so many levels, with so many small details as well as big effects. I would love to be able to get back and see more shows as this residency continues .. but know that if he takes it to theatres it will keep growing; and I can see this working brilliantly in theatres, because Meat will make any adjustments and bang in more creative ideas to make sure it does
I felt every night that this is where his career has been leading him. You're right, it is not his touring show .. it is much, much more .. and without all the exhausting features of being on the road, he seems to tire less, and his voice is superb. It is a big, dramatic and ever changing helping of Meat Loaf on stage that hopefully we can revel in for some time to come. Whether they will at some point be able to capture this on DVD I don't know .. I do hope at some time they will be able to for those who might otherwise not be able to see it . perhaps when he takes it to theatres? And when he does take it there I would simply say, if you can possibly get to where he's playing do so. It won't be an arena show, a tour show, a rock concert .. he has given us 35+ years of those, and there are some great DVDs if that's what you want.
But this is ALL of him .. and it's a magnificent all