Underplayed & Overplayed Songs in Meat Loaf tours

nightinr · 04 Sep 2022, 21:00

Underplayed
- I'd Lie for you
- Good Girls go to heaven
- All Coming Back to me Now
- Bad Attitude

Overplayed
- Giving Tree - awful!
- If it ain't broke
- Paradise (personally one of my least favourite Meat track! I get why he probably had to play it but could we just shortened it to maybe 7 mins...I hated the 20 min versions)

Evil One · 05 Sep 2022, 20:54

For almost ten years a Meat Loaf show mostly consisted of:

Life Is A Lemon
Mercury Blues
Lawyers Guns & Money
Dead Ringer
Took The Words
Frying Pan
Anything For Love
Paradise
Two Out Of Three
Bat Out Of Hell

Then swap Lawyers for Break It and you have most of the show for nigh on the next ten years. The order of songs may change and there may be the odd new song thrown in but the vast majority of shows in Meat's later years were very similar. Even the arrangements remained mostly the same:

Randy plays a short guitar solo before Two Out Of Three
Meat stops the band several times during the intro to Paradise
During Took The Words Meat has a long segment where he acts like a southern preacher and berates the crowd
Meat acts offended towards Paul and Randy during Mercury Blues
Meat does a long slow part towards the end of Frying Pan and then pretends to attack Paul during the intrumental

There may have been a bit of saxophone added here and a different guitar part there, but a huge chunk of these shows was the same.

Michael Marxen · 06 Sep 2022, 20:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by Evil One

There may have been a bit of saxophone added here and a different guitar part there, but a huge chunk of these shows was the same.

No two shows of Meat ever were the same!

Wario · 06 Sep 2022, 20:04

BREAK IT needed a rest badly. and theres no competition..

underplayed is too long a list to say. but he def shouldve brought out MODERN GIRL more than he did. especially since he always loved bad attitude.

Evil One · 07 Sep 2022, 09:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by Michael Marxen

No two shows of Meat ever were the same!

I didn't suggest they were. You went to multiple shows on the same tour so would have noticed all the little differences. I only went to one show per tour so I noticed Meat basically had set routines he reused each tour. Shows pre 2000 had a lot more variety than shows post 2000.

As to songs I wish he'd played more:
Modern Girl
Bad For Good
Land Of The Pig
I'm Gonna Love Her For Both Of Us
Original Sin
A Kiss Is A Terrible Thing To Waste

amethyst · 07 Sep 2022, 21:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wario

BREAK IT needed a rest badly. and theres no competition..

underplayed is too long a list to say. but he def shouldve brought out MODERN GIRL more than he did. especially since he always loved bad attitude.

Bad Attitude was my first live foray into the world of Meat Loaf (after bingeing on Bat out of Hell, Dead Ringer and Midnight at the Lost and Found on vinyl) and will always hold a special place in my heart. I remember going to the Hammersmith Odeon with my cousin in 1984 and never looked back after that. As you say, the list of underplayed songs is huge.

Wario · 08 Sep 2022, 03:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by Michael Marxen

No two shows of Meat ever were the same!

objectively speaking, on paper, many shows were the same

tours and the setlist changes:

1977-1978 BAT TOUR - For crying out loud was cut, and johnny b goode added in '78. Hammerdown was an encore rarely, more than you deserve was in there breifly. mostly the same otherwise, Nassau 1978 being an exception.
1981-1982 - EURO / dead ringer - not enough material to go off of how much things changed
1983 - Midnight Tour - Setlist never changed.
1984/85 - Bad attitude tour - set list never changed
1986/87 - 20/20 BBIS Tour - lots of changes throughout the tour. literally a section of teh show was a BBIS album track. either was Burning Down, Special Girl (which also took up 2 outta 3's spot), One More Kiss .... apparently rock n roll hero was done too!
1988 - Lost Boys Tour - setlist changed alot. just lots of changes from the states legs to the epic european leg.
1989/1991 Pubs n Clubs tour - the main set was strictly tight. tho heaven can wait took two out of three's spot in 89 and Dead Ringer was included in European shows. Rock Medley changed up a bit too
1993/1994 Everything Louder - set changed mainly when meat decided whether to open w AFL or frying pan and things were structured accordingly.
1995/1996 Born To ROck - alot of changes from the Big three hour epic show to the festival circuit. just things got cut
1998/1999 - VBO tour - set changed alot during the acoustic section
1999 - Storyteller's - setlist diff every show
2001 - Night of Proms - same set, sans Bat was added like once.
2002-2003 Just having Fun - set list stayed the same sans a cover encore here and there with the audience choice
2003-2004 CHSIB tour - stelist changed a ton. things got switched out, encores changed. CHSIB songs themselves got rotated in and out.
2005 - Hair of the Dog - sans two outta three being added like once, the set and show were literally the same each night.
2006/2007 - 3 Bats - set changed alot. each leg.
2008 - Casa De Carne - setlist stayed the same. us leg got two outta three and cut all the good stuff.
2010/2011 - Hang Cool/ GP Tour - set was the same sans song of madness being traded out for stand in the storm. a few arrangement mods too.
2012 - mad mad world - set wouldve stayed the same but our love and our souls quickly died and got replaced by two out of three.
2013 - last at bat - set never changed
2014/2015 - in concert - set never changed sans the encore when Justin left. and hot patootie was added on occasion.

Michael Marxen · 09 Sep 2022, 01:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wario

objectively speaking, on paper, many shows were the same

tours and the setlist changes:

1977-1978 BAT TOUR - For crying out loud was cut, and johnny b goode added in '78. Hammerdown was an encore rarely, more than you deserve was in there breifly. mostly the same otherwise, Nassau 1978 being an exception.
1981-1982 - EURO / dead ringer - not enough material to go off of how much things changed
1983 - Midnight Tour - Setlist never changed.
1984/85 - Bad attitude tour - set list never changed
1986/87 - 20/20 BBIS Tour - lots of changes throughout the tour. literally a section of teh show was a BBIS album track. either was Burning Down, Special Girl (which also took up 2 outta 3's spot), One More Kiss .... apparently rock n roll hero was done too!
1988 - Lost Boys Tour - setlist changed alot. just lots of changes from the states legs to the epic european leg.
1989/1991 Pubs n Clubs tour - the main set was strictly tight. tho heaven can wait took two out of three's spot in 89 and Dead Ringer was included in European shows. Rock Medley changed up a bit too
1993/1994 Everything Louder - set changed mainly when meat decided whether to open w AFL or frying pan and things were structured accordingly.
1995/1996 Born To ROck - alot of changes from the Big three hour epic show to the festival circuit. just things got cut
1998/1999 - VBO tour - set changed alot during the acoustic section
1999 - Storyteller's - setlist diff every show
2001 - Night of Proms - same set, sans Bat was added like once.
2002-2003 Just having Fun - set list stayed the same sans a cover encore here and there with the audience choice
2003-2004 CHSIB tour - stelist changed a ton. things got switched out, encores changed. CHSIB songs themselves got rotated in and out.
2005 - Hair of the Dog - sans two outta three being added like once, the set and show were literally the same each night.
2006/2007 - 3 Bats - set changed alot. each leg.
2008 - Casa De Carne - setlist stayed the same. us leg got two outta three and cut all the good stuff.
2010/2011 - Hang Cool/ GP Tour - set was the same sans song of madness being traded out for stand in the storm. a few arrangement mods too.
2012 - mad mad world - set wouldve stayed the same but our love and our souls quickly died and got replaced by two out of three.
2013 - last at bat - set never changed
2014/2015 - in concert - set never changed sans the encore when Justin left. and hot patootie was added on occasion.

Would not call it objective just basing on one aspect (setlists) and neglecting i.e. how many variations the songs had from night to night.
Frying Pan, Paradise, TOOT, RRD and others varied by many minutes from one gig to another.

Not simply reproducing Jims art but (re)creating it in the moment!

Not easy but refreshing for the band too. Although seeing many gigs, never ever saw an artist with that many variations and spontanity on a tour.
Includes Meats speaches, while others use the same words in the same spots any night.

AndrewG · 09 Sep 2022, 03:02

Indeed Meat's setlist didn't change really and that might have been a bit frustrating for die hard fans who would have wanted to hear some rarer songs.

At the same time I often think to the two back to back Springsteen shows I saw in 2016. 1 in Coventry and 1 at Wembley a few days later. Radical set changes. Coventry was awesome, one of the best shows I've seen Springsteen do by far. Wembley sucked, the set didn't flow at all was too much interrupted by sign requests and ended up with a lot of stop - start in tempo and thus it didn't seem to get exciting. Very strange for a Springsteen show with a band where I thought Coventry he had nailed things. Instead Wembley was like watching him solo which I also found boring in the past. If you'd only seen him at Wembley you could have come away with quite a "meh" reaction I think. The songs were great but they sort of felt cobbled together. There is a radical difference between starting a long encore section with Travelin' Band or Jungleland!

Sometimes sticking to a pre-defined setlist might be safer and appear a bit boring from the outset, but it DOES ensure people see you at your best probably. Meat thought a lot about that I believe. I'm not sure it was ever necessary to actually do Bat in its entirety in order but it did give people a chance to hear the by far most famous album by Meat without omissions. Pretty special.

Did he get it right for everyone? Probably not. But I suspect the majority was often entertained and didn't just hear a random collection of songs which could have left many puzzled as to where the hell did they come from.
When Meat ventured too long away from the popular standards such as doing the 4 new HCTB songs in a row, it simply did not work for 90% of the audience.

jcmoorehead · 09 Sep 2022, 09:18

it's interesting that this subject has came up here. I listen to a Marillion podcast and they've been talking about the setlists and songs played from Marillions catalogue over the years. With Marillion there were definitely some songs that were played a lot more over others, but they seemed to be in a spot where they could pick from any album and it have a viable chance to be in a setlist.

With Meat, it's a weird one because I think he had a certain level of fame which was double edged when it came to performing live. He had and has a big number of die hard fans like us, who have every album and would love to hear the deeper cuts but I think the majority of people in the audience for his concerts were more casual fans, who saw Meat Loaf was coming to town and they own a copy of Bat & Bat 2, or they know the greatest hits and decide to go to the concert.

So Meat had to make sure his setlists were suitable to satisfy them and make sure they had a good time, but also hopefully satisfy the die-hards. I think he did always think about how to keep it entertaining not just for the fans but himself, and that is where the costumes, the order of songs, transitions and little performances would have came in. I saw him three times, and each time I heard a lot of the same songs but it did feel different and was always entertaining.

Evil One · 09 Sep 2022, 10:34

To clarify, I'm not suggesting Meat should have played a different set list every night. And I fully understand why he did Bat, Paradise, Took The Words, Two Out Of Three, Dead Ringer and Anything For Love at every show. In fact I would probably have been disappointed if I didn't see those songs at a Meat Loaf show.

My point is songs like Lemon and Frying Pan at nearly every show for 20 years. Yes they are great songs, but Meat's catalogue is full of great songs. A bit of variety would have been nice.

Michael Marxen · 09 Sep 2022, 23:15

Though rarely changing the setlist during a tour Meat never stopped analyzing his gigs and trying to improve them from night to night.
Reading not just every review but also each comment on the web.

Frying Pan is killer live and should never have been dropped.

letsgotoofar · 11 Sep 2022, 14:31

For clarification here: nobody is saying any of his choices are bad choices or second-guessing his picks (not that it particularly matters if they do; no person on earth is infallible). They're just saying what they'd have liked to see/hear instead.

proctorloaf · 11 Sep 2022, 23:02

Almost every tour until 2012 had new material. We missed out on the Braver Tour which was booked in the UK before it had to be cancelled. At an arena show you've got to please 20,000+ most of those fans only know the hits. Meat knew how to put on a good show and always gave 100%. If you wanted a particular show, with a setlist chosen by yourself, you could have put up the cash to promote a concert.

letsgotoofar · 13 Sep 2022, 17:37

Well, why don't we just lock the thread then? God has spoken, let the church say amen.

Wario · 14 Sep 2022, 01:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by letsgotoofar

Well, why don't we just lock the thread then? God has spoken, let the church say amen.

uh no. opinions are opinions.

fact is meat didn't change his set much. it is fact. sure the shows were diff each night but objectively he changed very little in his show on paper.

What worked did work. I would never take frying pan out, lemon cooks. Took is mandatory for the audience participation alone. ofc he has to do bat and paradise and AFL.

but why.. why.... why .... did we get break it without fail since 2005... as much as we did when there was a plethora of stuff that couldve been done in its place. never understood that one.

letsgotoofar · 14 Sep 2022, 03:08

The eye-roll indicated I was being sarcastic about the thread's reception from the diehards, not that I really thought it should be.

proctorloaf · 14 Sep 2022, 23:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by letsgotoofar

Well, why don't we just lock the thread then? God has spoken, let the church say amen.

It's "Lord Sir God" to you :)

MarkS · 17 Sep 2022, 02:59

To me the only song that desperately need a rest was Break It, the rest I was generally fine with

04 Sep 2022, 21:00	#1
nightinr Super Loafer Join Date: 04.09.2011 Posts: 358	Underplayed & Overplayed Songs in Meat Loaf tours Underplayed - I'd Lie for you - Good Girls go to heaven - All Coming Back to me Now - Bad Attitude Overplayed - Giving Tree - awful! - If it ain't broke - Paradise (personally one of my least favourite Meat track! I get why he probably had to play it but could we just shortened it to maybe 7 mins...I hated the 20 min versions)

05 Sep 2022, 20:54	#2
Evil One Mega Loafer Join Date: 15.01.2007 Posts: 5,192	For almost ten years a Meat Loaf show mostly consisted of: Life Is A Lemon Mercury Blues Lawyers Guns & Money Dead Ringer Took The Words Frying Pan Anything For Love Paradise Two Out Of Three Bat Out Of Hell Then swap Lawyers for Break It and you have most of the show for nigh on the next ten years. The order of songs may change and there may be the odd new song thrown in but the vast majority of shows in Meat's later years were very similar. Even the arrangements remained mostly the same: Randy plays a short guitar solo before Two Out Of Three Meat stops the band several times during the intro to Paradise During Took The Words Meat has a long segment where he acts like a southern preacher and berates the crowd Meat acts offended towards Paul and Randy during Mercury Blues Meat does a long slow part towards the end of Frying Pan and then pretends to attack Paul during the intrumental There may have been a bit of saxophone added here and a different guitar part there, but a huge chunk of these shows was the same.

06 Sep 2022, 20:04	#4
Wario Monstro helps me spell things... Join Date: 05.01.2007 Location: Masculine, Pennsylvania Posts: 9,105	BREAK IT needed a rest badly. and theres no competition.. underplayed is too long a list to say. but he def shouldve brought out MODERN GIRL more than he did. especially since he always loved bad attitude.

09 Sep 2022, 03:02	#9
AndrewG I hope your salmon sucks! Join Date: 18.01.2004 Location: Northamptonshire Posts: 7,077	Indeed Meat's setlist didn't change really and that might have been a bit frustrating for die hard fans who would have wanted to hear some rarer songs. At the same time I often think to the two back to back Springsteen shows I saw in 2016. 1 in Coventry and 1 at Wembley a few days later. Radical set changes. Coventry was awesome, one of the best shows I've seen Springsteen do by far. Wembley sucked, the set didn't flow at all was too much interrupted by sign requests and ended up with a lot of stop - start in tempo and thus it didn't seem to get exciting. Very strange for a Springsteen show with a band where I thought Coventry he had nailed things. Instead Wembley was like watching him solo which I also found boring in the past. If you'd only seen him at Wembley you could have come away with quite a "meh" reaction I think. The songs were great but they sort of felt cobbled together. There is a radical difference between starting a long encore section with Travelin' Band or Jungleland! Sometimes sticking to a pre-defined setlist might be safer and appear a bit boring from the outset, but it DOES ensure people see you at your best probably. Meat thought a lot about that I believe. I'm not sure it was ever necessary to actually do Bat in its entirety in order but it did give people a chance to hear the by far most famous album by Meat without omissions. Pretty special. Did he get it right for everyone? Probably not. But I suspect the majority was often entertained and didn't just hear a random collection of songs which could have left many puzzled as to where the hell did they come from. When Meat ventured too long away from the popular standards such as doing the 4 new HCTB songs in a row, it simply did not work for 90% of the audience.

09 Sep 2022, 09:18	#10
jcmoorehead Super Loafer Join Date: 09.04.2003 Location: Edinburgh, formerly Teesside Posts: 671	it's interesting that this subject has came up here. I listen to a Marillion podcast and they've been talking about the setlists and songs played from Marillions catalogue over the years. With Marillion there were definitely some songs that were played a lot more over others, but they seemed to be in a spot where they could pick from any album and it have a viable chance to be in a setlist. With Meat, it's a weird one because I think he had a certain level of fame which was double edged when it came to performing live. He had and has a big number of die hard fans like us, who have every album and would love to hear the deeper cuts but I think the majority of people in the audience for his concerts were more casual fans, who saw Meat Loaf was coming to town and they own a copy of Bat & Bat 2, or they know the greatest hits and decide to go to the concert. So Meat had to make sure his setlists were suitable to satisfy them and make sure they had a good time, but also hopefully satisfy the die-hards. I think he did always think about how to keep it entertaining not just for the fans but himself, and that is where the costumes, the order of songs, transitions and little performances would have came in. I saw him three times, and each time I heard a lot of the same songs but it did feel different and was always entertaining.

09 Sep 2022, 10:34	#11
Evil One Mega Loafer Join Date: 15.01.2007 Posts: 5,192	To clarify, I'm not suggesting Meat should have played a different set list every night. And I fully understand why he did Bat, Paradise, Took The Words, Two Out Of Three, Dead Ringer and Anything For Love at every show. In fact I would probably have been disappointed if I didn't see those songs at a Meat Loaf show. My point is songs like Lemon and Frying Pan at nearly every show for 20 years. Yes they are great songs, but Meat's catalogue is full of great songs. A bit of variety would have been nice.

09 Sep 2022, 23:15	#12
Michael Marxen Super Loafer Join Date: 04.02.2003 Location: Cologne, Germany Posts: 355	Though rarely changing the setlist during a tour Meat never stopped analyzing his gigs and trying to improve them from night to night. Reading not just every review but also each comment on the web. Frying Pan is killer live and should never have been dropped.

11 Sep 2022, 14:31	#13
letsgotoofar Super Loafer Join Date: 12.09.2016 Location: In front of a computer, duh. Posts: 420	For clarification here: nobody is saying any of his choices are bad choices or second-guessing his picks (not that it particularly matters if they do; no person on earth is infallible). They're just saying what they'd have liked to see/hear instead.

11 Sep 2022, 23:02	#14
proctorloaf Super Loafer Join Date: 28.02.2010 Location: Liverpool, UK Posts: 347	Almost every tour until 2012 had new material. We missed out on the Braver Tour which was booked in the UK before it had to be cancelled. At an arena show you've got to please 20,000+ most of those fans only know the hits. Meat knew how to put on a good show and always gave 100%. If you wanted a particular show, with a setlist chosen by yourself, you could have put up the cash to promote a concert.

13 Sep 2022, 17:37	#15
letsgotoofar Super Loafer Join Date: 12.09.2016 Location: In front of a computer, duh. Posts: 420	Well, why don't we just lock the thread then? God has spoken, let the church say amen.

14 Sep 2022, 03:08	#17
letsgotoofar Super Loafer Join Date: 12.09.2016 Location: In front of a computer, duh. Posts: 420	The eye-roll indicated I was being sarcastic about the thread's reception from the diehards, not that I really thought it should be.

17 Sep 2022, 02:59	#19
MarkS Super Loafer Join Date: 20.03.2012 Posts: 312	To me the only song that desperately need a rest was Break It, the rest I was generally fine with