The most amazing night of my life was spent with Meat Loaf

It's the morning after the night before, the night before being the most amazing night of my life!!

The most amazing night of my life involved me and Meat Loaf!! I can barely believe that I'm actually saying the best nigjt of my life was spent with Meat Loaf but it is true!!

I had tickets to see Meat Loaf at the M.E.N. Arena in Manchester on the 12th May 2007, they cost me £200 and I was wondering if they were worth that money but after my night I can honestly say I'd pay ten times that amount for tickets again.

My tickets were for block B, row 4, seats 3&4 and they are centre stage seats and I was happy with being that close but when we got there inside the arena we saw the barrier up and knew we would be allowed to the front of the stage at some point.

Marion Raven was the opening act (she sings on one of his songs on his new album). She did an acoustic set with Meat's guitarist Randy Flowers and it was OK but everyone there was more interested in seeing the man himself.

When Marion left the stage the stage hands came on and started to set up the stage and 10 minutes later the lights went down and some people rushed for the stage so I did the same and got right up to the barrier, well there was someone in front of me but that didn't spoil my view because there was plenty of gaps to see through.

Then his band come on stage and they are all in colourful costumes and wigs, his 2 female backing singers then come on the stage and start singing and then all of a sudden a guy comes in stage looking like Meat Loaf did in the 70s - with the long hair and at first I thought that it was someone pretending to be him but the second he stared to sing I knew it was Meat Loaf.

WOW! I couldn't actually believe how close I was to him - I was 5 foot away from him slightly to the left of the middle of the stage. In fact I think I was in the best place because I could view everyone and everything from where I was stood.

The atmosphere was electric where I was stood and I felt as though I was in some kind of dream, it just didn't seem real that I was there with Meat Loaf and I was so close that I could reach across the barrier and touch him if I wanted!!

The songs were amazing and I was singing along and cheering and having the time of my life. Meat Loaf paid me lots of attention, well it seemed that way because he spent over a third of his stage time stood in front of me and he kept looking down at me. It was amazing he was just so close and I felt like I was the only one there most of the time. I was only reminded of the other people when a drunk girl and her boyfriend came to the front and stood next to me, they kept shouting at the bass players name and waving to him but he paid them no attention because they were just acting like idiots.

He did nearly all the songs that I hoped he would do and I was dancing and singing along to them, normally I wouldn't feel confident enough to do that especially knowing there is 20,000 people stood behind me possible looking down on me but because I couldn't see them I didn't even realise they were there.

It was explosive and during one point they had fire phro's at the back of the stage and they were shooting big flames of fire up into the air and they were so hot, we could feel the heat from them and they were at the back of the stage. They were only on for one song which was good because we were starting to melt from them, I felt sorry for his band members at the back near them because they were very hot to us so I couldn't only imagine how hot they were for the band members very close to them.

Meat Loaf gave his all to performing, he was rushing about and singing his lungs out, he was really giving it his all and I was amazed by how much he gave to the show. He must of given it 200% and then some. It was just so wonderful and he knows he to work the crowd and keep them entertained.

He is funny too, when he was introducing his band he kept introducing one of the guitarists guitars and the audience was laughing so hard everything time he did that.

At one point during the show Meat went "there was no expense spared when we were putting this show together. Look at this red stool *he moves a red stool to the front of the stage* isn't it nice? Well this was bought just for the show and not only did we buy one red stool *walks to the other side of the stage* but we bought two of them". The audience was in fits of laughter when he said that. It was very funny!! He then sat on the red stool he put at the front of the stage and he sang a song, during the song he looked like he was asleep because he closed him eyes and didn't move for ages but then he moved. I think he only sat down a couple of times during the show, maybe three times in total. He was just moving a lot and working up a sweat.

His band was amazing too, they sounded great and being so close it sounds different than it does up at the back. It was such an amazing pleasure to be so close and hear the music and vocals so close. Meat has got a powerful voice and we could hear him when he didn't have the microphone to his mouth.

He did maybe 20 songs and they were all perfect and some were longer than others and the crowd seemed to know them all, I didn't know a couple of them but I liked them, they were all great songs and he did Bat Out of Hell which is wonderful live. I felt like I wasn't there, I felt like I was somewhere else when that came on. It was like I was transported away somewhere in my own little world where it was just me and Meat. Nothing else was around me at the moment, I couldn't feel or see anything other than Meat. It was amazing!!

He had two massive video screens up for the audience at the back and at the back of the stage ge had three screens and at times there would be video clips played on those screens. In fact about 90 minutes into the show all the band went off stage and the screens played clips with a song on. The clips were all of Meat Loaf from over the years, him in his film roles ect and that was good. That lasted for about 10 minutes and then his band came back on and they did another hour. It was wonderful because when he went off I thought he wouldn't come back on. But thinking about it now I recently read somewhere that his insurance won't allow him to perform for longer than 90 minutes a time so that's probably why he went off for 10 minutes so he can then perform for longer as a lot of people won't be pleased with a 90 minute show.

The first half of the show was the better half in a lot of ways but the second half of the show seemed to have a lot more energy. I think the first half was slightly better for me because it had a lot of my favourite Meat Loaf songs in it but then again so did the second half. The only thing that makes the first half of the show slightly better than the second is the last three songs of the second half I didn't know. I think I may have heard them but I didn't really know them. If I knew the last three songs then both parts of the show would of been as good.

Meat changed his outfit a few times during the show. The wig came off after the first song when the girl singer pulled it off and then Meat talked to the wig like it was a person and that was funny. He then put a football jersey on, they he took that off and had a long velvet coat on and then that came off and he had a waist coat on with a shirt.

The girls in the band changed about 6 times during the show and they were very quick changed When they first came out they had short colourful wigs on and very short dressed and then when Meat came on one rushed off and came back a minute later in another outfit to sing the suet with Meat. They then must of changed another 5 times during the show and they were always very quick changed.

The band changed only once from what I can remember. The second lot of outfits were the best.

When the second half of the show started it was amazing. You could see the band making their way on in the dark and then all of a sudden there was a really loud band and a flash of light and there blow up dolls appeared on stage. There was one for each member of the band and they were massive and looked amazing!! They only stayed up for one song and then they disappeared but they were great fun. The Meat Loaf one was nodding it's head in a really manic way, it was really funny.

I could probably sit and write about this all day, I'm sure I will be talking about this concert for years to come because it's the most amazing experience of my life. I don't know if anything can beat the night had last night. I don't think that I can even put in words just how amazing the show was. It's hard to find the words but it was the most amazing night of my life, that's the only way that I can ever possibly explain my evening with Meat Loaf.

I'm seeing him on November 4th at the M.E.N. Arena again and I hope I get to the front again.