Tonight at Manchester's Opera House, I'm waiting for Meatloaf. As the curtain awash with moving lights drops, Meatloaf is revealed, although this meatloaf has less hair and has developed a Mancunian accent; but he does have two important things in common with the real Meatloaf, he can sing as well as the man himself and he knows how to entertain a crowd. This is Steve Steinman's Meatloaf, a tour dedicated to the greatest hits.
Most Meatloaf fans will be very familiar with Steve Steinman, most famously for his appearance on TV's 'stars in their eyes' over 20 years ago, since then, Steve has performed all over the world and I was rather excited to see tonight's show.
The hits come thick and fast during the first half although with a rather cringy rendition of 'paradise by the Dashboard light' which only Steinman could get away with, mainly because he sees the funny side just as much as the audience!
The second half was more up tempo and as a result, many people were out of their seats and dancing in the aisles, a particular favourite of mine this evening was 'dead ringer for love' which was performed brilliantly by Steinman and the fabulous Haley Russell who provided back up and filled in the female roles in those classic meatloaf songs. The band were fantastic and the drum and piano solos were arena-worthy.
There was a real buzz in the theatre during the second half, people dancing, heckling compliments and partying and Steinman knew how to keep the party going, there was a slight sound issue during the night with the microphones but this was quickly resolved and didn't really affect your overall enjoyment of the show.
This show is the next best thing to seeing the real thing and it was paradise by the staging light!
Reviewer: Max Eden
Reviewed: 17th March 2016
