The Seize the Night Tour

Seize the Night
Tour by Meat Loaf
Associated album Bat out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose
Legs 2
Shows 112
Meat Loaf concert chronology
Hair of the Dog Tour
(2005)		 The Seize the Night Tour
(2006-2007)		 The Casa de Carne Tour
(2008)

Seize the Night (also known as the Three Bats tour) is a 2007 world tour by Meat Loaf to promote the Bat out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose album.

Some concerts in April were cancelled due to Meat Loaf's ill health. Just over an hour into a concert in Newcastle on Tyne on 31 October 2007 he told the audience that it was the last of his life, and walked off stage.[1] He was later diagnosed with an "inter-vocal cord cyst" and cancelled the remaining dates on his European tour. Playing down the comments he made at Newcastle, in a statement he said "I'll be back."[2]

A DVD of the tour was released in October 2007, entitled 3 Bats Live. It also contains a bonus disc featuring the promotional videos and animations from Bat III. The DVD also features Meat Loaf: In Search of Paradise, a documentary about the tour.

Musicians

Many musicians from recent tours returned to play in the Neverland Express band. The most major change was the departure of Patti Russo, who had toured with Meat Loaf for 13 years. Vocalist Aspen Miller and saxophonist/keyboardist Dave Luther joined the band. He opened the show as lead on "All Revved up with No Place to Go."

Paul Crook, Randy Flowers, Mark Alexander, and John Miceli performed on lead guitar, guitar, piano, and drums, respectively. Kasim Sulton was bass guitar and musical director.

Marion Raven joined Meat Loaf for the first leg. She was the supporting act, promoting her Set Me Free album. Meat Loaf introduced her on stage at the latter stages of the concerts to duet on "It's All Coming Back to Me Now".[3] Supporting acts for the second leg included backing singer C.C. Colletti and Mother Pearl.

Dates

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Date City Country Venue Notes
Leg I
February 23, 2007 Pala, California United States Pala Casino
February 28, 2007 Victoria, British Columbia Canada Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre
March 2, 2007 Vancouver, British Columbia Pacific Coliseum
March 4, 2007 Edmonton, Alberta Rexall Place
March 6, 2007 Kelowna, British Columbia Prospera Place
March 8, 2007 Calgary, Alberta Pengrowth Saddledome
March 11, 2007 Winnipeg, Manitoba MTS Centre
March 14, 2007 Toronto, Ontario Hummingbird Centre
March 16, 2007 Ottawa, Ontario Scotiabank Place
March 18, 2007 London, Ontario John Labatt Centre
March 20, 2007 Hamilton, Ontario Copps Coliseum
March 22, 2007 Syracuse, New York United States War Memorial at Oncenter
March 24, 2007 Upper Darby, Pennsylvania Tower Theater
March 26, 2007 Poughkeepsie, New York Mid-Hudson Civic Center
March 28, 2007 Binghamton, New York Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena
March 30, 2007 Hershey, Pennsylvania Giant Center
April 1, 2007 Washington, D.C. DAR Constitution Hall Postponed to April 16
April 3, 2007 Clearwater, Florida Ruth Eckerd Hall Rescheduled for September 1
April 5, 2007 Boca Raton, Florida Mizner Amphitheater Stopped after four songs;
rescheduled for August 30
April 7, 2007 Orlando, Florida Hard Rock Live Canceled
April 10, 2007 Wallingford, Connecticut Chevrolet Theatre Canceled
April 12, 2007 New York City, New York Theater @ Madison Square Garden Rescheduled for July 18
April 13, 2007 Rescheduled for July 20
April 16, 2007 Washington, D.C. DAR Constitution Hall
Europe
May 10, 2007 Manchester England Manchester Evening News Arena
May 12, 2007
May 14, 2007 Birmingham NEC Arena
May 16, 2007
May 18, 2007 Glasgow Scotland SECC
May 20, 2007 Newcastle upon Tyne England Metro Radio Arena
May 23, 2007 London Wembley Arena
May 25, 2007
May 27, 2007 Sheffield Hallam FM Arena
May 29, 2007
May 31, 2007 Belfast Northern Ireland Odyssey Arena
June 2, 2007 Dublin Ireland The Point
June 4, 2007
June 7, 2007 Sölvesborg Sweden Sweden Rock Festival
June 9, 2007 Middelfart Denmark Rock Under Broen
June 12, 2007 Hamburg Germany Color Line Arena
June 14, 2007 Cologne Cologne Arena
June 17, 2007 Munich Olympiahalle
June 19, 2007 Stuttgart Schleyerhalle
June 21, 2007 Frankfurt Festhalle
June 23, 2007 Yello Strom World Bowl XV, Commerzbank-Arena
June 25, 2007 Basel Switzerland St. Jakob Arena
June 27, 2007 Amsterdam Netherlands Heineken Music Hall
June 29, 2007 Bristol England Ashton Gate Football Ground
North America
July 18, 2007 New York City, New York United States Theater @ Madison Square Garden
July 20, 2007
July 22, 2007 Saratoga Springs, New York Saratoga Performing Arts Center
July 24, 2007 Corfu, New York Darien Lake Performing Arts Center
July 27, 2007 Uncasville, Connecticut Mohegan Sun Arena
July 29, 2007 Holmdel, New Jersey PNC Bank Arts Center
July 31, 2007 Watertown, New York Watertown Fairgrounds
August 2, 2007 Scranton, Pennsylvania Toyota Pavilion at Montage Mountain
August 4, 2007 Clearfield, Pennsylvania Clearfield County Fair
August 6, 2007 Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Musikfest
August 9, 2007 Cleveland, Ohio Time Warner Cable Amphitheater at Tower City
August 11, 2007 Gilford, New Hampshire Meadowbrook Musical Arts Center
August 13, 2007 Montreal, Quebec Canada Bell Centre
August 16, 2007 Rama, Ontario Casino Rama
August 18, 2007 Atlantic City, New Jersey United States Borgata Events Center
August 20, 2007 Boston, Massachusetts Bank of America Pavilion
August 22, 2007 Wantagh, New York Nikon at Jones Beach Theater
August 24, 2007 Tunica Resorts, Mississippi Grand Casino
August 28, 2007 Orlando, Florida Hard Rock Live Rescheduled from April 8
August 30, 2007 Boca Raton, Florida Mizner Amphitheater Rescheduled from April 5
September 1, 2007 Clearwater, Florida Ruth Eckerd Hall Rescheduled from April 3
September 3, 2007 Atlanta, Georgia Chastain Park Amphitheatre
Europe
October 18, 2007 Dortmund Germany Westfalenhalle
October 20, 2007 Leipzig Leipzig Arena
October 22, 2007 Mannheim SAP Arena
October 24, 2007 Nuremberg Nuremberg Arena
October 26, 2007 Bremen AWD-Dome
October 28, 2007 Glasgow Scotland SECC
October 31, 2007 Newcastle upon Tyne England Metro Radio Arena Cut short after 1hr 18mins.[1]
November 2, 2007 Birmingham NEC Arena Cancelled
November 4, 2007 Manchester Manchester Evening News Arena Rescheduled for November 27[4]
November 6, 2007 London Wembley Arena Cancelled
November 8, 2007 Nottingham Nottingham Arena Cancelled
November 11, 2007 Cardiff Wales Cardiff International Arena Cancelled
November 2007 Horsens Denmark Cancelled
November 2007 Bergen Norway Cancelled
November 2007 Stockholm Sweden Cancelled
November 2007 Belfast Northern Ireland Cancelled
November 27, 2007 Manchester England Evening News Arena Cancelled

Set list

  1. "All Revved Up with No Place to Go" (part)
  2. "Paradise by the Dashboard Light"
  3. "You Took the Words Right out of My Mouth"
  4. "Out of the Frying Pan (And into the Fire)"
  5. "Life Is a Lemon and I Want My Money Back"
  6. "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)"
  7. "Objects in the Rear View Mirror May Appear Closer than They Are"
  8. "Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through"
  9. "Seize the Night" (part)
  10. "The Future Ain't What It Used to Be"
  11. "The Monster Is Loose"
  12. "Bad for Good"
  13. "If It Ain't Broke, Break It"
  14. "Blind as a Bat"
  15. "Two out of Three Ain't Bad"
  16. "Bat out of Hell"
  17. "Black Betty"
  18. "It's All Coming Back to Me Now"
  19. "Mercury Blues"
  20. "Gimme Shelter"

Other Songs:

  1. "In the Land of the Pig, The Butcher Is King" (Replaced The Monster Is Loose)
  2. "I'm Gonna Love Her for Both of Us" (Played since Dortmund, planned for cancelled shows)

Critical reaction

The staging of "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" received a poor critical reaction due to the 32 years age difference between Meat Loaf and Aspen Miller, the latter dressed in a small costume. After consistent comments in the press, the staging was changed so that the band were dressed in 1970s clothing for the song so that it was divorced from reality. Meat Loaf even wore a wig for some concerts so that he appeared as he did when the first Bat album was released in 1977.[5]

Cancellations

Meat Loaf cancelled some concerts in April due to ill health.

Wikinews has related news: Singer Meat Loaf falls ill during concert

During a performance in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK on October 31, 2007, at the opening of "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" he suggested that the crowd of thousands should enjoy the performance as it was the last of his career. He attempted to sing the first line of the song, but instead said "Ladies and gentlemen, I love you, thank you for coming, but I can no longer continue." Removing the jacket he was wearing, he thanked the audience for 30 years, said "goodbye forever" and left the stage. The next day his tour promoter, Andrew Miller, refuted that this was the end for Meat Loaf and that he would continue touring after suitable rest.[1]

His management initially claimed that the singer had "acute laryngitis."[4] Nearly a week later he announced that he had been diagnosed with an inter-vocal cyst, and cancelled the remaining dates of his European tour. He announced that he would return, however.[2] He began his Casa de Carne tour in summer 2008 featuring the return of his long-time duet partner Patti Russo.[6] Also, in an attempt to compensate for cutting short the show at Newcastle, he took part in a charity penalty shoot-out at the city's football stadium.[7]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "'Stressed' Meat Loaf abandons gig". BBC.co.uk. 2007-11-01. Retrieved 2007-11-01.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Ill Meat Loaf scraps Europe tour". BBC News. 2007-11-06. Retrieved 2007-12-28.
  3. ↑ "Norwegian singer tours UK with Meat Loaf". norway.org.uk. Retrieved 2007-05-25.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Meat Loaf calls off another show". BBC.co.uk. 2007-11-04. Retrieved 2007-11-05.
  5. ↑ "In Search of Paradise", 3 Bats DVD
  6. ↑ http://meatloaf.net/news/index.php?mode=fullstory&id=318
  7. ↑ "Meat Loaf signs for Toon?". BBC. 2008-06-05. Retrieved 2008-09-25.