Standing outside Cardiff's International Arena and it's extremely cold. No, let me rephrase that, it's fucking freezing. The thin combats and Starwood t-shirt I have chosen to adorn myself with for tonight's rock 'n' roll extravaganza are doing precious little to protect me from the frosty elements. Arms and fingertips are close to losing all feeling BUT this is a small price to pay in order to have freedom of movement and sweaty enjoyment later on inside the arena because this is, after all, a fucking rock show and not, as so many of the other people queueing around me seem to think, some kind of polar expedition. Honestly, there's more hats, coats and scarves on show outside the CIA than there is in the winter sale at Primark's Reykjavik outlet. Where's your metal spirit mofos?

 
Being one of those Bill and Ted style traditional metalheads I must admit that the sight that met my eyes upon entering the arena made my blood run even colder than outside's inclement weather. A stage set with a double bass and tambourine couldn't really be much of a good omen and I resigned myself to standing through a below average support act that I'd never heard of. Boy was I wrong. Within seconds of 'Pulling The Rug' bursting into life I was hooked. Bass man Al Gare knocking seven bells out of his upright bass was an impressive sight in itself but that flanked with equally efficient and soulful players like the indomitable Darrel Higham on guitar and the crazy tub thumping Steve Rushton (or is it Keith Moon) who is regularly close to thrashing his kit it's clear that Imelda May has an extremely tight unit kicking out some jazzed up rockabilly jams for her blues soaked voice to shake, rattle and roll right over. Promoting her recently released third album 'Mayhem' Imelda and her band dish out a vibrant catchy set that easily hooks themselves new fans with the instantly addictive slices of 'Psycho', 'Mayhem' and signature tune 'Johnny Got A Boom Boom'. With time to throw in a couple of classic covers with their own personalised arrangements stamped on them, 'Train Kept A Rollin' and 'Tainted Love', I'm left genuinely impressed and somewhat speechless. With Imelda May's crew lined up for a return to these shores in February for their own tour I'm more than tempted to head along and catch a full headlining set from a band we're sure to see much more of in the future. 

At 63 years old you've gotta wonder just how many more tours Meat Loaf has got left to look forward to before he hangs up his silky red scarf and settles back into the history books. With tours in recent years being disrupted and sometimes cancelled altogether due to ill health or voice problems things haven't been looking too good for the original Dallas cowboy. The last time I saw Meat live was on his 2008 'Casa de Carne' jaunt at an outdoor show plagued by torrential rain. With howling wind playing havoc with the sound it was difficult to gauge a fair opinion of how Meat compared to days of old so seeing him tonight close up and personal in the relatively small confines of the CIA was something I'd been looking forward to for a while and I was eager to see if he still had a touch of the old magic about him.

With an explosion of light and colour ML is at the front of the stage, dead centre and wild eyed demanding to know just 'Whatever Happened To Saturday Night?' A stage wide video screen backdrop flashes a stream of scenes from the Rocky Horror Show as Meat and female duet partner Patti Russo dance out the steps to the time warp, or at least attempt to as Meat pretends he can't remember how it goes. He's sounding good and strong and looking fitter than he has for some time. With the initial transvestite based blast of rock over with it's straight into 'If It Ain't Broke Break It' with guitarist Paul Crook breaking out some electronic trickery with his pick ups and a child's toy laser gun. The familiar motorbike growl and furious piano led intro of 'Bat Out Of Hell' signals an early arrival for the title track of one of the world's biggest selling albums. Meat has the crowd eating out of his hand with this early crowd pleasing tactic afterwards joking about the songs length claiming he was only 44 when he stepped on stage tonight.

The King of the elongated rock song is in jubilant mood, joking with the audience about being a little bit late (Cardiff's 2007 date was cancelled as part of the ill fated 'Three Bats' tour) before introducing the opening trio of songs from this year's 'Hang Cool Teddy Bear' album. 'Peace On Earth', 'Living On The Outside' and lead single 'Los Angeloser' all get hit straight out of the park with a faultless, tight delivery from the Neverland Express and Meat is certainly keeping up with the fast paced rock 'n' roll in a set which sees only one ballad slowing the pace down. A tear jerking 'Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad' sees Meat pulling a stool out to centre stage and giving a heart warming speech about how Jim Steinman came about writing the song in the first place and how they're far more like brothers than anything else. The exquisite wall of sound that is 'You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth' heralds in one of the loudest singalongs of the night while the 12 string and sax arrangement of 'Rock N Roll Dreams Come Through' takes things to a fresh exciting level. As Meat stomps the stage psyching up his backing musicians it's clear to see that he's obviously enjoying some kind of second wind, well probably a forth or fifth wind, the Hang Cool Tour and accompanying album has certainly put a spring in his step and this looks like a guy who still has a lot to prove. He's not ready to be written off yet.    

Following on from 'I'd Do Anything For Love' and 'Paradise By The Dashboard Light' it's a case of saving the best 'til last as 'Dead Ringer For Love' chimes out bringing the evening to a rousing finale. With boundless energy for a geezer in his sixties Meat is still marauding around the stage vocally battling it out one last time with Patti, hamming it up and rocking it out like the true show biz trooper he is. I hope I get to catch a few more shows from Meat before he finally does decide to lay down his mic but judging by tonight's performance he's definitely gonna be knocking around the block for a few more years yet and Amen to that.