Meatloaf: Horrific Fun at the 2011 Grand Final
- Hi
I dare you to watch it.
Appropriately, the execution opened with “Hot Patootie” from the Rocky Horror Picture Show, a title more representative than commonly possible, as the following quarter hour is hide behind the couch, can I come out now Mum dreadfulness.
Meatloaf presented early, and sitting in front of the mercifully miniscule 42-inch screen, I wondered if John Farnham might’ve been lured from his retirement tent for the aural health of our nation.
“You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth” was next, with a terrifyingly extended outchorus during which Meat alternately surged ahead as if gasping for the Kool-aid, and then inexplicably dropped back a length behind his band. By its conclusion all in earshot wished they could, somehow, insert those mangled words right back into the rotund Texan’s mouth.
Tellingly, the band all had their sunglasses on, as if wishing for anonymity, and to escape this netherworld, courtesy of a Star Trek teleporter.
I must point out that I reckon Bat Out of Hell is a remarkable rock album. For many it’s the music by which they first stole a kiss, or turned the key in their own set of Holden wheels. That something like one in every dozen Australian homes owed a copy isn’t a surprise.
But, to suggest that a gap exists between that exhilarating vinyl and this afternoon at the MCG is like noting how John Howard’s bowling action doesn’t quite offer the elegance of Glen McGrath’s.
Flanking the stage were two giant Carlton Draught inflatables. How must those CUB executives have felt watching that? The music was more Death Valley-aged Budweiser than passable domestic brew.
I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That) then polluted that grim, little stage. What do we make of its central theme which speculates on the very limits of human endurance? Happily, there was no Kiss-Cam that day. Scream at an Elderly Relative-Cam might’ve had the broadcast director paralysed for choice.
Our vocalist seemed to be playing a perverse game of anti-bingo in which he was determined to not sing in the correct musical key. Mr Loaf clutched a Magpie scarf as if this would help, and from this moment, a Cats’ victory was certain.
In the corner of the screen the Channel 10 logo featured proudly throughout, and anthropologists and financial analysts have since traced the network’s woes back to this thirteen-minute microcosm of existential pain.
On the Classic Albums documentary series, the composer Jim Steinman explained how, “Bat Out of Hell” was conceived as the ultimate car crash song, following in the tradition of “Leader of the Pack” and “Dead Man’s Curve.” Watching that afternoon, I wondered about life imitating art, or was it life imitating life, or art imitating an open sewer?
By the stage you could see a throng of spectators all wearing orange caps. In Buddhism, orange is connected to vitality and illumination, but I suspect if actual monks had been at the G, even they may have erupted into sudden and colossal violence.
How jealous must the crowd have been when the Harley motorcyclists, musically and thematically, so central to this song, rumbled off down the players’ race? They were paid to speed from the arena, and the sonic strife warbling about its unhappy bowl!
Towards the end Meatloaf received an oversized prop, and squinting at the screen, it appeared to be an enthusiastically circumcised penis. On it is a trigger of sorts. He handled this briefly, as it were, but then abandoned it, perhaps realising, along with the rest of the audience, both immediate and televisual, that today, there’d be no climactic finish. Indeed, if you listen carefully to veteran AFL announcer, Craig Willis, you can detect the tiniest irony, in his stentorian thanking of the Wagnerian rocker.
As Channel 10’s Stephen Quartermain then cuts to a universally welcome block of vacuous advertising, he comments that Meatloaf was, “Extraordinary.”
Aside from “Leo Barry. You star!” this is his finest moment.
Go on, I dare you to watch it.
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About Mickey Randall
Now whip it into shape/ Shape it up, get straight/ Go forward, move ahead/ Try to detect it, it's not too late/ To whip it, whip it good
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You dared me. Lasted 30 seconds. Argggghhhh!
Good old Mr Loaf. More of a train crash.
Great fun Mickey. Rolf Harris did 1982. Should Jack Elliot have to give the Carlton flag back. Keith Mitchell 1978 and Noel Watson 1988??? Any ideas?
Mickey,
That definitely would have tested the Monks. I reckon they would have set themselves on fire in protest.
The musical and vocal equivalent of geriatric porn.
Very funny mate. Well done.
Thanks to everyone.
PB- Rolf Harris! Mmm. Did he bat in the middle order in the annual Inmates v Screws match while in HM Prison Stafford?
PD- “geriatric porn” is a good description! Even Monks must have their limits.
The pre-match entertainment is a curious and probably unwinnable gig, but I reckon, with their stadium rock aesthetic, Powderfinger in 2008 were as good as any act I can recall.
I note that tomorrow Mike Brady is singing “Cazaly”, but I reckon “One Day in September’ is the superior song.
Ricky May had him covered
https://youtu.be/FTJU5ONWqpM
As a supporter of the losing side, I thought, why should Collingwood people be the only ones to suffer…
I just had to revisit Meatloaf’s memorable performance after watching an AFL ad with a child CEO being told no Meatloaf. You wouldn’t want to see that every year but it was so awesomely bad I found it entertaining. A real treat. It made me smile. Thanks AFL.
Well, not to defend the performance, but you obviously didn´t watch attentively enough, ´cause that penislike-looking-prop (you´re right on that) did what it was supposed to be: shoot t-shirts into the audience.
Bat out of Hell, a great album. Mr Loaf always had problems live. I seem to remember a late night TV show he stopped the band 10 seconds after he started the song. Embarrassing. I won’t watch the video. I thought it was 2010 this happened. Who did 2010? Before Lionel Ritchie dug the replay out of the poo.
Maybe you could gives us your Top 10 DS
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_AFL_Grand_Final_pre-match_performances
Never a fan of his during the 70’s & 80’s. I worked a couple of his performance in Melbourne circa late 1980’s; can’t recall anything worthwhile about them.
In recent times he’d been a vocal opponent of Covid restrictions, wearing of masks as a way of keeping people safe during this pandemic. Apparently he died due to contracting Covid.
His contribution to stop the flattening of the ‘Dead Mans Curve’?
Glen!
“I would do anything to live, but I won’t do that”
Thanks to those who’ve commented upon this.
Only in the last few weeks we rewatched the Rocky Horror Picture Show and enjoyed Meat’s cameo.
Although the day ended bleakly for some of us, I reckon the Killers at the 2017 Grand Final were as good as any. I prefer a single artist rather than a range of folk getting to do one song. Short money now on The Wiggles for the 2022 gig.
I was only there for two Swish. ’80 and ’98. I didn’t have a ticket for ’17. I’ll never forget Peter Allan prancing out to start his show with 100K+ chant-whispering “poofta, poofta, poofta . . . ” I recall it was a good show as part of my first experience at a MCG GF.
Jokes aside, but in his prime Meatloaf was one helluva of a performer. I still watch this clip quite often. Rock opera/melodrama at it’s best. RIP Marvin.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C11MzbEcHlw
‘Glowing like the metal on the edge of a knife.’
I started to watch. Skipped through to the finish pretty quickly. LIfe’s too short. It reminded me of the time a mate sang “I feel thunder in my heart” at Karaoke for his potential girlfriend who worked there.. She came out from the kitchen, looked at him and ran away. Meatloaf shouldn’t have played that day. He was gone in the warm-up. The bright side was Leaping Larry’s article in the paper next day.
Thanks again for reading and commenting.
DBalassone- I remember seeing the video for this when a teenager and being part intrigued and part terrified by it.
mbpardy- a failed Leo Sayer karaoke moment sounds like a scene from a romcom. I used to love Leaping Larry’s absurdist perspective on the week’s sporting issues.
Swish – I forgot I was there for ’86 as well. Dud game with ONJ according to your link
You’ve done well Daryl. I’ve not been to one. Went to the 2002 prelim in which Rocca kicked a massive goal from well outside fifty. It was mightily impressive. At that point we were cooked!
The irony,Mickey tho who are the two grand final performers we all remember,Meatloaf and Angry Anderson
Yes, Rulebook. Angry Anderson, Deek and the Batmobile. That’s a weird cultural soup.