The Seize the Night Tour

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

Seize the Night

Tour by Meat Loaf
Associated album	Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose
Start date	February 23, 2007
Legs	2
No. of shows	112
Meat Loaf concert chronology

Some concerts in April were cancelled due to Meat Loaf's ill health. Just over an hour into a concert in Newcastle upon Tyne on October 31, 2007, he told the audience that it was the last of his life, and walked off stage. 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."

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 album Set Me Free. Meat Loaf introduced her on stage at the latter stages of the concerts to duet on "It's All Coming Back to Me Now". Supporting acts for the second leg included backing singer C.C. Colletti and Mother Pearl.

Dates

Date	City	Country	Venue	Notes
Leg I
February 23, 2007	Pala	United States	Pala Casino
February 28, 2007	Victoria	Canada	Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre
March 2, 2007	Vancouver		Pacific Coliseum
March 4, 2007	Edmonton		Rexall Place
March 6, 2007	Kelowna		Prospera Place
March 8, 2007	Calgary		Pengrowth Saddledome
March 11, 2007	Winnipeg		MTS Centre
March 14, 2007	Toronto		Hummingbird Centre
March 16, 2007	Ottawa		Scotiabank Place
March 18, 2007	London		John Labatt Centre
March 20, 2007	Hamilton		Copps Coliseum
March 22, 2007	Syracuse	United States	War Memorial at Oncenter
March 24, 2007	Upper Darby Township		Tower Theater
March 26, 2007	Poughkeepsie		Mid-Hudson Civic Center
March 28, 2007	Binghamton		Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena
March 30, 2007	Hershey		Giant Center
April 1, 2007	Washington, D.C.		DAR Constitution Hall	Postponed to April 16
April 3, 2007	Clearwater		Ruth Eckerd Hall	Rescheduled for September 1
April 5, 2007	Boca Raton		Mizner Amphitheater	Stopped after four songs; rescheduled for August 30
April 7, 2007	Orlando		Hard Rock Live	Canceled
April 10, 2007	Wallingford		Chevrolet Theatre	Canceled
April 12, 2007	New York City		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 Frankfurt
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	United States	Theater @ Madison Square Garden
July 20, 2007
July 22, 2007	Saratoga Springs		Saratoga Performing Arts Center
July 24, 2007	Corfu		Darien Lake Performing Arts Center
July 27, 2007	Uncasville		Mohegan Sun Arena
July 29, 2007	Holmdel Township		PNC Bank Arts Center
July 31, 2007	Watertown		Watertown Fairgrounds
August 2, 2007	Scranton		Toyota Pavilion at Montage Mountain
August 4, 2007	Clearfiled		Clearfield County Fair
August 6, 2007	Bethlehem		Musikfest
August 9, 2007	Cleveland		Time Warner Cable Amphitheater at Tower City
August 11, 2007	Gilford		Meadowbrook Musical Arts Center
August 13, 2007	Montreal	Canada	Bell Centre
August 16, 2007	Rama		Casino Rama
August 18, 2007	Atlantic City	United States	Borgata Events Center
August 20, 2007	Boston		Bank of America Pavilion
August 22, 2007	Wantagh		Nikon at Jones Beach Theater
August 24, 2007	Tunica Resorts		Grand Casino
August 28, 2007	Orlando		Hard Rock Live	Rescheduled from April 8
August 30, 2007	Boca Raton		Mizner Amphitheater	Rescheduled from April 5
September 1, 2007	Clearwater		Ruth Eckerd Hall	Rescheduled from April 3
September 3, 2007	Atlanta		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.
November 2, 2007	Birmingham		NEC Arena	Cancelled
November 4, 2007	Manchester		Manchester Evening News Arena	Rescheduled for November 27
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 Monster Is Loose"
11. "Bad for Good"
12. "If It Ain't Broke, Break It"
13. "Blind as a Bat"
14. "Two Out of Three Ain't Bad"
15. "Bat Out of Hell"
16. "Black Betty"
17. "It's All Coming Back to Me Now"
18. "Mercury Blues"
19. "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.

Cancellations

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

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.

His management initially claimed that the singer had "acute laryngitis." 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. He began his Casa de Carne tour in summer 2008 featuring the return of his long-time duet partner Patti Russo. 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.

References

• First leg dates