I wonder if this has anything to do with all the bad press - the dumb "Meat Loaf is going on tour but won't sing a single note" articles that sprang up all over the press a couple of weeks back. Or perhaps the logistics of getting all the various NLE members together?

Now there'sthis! -
https://themeatloafexperience.com/

edit - And the playable BOOH is back!

For a second, I got it confused with Adjes site! XD

That's it! I didn't twig at first why it sounded so familiar!

Dreadful new name. Now it screams tribute act. :shrug:

At this point, they'd almost be better off using the NLE's name. Meat Loaf Presents "THE NEVERLAND EXPRESS: A Tribute to Bat" or whatever would sound a little more authentic.

In other news, the YouTube channel is now missing the promos to which we've linked, the Facebook page doesn't exist as yet, and there's a whole new Instagram account. For experienced bookers and talent, this has to be one of the most half-assed launches I've ever seen.

Either Adje will get increased traffic or he will get a lawsuit. :lol:

I guess the name keeps changing because of legal reasons.

In case of a lawsuit, I will keep the site and make it about all variations of meatloaf recipes :twisted:

I just hope the name doesn't decrease my traffic because people figure it's no longer about Meat Loaf :evil:

Oh well, for me the websitename is the only interesting part of this entire 'tribute' circus.

But Meat is in London, so have fun you ComicCon visitors!!! :cool:

At this point I am not even sure they can make enough to pay for the band. That was the one hope I held out was that it wasn't just some bar band or some karaoke type singer, but the real NLE members with an Idol winner.

I have been waiting for Caleb to be referred to as "Hamburger Helper".

Your webpage is incredible....dont give up....and upload more videos :P

I agree. Not happy with the name from an objective point of view. At the same time, maybe some marketing people suggested it because Meat Loaf is in the name. Meat's name will sell tickets, after all.

And I can appreciate the difficulty naming the new show because "Meat Loaf" is as much associated with an individual person as it is with a stage show entity.

I'm sure they thought of other things, like Meat Loaf's Neverland Express With Caleb Johnston. But that sounds a bit too long winded to me. Then again, so does Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events :cool:

The Hamburger Experience featuring music from Meat Loaf. Hamburger not included. :lol:

I agree with what people said it sounds more like a tribute band now.
Maybe something like Meat Loaf's Escape From Hell would be better.

Either way I think this is going to be relatively small demand. Hope I'm wrong. The Meat Loaf or Bat brand is definitely needed whatever they call it. Look how poorly Patti Russo's shows sold without that and she did really well on her first tour I thought and also considering she was originally part of some of Meat's top songs etc. :-(
The Neverland Express name I think sadly means nothing to the majority of potential ticket buyers.

Only Meat Loaf fans are going to really know it. Then without Meat himself you can probably only count on a relative small percentage of what Meat was drawing on his last few tours. I don't know how much the NLE or Caleb would be paid but by the time you have that plus other expenses, I'm not sure you can draw well enough to turn a profit. I'd love to get to run the numbers.

Any new info on this? When are dates being announced?

Weird nobody from this board (of which I'm sure several must have gone to the comic con in London) has posted their experiences yet.

Going by what I saw and heard people got great professional photos (MUCH better than the quick snaps at normal Meet N Greets) and his talk was very good.

:up:

I was there Sunday, home today, and have just posted :)

The event was the most badly organised thing I've ever been to, no-one could give a straight answer to any simple question like "Where will Meat be doing his photo shoots?" or "Where is he signing?" .. and the A listers didn't even get a booth (which I think he'd expected) but were just plonked behind a long line of tables in front of a painted brick wall, with no spaces between. The first day for the photo shoots, they expected Meat to sit on a high chair .. even had him use a cardboard frigging BOX to try and clamber on to the chair! By Saturday they had finally found him a motorised chair to whizz between signing and photo shoots .. but all in all the organisation was appalling.

The photos were fine .. but not better than at any M&G I have been to. Early M&Gs had a photographer, later ones they used whatever camera one brought, and all mine were fine.

And yes, his talk was great :D

Whatever happens with the NLE/Caleb venture, if it goes ahead in the near future Meat will not be actively involved, but Deborah said she expected they would put out an announcement soon saying this, but that Meat fully endorsed it.

I was sat behind you at the talk Caryl - wish I'd have said hi!

Oh ... so do I :-) Wasn't he great? :D

Thanks for your reviews Caryl.

To me the photos with Meat look a lot better framed from this event, close ups of the faces rather than just the body shots. Like they seemed to take more time. Using people's own cameras in the 2010 M&G events was a poor decision I reckon in hindsight. Mine was unusable. I probably was just unlucky that day.

I saw the diamond pass holders got a Meat Loaf cup with a quote from the Rock N' Roll Hero lyrics. To me this is noteworthy since that song hardly ever gets mentioned.
Probably the most unique bit of official Meat merch I've seen in a while. Looks like a great collector's item.

Hope Meat enjoyed his time here. I'm not so sure we will see him back.

You'd think .. but they'll be rare indeed as unlike Meat's gifts at M&Gs these were not given to Diamond pass holders when they checked in, but hidden away somewhere in boxes in the vast space of Olympia. No-one could tell us where they were, and only the lucky few managed to track down, more by luck than anything else, the one stall that apparently was selling frames for photos from the various shoots, and had them tucked under the table out of sight.

If they had enough for all Diamond pass holders some employed on a permanent or temporary basis by the event organisers will be the collectors, but not us!

Absolutely amazing! It was great to see Meat on stage again. He was on top form!

Sounds like a typical "convention" or glorified and usually over-priced meet and greet (Meat excepted of course since that is priceless). I have never been to a single one where organization appeared to be more than an afterthought and staff members are told nothing and often give conflicting information. I'm glad they at least found Meat one of those motorized carts at some point.

It was the worst and most piss-poorly organised thing I have ever been to! Meat expected a booth as he gets in the USA .. the A listers were all against one long painted brick wall, their tables lined up with no space between them. He told me on the first day they were so close to the wall behind, you could barely get by the chairs.

There was no clear signage .. no-one knew which photo "booths" would be used by which artist, we were directed to non-existent information booths. Hordes of staff wearing CREW jumpers were scattered around .. apparently for no reason as none could answer any simple question. The question I heard over and over "Could you tell me where ...." was met in almost every case with a shrug and "I don't know .. over there somewhere?" pointing across the vast hall.

They couldn't tell you where the lifts were .. we found just two small ones, one on either side, and not until 5pm finally discovered two sets of two large lifts.

It was a bloody shambles ..

Was it ran by Showmasters? If so their stuff is generally quite poor. Very overpriced for what they are the poor in terms of dealers. Just generally a lot of the same figures over and over and loads of bootleg merchandise.

I've helped run a convention in the past, nowhere near on that level and it isn't an easy task at all. A lot to do, but we were all fans of the stuff we ran the convention for and did it out of love and passion, and it ran a lot better than I hear these larger events run.

Yes, Showmasters. I'm sure these things aren't easy to run .. but the failure to make it clear to visitors where talks would be given, where photo booths would be and which would be used by which artist, and where each artist would be set up for autographs, particularly in such a large exhibition hall, was appalling. Some people in that organisation knew this information .. the booths were not suddenly dropped from the sky each morning in a different place, and some information sheets should have been available and communicated/given to the staff they had brought in .. in effect they brought in a mass of temporary staff whose only role was to stand around and say they didn't know. Yet as the artists were running to a schedule the information was known by someone, somewhere.

The "gifts" promised were not issued with the passes one had to queue for, were not anywhere visible, and those who did by luck track them down found they were hidden in boxes out of public view.

Someone at managerial level came in at the end of the talk to ask how we were enjoyng the event. We said "You want some feedback?" and made the point there was no signage, no-one could tell us where things were, not even for eg a list on each photo booth saying which artists would be using each one .. predictably his eyes glazed over .. not interested ;)

It's a shame when an artist like Meat puts such effort into fulfilling his part of the deal that the company making the big money can't make some small effort into providing the paying customers with some very basic and essential information.

It occurred to us that had they needed to evacuate the building any who couldn't manage stairs would have been up the creek sans paddle, given few staff could even tell you where the lifts were .. pretty essential information for those in wheelchairs or on crutches!

Steering things slightly back on topic, we have a new bio with the promised statement from Meat, which I'm quoting here in the event it disappears:

And it looks like may be a date for the show (tour) already posted on TicketMaster :

https://www.ticketmaster.com/The-Mea...artist/2532417

Sounds awesome... I especially love the bit where Meat says "until I return" 😁

"until I return..."

AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"Until I return ..." - I'm very happy that Meat feels a little better. It's very great info. :-)

I have a feeling that, that show is a unofficial tribute act, of the same name, but this one seems to be the official Caleb & the NE show -

https://www.ticketmaster.ca/The-Meat...artist/2534057

I just checked the venue's website, and it is the official show :

http://www.pennspeak.com/events/2018...oaf-experience

I apologise and stand corrected!

They have every intention of getting it off the ground. What has I think hurt them and sent out such confusing messages are the leaks .. mainly caused by one press article, based on someone described as "someone close to the band" and with a slack mouth, which was then taken up and embellished by other media. All has been further confounded by an understandable curiosity on the part of fans and their ferreting about, and a website that has perhaps less understandably so frequently added information but not kept it locked down in the development stage. Nor has the UK promoter helped imo by hopping into a couple of FB groups to comment, and making promises of dates for information to be released for a UK tour leg, and then nothing happens as he said. Nor is it helpful for odd listings to pop up on TM which conflict with what was suggested for the UK by this guy.

Add to this the perhaps predictable issues over deciding on a name that dealt with any legal/copyright points, and that Meat is to some extent still hors de combat as he recovers from massive surgery, and is still in considerable pain much of the time, while Paul is haring around managing what he's doing as an artist plus setting up and planning this new venture and trying to hold it all together .. I don't envy him one bit!

The recent announcement posted above shouldn't have been unlocked and available to public view (I think it's down now), nor should the changes in name, nor the information posted on the management agency. Paul is still working on fine tuning the wording of the announcement with Meat .. and I think Meat has needed some recovery time after his foray to London last week, and a pretty uncomfortable journey back to Austin.

But it IS happening .. it's just a shame that they haven't been able to get everything nailed down tight and then launched it with less confusion and a confident fanfare.

No apology necessary :up:

And now the MPI Talent Agency has abruptly dropped the act from the roster. The old profile page on the agency's site doesn't work (the web address referred to an outdated name for the group anyway), and there is no new listing to replace them, though MPI is still listed on one of the two pages open to the public on the band's official website.

Speaking of said website, the Instagram button on that page linking one to the band's social media presence on that platform is now gone as well, with no particular explanation.

Curiouser and curiouser, as Alice once said...

It’s a mystery box wrapped in a riddle inside of an enigma!

I think it's just a case of enthusiasm and curiosity, always a heady mixture, compounded by changing circumstances, particularly in terms of Meat's on-going back problems, whilst as I said, Paul is haring around managing what he's doing as an artist plus setting up and planning a new venture and trying to hold it all together in the light of all this, while leaks keep springing from what should be a dam ..

Well, while I respect Paul's desire to keep the brand running out of love and respect for Meat, I think everyone involved might be better off sticking to lining up other gigs as musicians/artists, their primary talent, especially if they aren't the most experienced at planning and setting up a venture like this. One is not limited strictly to Meat's material just because they've worked with the man for over a decade. For my own reasons, I'm particularly keen to see this succeed, but the way it's going, I'd just as soon wait with the rest of the world until Meat is as recovered from his on-going back issues as will allow him to do things himself.

OK .. Paul has just posted the official press release for BAT Meat Loaf's Neverland Band, and you can sign up for emailed updates .. The Bat is getting ready to fly again !!! (although it confirms Meat will not be appearing). He's sent me the link, so says .. Let's rock!!!!!

:D:cheer::cheer::cheer::cheer:

https://batexperience.com/home

Hope there’s an opportunity to see this in the U.K.
The constant name changing seems a bit clumsy but it does seem they have probably listened to constructive criticism. End of the day the naming doesn’t matter too much.
Listened to that Bat recording again. It’s pretty good and probably one of the best non meat loaf versions I’ve ever heard. Only thing I could whine about is lack of dynamic and depth in drums and probably should have turned up the piano a bit more. Other than that it’s a great recording.

https://www.aliantegaming.com/whats-...oaf-experience

Tickets for the Vegas Show, September 29th, if anyone is interested!

This is Paul's press release:
"FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BAT - Meat Loaf's Neverland Band + Caleb Johnson
Experience the iconic Bat Out Of Hell album and other hit songs performed brilliantly by The Neverland Band featuring American Idol winner, Caleb Johnson.

The Neverland Band includes world-class alumni spanning the history of the Meat Loaf legacy.

In addition to a #1 album and touring with some of the biggest names in rock, Caleb Johnson is the winner of American Idol season 13. He delivers his own unique stamp to such classics as “Bat Out of Hell”, “Paradise by the Dashboard Light”, and “I Would Do Anything For Love” while staying true to the essence of Meat Loaf’s delivery.

The show is created & produced by Meat Loaf’s musical director/ guitarist/ record producer, Paul Crook.

Join us for an incredible Meat Loaf Experience in Las Vegas on September, 29th at ALIANTE Casino + Hotel + Spa. Their Access Showroom is a state of the art, intimate 600 seat theater. Get your tickets now thru Ticketmaster or by calling the Aliante Box Office: 1 (800) 745-3000

More concerts will be announced soon.

Visit www.batexperience.com for more info.

* Meat Loaf will not be making a personal appearance at any of these performances.

On a personal note…

This show, in no way, shape, or form is intended to replace the incomparable, Meat Loaf. That is an impossibility. Any insinuation would be absurd.

Seriously… Look at this man. His accomplishments are mind-blowing:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QGMCSCFoKA
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMRl55U0eDw
www.youtube.com/watch?v=VthiKY5GdFs

The Boss is in recovery from back surgery. We want to play. Caleb Johnson is a massive fan.

Please come join us until Meat Loaf returns to the stage!!!"

And in answer to a question about UK dates he said "Joff worked really hard for us on that venture. That's all I can say at this time." So perhaps if they get some shows under their belt and good reviews we may get some good news :D

They also have a FB page
https://www.facebook.com/BAT-2255629...c_location=ufi

Further update: the store now has product! A cover of the entire Bat I album (vocals by Caleb, backing -- vocal and instrumental -- by the band, including Steve "Machine Gun" Buslowe himself) is available for purchase for 9 dollars American.

From the previews on display, in my opinion (this phrase added not to sound too "harsh" or "rude"; I'm certainly not "looking for a reaction"), Caleb has a stronger voice than Tyce Green or anyone in the Bat musical, so I know what show I'll be seeing!

I can understand that you, being more of a Steinman fan, might like it, But I, being just a Meat Loaf fan, feel like I have to watch the Gus van Sant version of Psycho. And then 9USD for a copy of something that I have and is already perfect, in my eyes, is a rip-off ;)

Well, it's a better deal than the other thread is offering, and for that price, you get the album in both high-res MP3 and WAV formats... just sayin'...

Don't see a point in buying the recordings at all but a live show I would see and these previews do indicate it will at least sound quite good.
And yes I agree with Letsgotoofar. FAR better than Tyce and the stuff I heard from the Bat musical cast. Never understood the fuss about all those singers. Nothing like the epicness that Meat had. At least Caleb seems to have something that heads in that direction.

No-one will ever do it better than Meat, nor be as epic .. no-one will ever do it as well for me :-) Meat flew onto the stage 4 decades ago with BOOH, passionate, charismatic, and unique.

But as Paul has said
"This show, in no way, shape, or form is intended to replace the incomparable, Meat Loaf. That is an impossibility. Any insinuation would be absurd .." He went on to say that Meat's accomplishments are mind-blowing, but he's in recovery from back surgery and they, the amazing band Meat has worked so hard to build, want to keep playing. They're family, love what they do, but need a singer, in Paul's words "until Meat Loaf returns to the stage!!!".

Two weeks ago Meat said to me how strong his voice is at the moment, but he knows he'll need another 12-18 months to recover and get strong after his surgery .. still he loves that band to death! After his first upper back surgery in 2014 one of his biggest fears was losing the band family he had built and loved so much. I believe that's why he struggled through that last N Americn tour in crippling pain and a back brace. Now he's facing an even longer recovery programme, but he wants to see the band together, delivering the songs in the way he worked to do for so many years.

The way I see it, this is the incomparable NLE who we all love. Meat has said for some time he has a huge respect for Caleb. And whilst the latter could never equal Meat, who is unique and incomparable, no-one .. not the band nor Caleb himself, nor Meat's fans .. expects him to do more than to do the songs justice and keep the Bat flying. And I love that band, and having listened to the whole album all the way through now, I think Caleb does a damn good job .. and hits some pretty amazing notes too :-)

One drawback I should note is that the full version of "Bat" you hear on the home page couldn't be included on the album. It's a zipped file with hi-res MP3's and WAV's, and the combo of the two, plus album art, leads to an already rather prohibitive file size, and also means if they'd included the almost eleven-minute "Bat," it would defeat the purpose of a "compressed" file, so a "single" edit (a still-impressive 8 minutes and 12 seconds) is what you get when you buy the album.

But... I've left a comment on Facebook suggesting that it would be a nice "good faith" gesture if fans who can provide proof of purchase could get the full track, so we'll see where that leads.

UPDATE: I am mistaken. The WAV file is the full version of the song, the MP3 is the "single version." So, uh, score one for higher-quality audio fans! Consider the hi-res "single edit" MP3 of "Bat" a bonus track.

Quick listen through the samples, and have to say is certainly different! Better than Tyce Greens take on the songs, as Caleb does have a much stronger voice.and having the NLE playing on the songs helps a lot as well. Think I'l wait till I've had a chance to see the show, If and When it comes to the UK before paying for this, but would say, for what it is, it's better than I expected!

BAT
 

I like this a lot, it's been on repeat all morning. I'm not comparing it with the musical (epic and different), nor with Tyce (something very different which I thought was a decent job in many cases) nor Meat himself (legend) but this is a perfect 'studio' version of what the NLE has provided for years in support of Meat with an extremely competent vocalist in his own right. There are some lovely arrangements, consistent with the stage shows and the playing is excellent (I do like that all songs 'finish' rather than fade. It's particularly nice to see Steve Buslowe back playing bass. Tom Brislin also contributes so it has a nod to the longevity of the NLE. Will definitely go and see if it comes to the UK

Yes, Paul has pointed out that words used on the page about editing BOOH are specific to the mp3 ONLY.

The album download includes:

- All the songs in Hi Rez WAV format.
- Artwork
- The buyer also receives all the songs in Hi quality MP3 format. This is where BAT has needed to be edited. ONLY THE MP3 is edited.


The Hi Rez wave contains the full version of BAT

I have now bought the new Bat-album to support Paul Crook and his project, but the download are sadly more than painfully slow... :(

You're getting two versions of the album for the price of one in the highest possible quality. (I believe the whole zipped file is 550 MB, somewhere in that range.) The good news is, two for the price of one! The bad news is, if your Internet connection's not the best, it's gonna be a bit of a slog.

I have a very fast Internet-connection, so the problem is certainly not at my end.

The download speed is between 50 and 90 kbit/sec. That's extremely slow.

Paul and his team should definitely do something about this.

What kind of connection do you have? I've got fiber-optic, and it took -- at most -- five minutes yesterday.

Fiberoptic 100 Mbps.

The download should take a minute or two. Instead it takes 2-3 hours.

No news on UK dates yet. Last I herd dates for UK was coming out 25 July

That was the info given by the promoter .. but sadly that fell through. Paul says they will not be touring the UK this year, but in the USA this autumn .. and I think perhaps the early months of 2019. But they still hope to tour in the UK .. so perhaps later next year? But currently no dates planned.

Thanks carly for info.i did get a text from Paul crook saying promoter. Took it as far as he could for UK.

Seems very odd though unless they plan on trying to release it to radio or as a single edit or something. Still you can always convert the wav to mp3.

That's what I ultimately did; thankfully, the newest version of Audacity makes it possible to get a similarly hi-res result.

"format requirements" could also suggest technical limitations for MP3 files imposed by the website. The full length Bat would have been over 25MB as an MP3, and perhaps the music player on the website does not support that.

True. Nice work on the discography page, by the way! Got that up in a hurry.

Well I have only had a chance to listen to it on my phone speaker so far... So not what you'd call HiFi... but my initial impression is that they have done a superb job. The backing tracks sound great and have better clarity and oomph than Bat itself (someone please do a full remaster on it please? Failing that put Meats vocals on these tracks). Anyway where was I?

Oh yes Caleb has a superb rock slightly bluesy slightly metal voice. While he doesn't put the level of drama and emotion into it that Meat does (let's be honest, who does?) He brings a fresh and energetic take to the songs that I think is welcome.

Can't wait to listen to it in the car.

And before anyone casts me aside as a sinner, the stereo in my new Fiesta is a factory fit 675 watt 10 speaker Bang and Olufsen unit with 360° sound and sub woofer.

It kicks ass and I know this cd will too.

I mean, in theory, one could... we do have the isolated vocal tracks from the SACD floating around, and Caleb's vocals do seem to be mostly panned to center channels... this could be an easy job in Audacity. Test mix, anyone?

Thanks. That's the beauty of being a web developer, you can sneak in some side-projects during work hours. Code is code. ;-)

This is really disappointing.
Not only are you betraying the trust of your employer so now my admiration for you has rocketed

Oh, lighten up. It's an illusion to think you can be focused on only your job for eight hours straight in *any* creative business anyway. If doing something else for a small amount of time helps you recharge/focus/whatever, go for it.

As long as he gets his work done who cares. :roll:

Lol to be clear though my preference is for a remaster of Bat haha.

I can confirm it rocks on a good stereo though.

Just had a listen through a proper stereo instead of my laptop and this album is really well arranged. Love the piano and background vocals. Caleb is very good if you go in not expecting Meat Loaf. His voice is fine, but Meat always had that song interpretation that was always conveying the feeling, emotion and little nuances he uses. I could do without the baseball part of Paradise honestly, but I guess many consider that integral to the song. Lacks in Jim's "lascivious effects" though. This is a quite good remake or reimagining or whatever you want to call it.

I bought the album, too and I like it very much. There is one thing that bothers me though. The drum sound is very clinical. It's missing some warmth, density and reverb. i am no studio engineer and I really have no idea how to achieve that. But there is something missing.

Having said that - I would love to hear more music in that style from Caleb in the future. He brings a little more soul to the songs (Meaning the musical style, not the soul itself. Meat has a lot of that). The band is great here, too. I love all the little deviations from the original album. Those really make the album worth buying.

Chops to everyone involved!

I've said the same thing about the last couple of albums as well. No knock on Paul at all; it may be the mark of a very common technique where the live drummer in the studio uses triggers (link is to a definition). Whoever made the choice should be introduced to Sound Radix Drum Leveller and Drumatom (links are to videos).

What a shame. The drumming on 'Hang Cool' was remarkable.

Hang Cool was an outstanding album. The Cavallo production was monumental.
On the other hand, I like Handbasket for what it is - A modern sounding album with a lot of great tunes. I found the production fitting. I can't say the same thing about Braver. I must say, I love the songs, but I really don't dig the production on that one.

I have to say that I do dig the band, the tracks are similar to what Meat has been singing to for the past few tours and the return of Steve really makes a difference. But I can't get into Caleb at all - he's a brilliant singer, but he doesn't mean a word he's singing (like a sinner before the gates of heaven I'll come crawling on back to you) and I'm not really a fan of the effect used on the BVs - quite similar to the effects on Braver.

Andrew Polec outshines Caleb on performance by a million miles, and neither of them get anywhere near Meat (obvs). This BAT recording actually highlights just how amazing Andrew is at interpreting the songs.

All of the BV's are done by Justin Avery.

Yes - Justin's an awesome singer but the effect makes him sounds like some sort of robot out of 2001 A space odyssey.

Nobody else will ever be another Meat Loaf. I don't think the album was made thinking that. Meat is a method singer, his abilities to be an interpreter of the song is unmatched. The way he "feels" the song and conveys the feeling to the listener is a once in a lifetime performer. You are right in that Caleb doesn't convey any real emotion. I would however say he is on par with Polec IMO. Both are fine singers in their own way, it is just impossible to fill the shoes of "Bat Out of Hell".

I admit, nitpicking being my nature, that it is a little strange. A body of different voices harmonizing just sounds better to me than one multi-tracked and/or run through some phaser to create a chorus.

Still a lot better than this strange aberration of a background vocal:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdHWGXMZeJQ

What were they even thinking?

Now, now... if we can't say his name, we probably shouldn't be sharing his music either. :P

Is putting someone in the pillory "sharing"? If it is, I swear I'll behave from now on.

Holy....

That was god awful.

I have no words...

Well, I guess that does serve an illustrative point: proof positive we needed a good Meat tribute.

I actually thought that he was an outright parody for a period of five years. It never once occurred to me that he was serious...:shock:

Is this the guy that Meat sued for being to similar?

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukn...ad-ringer.html

Now an Elton John Tribute act apparently - http://www.eltonjohntribute.co.uk/

Oh good, so he can butcher Eltons songs now, too? :roll:

He started out doing Elton .. got too heavy and switched to Meat .. lost weight after his wife threw him out, and after failing miserably to extort money from Meat for his website domain (where if people assumed he was Meat he encouraged them) he went back to poor Elton ;) He wasn't sued for being a "dead ringer" even though the journalist probably thought it very clever to say so ;) .. he was sued for cyber squattiing! (Given it wasn't really on to try and sue him for being an AWFUL "tribute act", breaching copyright by putting the Bat 2 artwork on his chip van aka "tour bus", and total pain in the ass .. :lmao: )

Also Meat got the website - as meatloaf . org is linked to meatloaf.net!

That'll teach me not to read the article I linked to ::lol:

Not sure if this has been answered, but, getting back on topic, why is the band being billed as the Neverland band, and not the Neverland Express?

Caryl has alluded to it being some sort of legal thing (though I can't imagine exactly why).

Such a shame .net never became a sort of historical hub that could have included all tour dates, photos from these concerts and setlists etc.

There is such a wealth of info that could have been collected into one place. Song lyrics. Info on each album: release dates, chart positions etc.

Instead all that information is spread across fan sites and they mostly will be gone in 10-15 years time I'm guessing.
It will only be Wikipedia and some YouTube videos from then on.

:(

There are various copyright issues as well as interests I think surrounding everything, and some probably go back years. It's one reason why they didn't want information leaking out, and various media setting hares running, before they had everything agreed with all parties connected and finalised. It made them look disorganised when in reality they were working through all the complexities to get everything right, all Ts crossed, before the press announcement.

Paul's posted a taster of the Bat Experience. And as well as the 4 dates we have so far they're booking in the US into 2019 after Caleb has finished his Nov/Dec tour with the TSO.

https://www.facebook.com/TheBatExper...3235187933802/

So if Meat returns down the line will the band be back to being the Neverland Express?

Ie. is it only allowed to be Neverland Express with Meat fronting?

I don't know Dick .. I guess if Meat were to tour again he'd probably use Neverland Express. If at some point he joined them to tell stories and with Caleb still singing (as was rumoured in the leaks earlier), who knows?

At this stage they have a name that reflects who they are, and doesn't imply Meat will be appearing as part of the show, which seems to me important as people can be gullible and make assumptions which would only lead to disappointment .. and no doubt some angry complaints on Meat's page, possibly even from trolls who haven't been to a show but just want to sound off. The Neverland Band identifies them I think as the band Meat has put together over many years, but as not being the Neverland Express backing Meat Loaf .. an important distinction, and one which gives them a discrete identity which they now need to promote and prove to promoters :)