Whatever people's opinions, the facts are that Meat is not a solo artists! Meat Loaf is a band, and that encompasses a female vocal - the songs demand it. I will seriously reconsider attending any Bat III concerts now, and that is a massive thing for me cos I have been desperate to go to as many concerts as possible in the past, five so far in 2 tours.
My abiding memory of Patti is front row at Newcastle Telewest in Jan 2005, in CHSIB. As on the Melbourne DVD it was truly amazing, and at one point with Meat at the other end of the stage she turned and looked at me just as she sang the line "this is the moment we've been waiting for" - for a few seconds it was like we were singing to each other. Truly incredible.
Meat may have had other female leads but nobody can replace Patti. As I have said I am a HUGE Meat fan, and yes I only learnt about Patti through him, but if I had been her employer for so long I would have issued a heartfelt thanks for her contribution and a good luck message - haven't seen one?
Lets not be blind, Meat is not God, something has happened, and if not why hasn't he done this? We all know she has been carrying his vocals for a while now (see the aformentioned DVD), and during the last tour I knew a few people who saw Meat Loaf for the first time, and came away saying "his female vocalist is really good!".
Like everyone else I wish patti all the best, she was fantastic, and still is of course. I await with interest the news of the RAH show before I consider buying tickets for the tour.