Meat Loaf’s Sudden Retirement Even More Over-The-Top Than His Music

Meat Loaf, the rock singer known for his larynx-trembling marathon performances, was less than halfway through his concert at the Metro Radio Arena in Newcastle upon Tyne. The opening bars of Paradise by the Dashboard Light were sounding when he came to an abrupt halt. “I can no longer continue,” he said. “This is the last show I may ever do in my life.” The man who has sung for decades that he would “run right into hell and back” appeared unable to contemplate a visit to Birmingham this evening. Newcastle appeared to have finished him off.

Thousands of despondent fans carried the news out of the arena. Phil Cammish, 23, from Newcastle, said that the singer had “started saying ‘This is my last ever gig, this is my last ever song. Thanks for 30 years, I can’t do this anymore’. From where we were sitting we could see him walk off stage and then a St John Ambulance crew ushered him away.”

Meat Loaf has apparently been getting weaker and weaker for a while, and he’s had an oxygen tank onstage with him for years, ever since he collapsed onstage at Wembley Stadium. Concertgoers said that he “seemed drunk” during the show and was slurring his words Amy Winehouse-style; meanwhile, his manager, who is no doubt flipping out, is saying that he’s just suffering from an illness, and will be back good as new after a few weeks of 24-hour-a-day bed rest. But try telling that to this guy, who one concertgoer spotted outside after the shortened show:

Outside the venue, Mr Cammish thought that he could hear the sound of a heart breaking. “I saw a man dressed up as Meat Loaf weeping on the steps,” he said.

Meat Loaf halts gig to say: I quit [Times Online]