Rock icon Meat Loaf to headline Wednesday, August 18th as Humphrey’s enjoys “very good” season

Meat Loaf, one of rock music’s hottest acts of the 70’s and 80’s, will grace the stage for a rare San Diego appearance at Humphrey’s by the Bay Concerts Wednesday, August 18^th. Meat Loaf, who has a bunch of ‘a.k.a.’s’, (Marvin Lee Aday at birth, Michael Lee Aday and of course his stage names Meat Loaf and Meat Loaf Aday), experienced some initial difficulty establishing a steady career within his native United States. But that all changed as he has gained and held iconic status and popularity in Europe, especially the United Kingdom as well as the U.S.

Meat Loaf, known for his flamboyant stage presence, kicked off his career with the Bat Out of Hell album. This then developed in to the Bat Out of Hell trilogy consisting of Bat Out of Hell, Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell and Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose. Since hitting the streets in 1977, Bat Out of Hell has sold more than 40 million copies. After more than 30 years, it still sells an estimated 200,000 copies annually, and stayed on the charts for over nine years, which is truly an amazing feat. Nice royalty work if you can get it.

Meat Loaf earned a Grammy Award for Best Rock Vocal Performance Solo for a track on Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell, where he ranks 23rd for number of weeks overall spent on the charts. He ranked 96th on VH1’s ‘100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock’.

As his music career took off, Meat Loaf also began an acting career, appearing in over 50 movies or television shows. Sometimes he appeared as himself, or as characters resembling his stage persona.  Some of his more notable roles include Eddie and Dr. Scott in the American premiere of The Rocky Horror Show, Tiny the bouncer in Wayne’s World, Robert “Bob” Paulson in Fight Club, Dennis the Spice Bus Driver in Spice World, the bus driver in Leap of Faith, and Jack Black’s father in Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny (a character who, ironically, hates rock music and believes it to be evil).

The man appears to be a legend. And if my wife is any indication, women still adore him. So I’m going to the show; it should definitely be worth the price of admission.

My sources tell me there are some good seats still available. You can check them out at humphreysconcerts.com

Humphrey’s Concerts continues to enjoy iconic status with San Diego concert goers, enjoying a “very good season” according to a senior executive there, while other venues have clearly suffered with the ghoulish economy. When I asked her the secret recipe, she stated clearly, “The secret is having a such a high quality venue and the fact we put together a great line up that appeals to a lot of different music lovers.”

Whatever is in that secret sauce, they should probably consider bottling it…

Photo courtesy of evil nickname via Flickr.