Meat Loaf’s appearance at the 2011 AFL Grand Final as the headline music entertainment had the industry divided when it was first announced, with some applauding the move whilst others just shook their heads. The naysayers however had the last laugh when the ‘Bat Out Of Hell’ singer put on a performance that many called the worst ever, even worse than Angry Anderson’s embarrassing ‘bat mobile’ incident.
A poll of Tone Deaf readers had over 500 votes with nearly 60% labelling the performance ‘awful’, but now in an interview with Melbourne’s Herald Sun the 64-year-old singer has hit back at the criticism. When asked about the AFL he responded “I’m sorry, they’re jerks. I do not like them.”.
He continued “And I’ll tell you what, anybody that I hear announces that they’re going to play for them I’m going to write to that particular artist a letter and tell them not to. And I hope the AFL hears this and I want this everywhere. Because I will go out of my way to tell any artist do not play for them.”
According to News Ltd, Meat Loaf blamed the AFL for the terrible performance because they didn’t offer enough time for sound check and wouldn’t provide a live piano. He also criticised the AFL’s insistence that he sing to a backing tape which he couldn’t hear in his earpiece, resulting in the performance sounding flat and out of time.
The larger than life musician has had a range of problems on stage lately from when he first collapsed in August mid-set, to a subsequent similar incident only 3 days later.
You can relive the moment thanks to the magic of youtube below, and also don’t forget to check out our slideshow of the worst halftime entertainment ever
