Meat Loaf guitarist/musical director, Paul Crook (ex-Anthrax) took to social media last night (Monday, February 20) to share the the following memory...

"Hi, Friends! My name is Paul Crook, and I was Meat’s lead guitarist and Musical Director for the past 15+ years. Deborah asked if I would share a story here on Facebook. Thank you very much for giving me time here, Deborah. I am honored…

"This one week in August 2019 stands as one of my all-time favorite memories of the man I affectionately called Boss. Meat had called me up out of the blue… “Paul, can you come to Nashville and take us to the QUEEN concert? I’ll pay for your flight and hotel.” Yeah… he said that… I was stoked!!!  As you may know, Meat had a friendship with members of Queen from the late 1970’s.  So awesome!

"Anyway, Meat and Deborah picked me up and we had dinner at Trattoria Il Mulino (a restaurant across the street from the Bridgestone Arena). Yum! After dinner, we drove into the arena tunnel, up to the guard gate. I simply pointed and said… “Hi, this is Meat Loaf”. Meat smiled and waved at her. The guard smiled back, opened the gate, and off we went.  

"After parking we went directly to Bri’s dressing room… hung there for about an hour (awesome stories) then went to Front of House (FOH). For those of you unfamiliar with the term, it’s the platform on the floor of the venue with the equipment that operates sound and lights. The show was mind-blowing. So much so, that Meat was up out of his chair more than he was seated, or so it seemed. It was so good to see him enjoy himself like that.

"After the show, we all went back to Bri’s dressing room. Roger came in and hung with us for a bit as well. Cool!!! As you can see from the attached picture of Meat, Brian, Roger, and myself; we were having fun!  

"Thank you so much Boss!!! Love, Paul"

Legendary rock singer and actor, Meat Loaf (real name Marvin Lee Aday), passed away at the age of 74 on January 20, 2022.