IF music be the food of love, then last night I suffered from acid indigestion.

Broadlands rocked to a huge helping of commitment and energy from Meat Loaf.

The level of appreciation was dependent on where you stood. Closer to the stage, the better the sound, the further back one stood, the worse it became as a swirling wind played havoc with the acoustics.

Many muttering about the quality walked out well before the end.

But Meat Loaf has always polarised opinion. Critics, accused of living in ivory towers, denounced the Bat out of Hell album as one of the worst of all time.

Fans have been registering their approval at the till for years.

If he was ever mechanised, he'd be transformed into a let it rip Californian dragster. There is nothing frill, nothing new wave about Meat Loaf - it's straight at you full-blooded.

Broadlands lifted its hamper for the third night of its party in the park concerts with a serving of Meat Loaf. With a stagnant economy and wretched weather, Pimms, picnics and patrons have understandably been less evident than expected.

But 10,000 plus still flocked to see the rocker eligible for a bus pass.

Dressed in all black, he prowled the stage, the consummate old pro using all his experience to work the audience in his near two-hour performance. I do not profess to be a walking encyclopaedia of Meat Loaf, his history would be an alien concept if I had targeted Mastermind.

So the simple question to fall back on was, Did I enjoy it?' and the answer was yes.' Okay, so I was within almost touching distance of the stage as he heavily dipped into Welcome to the Neighbourhood album for splendid renditions of Dead Ringer for Love, and Amnesty is Granted.

Donning an outrageous wig and tuxedo, he gave an outrageous performance of Paradise by the Dashboard Light and closed the main part of his act with his signature Bat Out of Hell.

He sang Thank you, thank you, very much the audience - but by then many were already streaming out.

Katie Melua opened the three-day extravaganza on Friday with a host of her hits in front of an estimated crowd of 2,500.

Saturday saw Irish boyband Boyzone back to their best after eight years apart, belting out all their hits including Words, Love Me For A Reason, and When The Going Gets Tough.

Ronan Keating and Co had their female fans drooling at the mouth just as they did in the 1990s on a cold and windy night.