Rock star Meat Loaf, whose death was announced this morning at the age of 74, was a handy goalkeeper as well as a singer, as he proved in Newcastle.
The rocker, known for hits like Bat Out of Hell and I Would Do Anything for Love, was no stranger to the Toon, performing in the city many times over his illustrious career.
And when he feared he'd let Geordies down by cutting a Newcastle Arena gig short due to throat problems in October 2007, Meat Loaf set out on a quest to make it up to fans and the city.
Read more: Singer Meat Loaf dies
Proving himself as a good sport, the rocker agreed to take part in a charity penalty shoot-out at St James' Park. The Chronicle arranged an auction, and the highest bidders were allowed to try their luck from the spot with Meat Loaf between the sticks in June 2008.
"It sounds fun for the people kicking the ball at me,” laughed Meat when he agreed to go in goal.
“I’m not so sure how much fun that is for me. I’ll just wing it.
“My mother died when I was 17 years old from cancer, at the age of 54, which is very young, and my grandfather died from leukaemia, so cancers run in my family.”
Dressed in a Newcastle United shirt with his name on and sporting goalie gloves, Meat Loaf played his part, saving several kicks, including attempts from Magpies legend Peter Beardsley.
Initially, he told bidders they would get free tickets to a Meat Loaf concert in Yorkshire if they managed to score past him. He gave them all tickets anyway, regardless of if they bagged or not.
Meat Loaf also matched the £5000 raised by the auction. The cash went to two cancer charities, Maggie's Cancer Care Centre and the Toma Fund, which was taking donations to fund a teenage cancer unit.
In 2010, Meat revealed his fury that fans who went to his cut short concert were not automatically refunded because he had played for 70 minutes before walking off stage, and told the Chronicle's Gordon Barr he was mortified about having to pull the show.
A higher than required dose of steroids used to treat his throat problem meant the singer could not continue performing.
Meat told Chronicle man Gordon : “I was in the room by myself and my assistant came back in and said ‘you gave him 20cc right?’, he said ‘no, 100’ and she started yelling at him, ‘you did what? Are you nuts?’.
“I went out and it started OK but after the first couple of songs it fell apart. By the time I got to Anything For Love nothing would come out of my throat.
“I was so distressed and so distraught plus I am on 100cc of this cortisone. You know how you get people and when they get drunk they get really nasty? Cortisone will make you really not yourself, it really makes you mean, it makes you snappy. Completely crazy.
“That steroid affected me to such a point that I walked up and said sorry, thanks, I’m retiring. I didn’t know what was going on.
“I stayed in the arena that night until 3am in my dressing room and I was so embarrassed and upset and didn’t know what to do.
“That was a really horrible moment. When they wouldn’t give the refunds to the people, that just compounded the situation beyond my wildest imagination.
"For three years now I have done nothing but try to figure out ways of coming back to Newcastle.”
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