Meatloaf prepares for stage exit Meatloaf - one of the last great veterans of glam rock - is getting ready to hang up his air guitar. His "Last At Bat" tour is set to be the final chance fans will have to see the Rocky Horror Picture Show star on-stage, if not on-screen. Determined to concentrate on what has proved a stuttering film career, the singer was adamant about what he would miss most from gigging: "What you miss most is the performing of it, not the audience reaction, I would never say that, because I don't come to a show to have the audience applaud me... I come for them." After 65 years, 18 concussions, a dodgy hip, one knee replacement and another shortly on the way, the physicality of touring has taken its toll. And the effect of age on his live performances has not gone unnoticed - neither by critics nor by the singer himself: People expect perfection and I don't blame them. They pay a lot of money for their tickets, but you just don't recover as fast, because vocal cords are nothing but muscles; so if you go to the gym you work out really hard, you are sore and it takes a while to recover, and so the older you are the slower it is to recover. Since its release in 1977, Meatloaf's "Bat Out Of Hell" has sold more than 45 million copies and continues to shift around 200,000 copies every year, cementing its reputation as one of the greatest rock albums of all time. The singer hopes his swansong set of arena gigs will prove equally legendary. More about: Musical, Pop music