THE CONFERENCE ROOM at Wan Chai's Grand Hyatt Hotel has been made to measure for Meat Loaf. Befitting the big man's brand of theatrical, epic rock, there are velvet curtains draped behind a small stage. A selection of his pulsating greatest hits spanning more than 30 years is booming out from a huge video screen. And those gathered have been urged to pull on feather-coated masquerade masks in an effort to join in the show as an overexcited MC calls him in to the room.
It turns out that no urging is needed. Storming in, yelling at the top of his voice, Meat Loaf charges to the stage, grabs a mic and commands those present to put their hands together. 'How y'all doing?' he blasts into a chorus of cheers (and some nervous, startled shuffling from those who have opted for front-row seats).
He's in town to promote his latest album, Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster is Loose. And what follows over the next 30 minutes or so is a lesson in pure, old-fashioned showmanship. Meat Loaf engulfs the crowd, darting out to sit next to a questioner whose query gets a little personal, dramatically acting out conversations he has had while he traces his history, getting right in the face of everyone and anyone.
It might be - by its end - exhausting. But it's also thoroughly entertaining.
'It's painful, singing these songs, because you're giving so much energy,' Meat Loaf says later, once we've retreated to another room and he's had time to calm down. (Well, a little).
'And if you're giving that much passion, why would you want to come out here and not give the same passion when you're talking about what you did. You want people to feel what you feel.' Meat Loaf's music is certainly all about feeling. The two previous editions of his Bat Out of Hell series swept around the world, thanks to a series of operatic chart-toppers that were as much cool as they were kitsch.