Meat Loaf collapses onstage in Edmonton

Singer Meat Loaf collapsed onstage towards the end of his set in Edmonton on Thursday night.

Edmonton fire department confirmed that they responded to a medical call at the Northern Jubilee Auditorium. Because the call was medical in nature Alberta Health Service has since taken over.

AHS confirmed that they did transport a patient from the Jubilee to an Edmonton hospital but that no further details are available at this time. 

Meat Loaf's agent and music manager did not immediately return messages from The Associated Press seeking comment.

• Fans hungry for Meat Loaf after Moose Jaw show cancelled

This comes after the singer cancelled shows in Moose Jaw, Sask., and Calgary earlier in the week citing illness. He had played a half-dozen dates in eastern and central Canada beginning in May and leading up to this week.

Earlier on Thursday a photo was posted to Meat Loaf's Facebook page saying "Hey Edmonton!!! We're here.......!!!" '

The 68-year-old, whose birth name is Marvin Lee Aday, later changed his first name to Michael. 

He has enjoyed a four-decade-long singing and acting career. Meat Loaf is best known for his 1977 smash album Bat Out of Hell and its companion piece nearly two decades later, 1993's Bat Out of Hell: Back into Hell.

In December 2003, he collapsed at a show in England. He attributed the incident to Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome in later interviews and told Rock's Backpages "it won't ever happen again" due to successful heart surgery. Eight years later, he collapsed at a Pittsburgh show, chalking it up to an asthmatic condition.

'He just fell'

Jamie Carriere has been a longtime fan of Meat Loaf and was at the concert Thursday night.

Carriere said that Meat Loaf was performing I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That) when he suddenly collapsed.

"He fell … he just fell," said Carriere. "You could hear the microphone just hit the ground."

"I thought it was a joke, I didn't know what was going on because he was joking around throughout his set."

Angus Munroe, another lifelong fan, was at the show with his son. 

"It was slow, he just kind of rolled over, it almost looked like it would have been part of the show," said Munroe. "There was sort of a pause in the crowd and the music stopped."

Munroe has seen Meat Loaf perform before and said that it seemed like this show "took a lot out of him."

"The last time I saw him for Three Bats Live tour, he was very energetic and jumping around," said Munroe. "This time it was very slow onstage." 

After the singer collapsed and was attended to, a black curtain was drawn between the crowd and the audience. 

It was slow, he just kind of rolled over, it almost looked like it would have been part of the show.- Angus Munroe

Munroe said that a crowd was at the back of the building waited to see if Meat Loaf would walk out.

"We were sort of watching to see if he was going to walk out the back door or be carried out or whatever, but they covered it up and backed the ambulance right up to the back," said Munroe. "They were protecting his privacy very well."

Carriere and Munroe said that the entire building was forced to leave while fire trucks and ambulances arrived at the building.

Carriere also said that people shouted words of encouragement at the singer after he collapsed. 

"People were trying to cheer him on yelling 'Come on Meat Loaf' but the atmosphere became 'no you shouldn't be doing that right now, this is something serious.'"

The incident has occurred in the hometown of his second wife, Deborah Gillespie.

Meat Loaf has seven more Canadian dates scheduled through July 2 in Moose Jaw. The next show is scheduled for Cold Lake, Alta., on Saturday.