IT has been a weekend of tributes at the Ipswich Regent as superb musicians brought some of the finest music of the last 40 years to life on the stage of the region's largest theatre.

IT has been a weekend of tributes at the Ipswich Regent as superb musicians brought some of the finest music of the last 40 years to life on the stage of the region's largest theatre.

Motown Magic kick-started the weekend on Friday before Steve Steinman brought his superb Meatloaf Trilogy show to the theatre on Saturday night.

Meatloaf's music is theatrical and spectacular. It might be the kind sound those of us of a certain age like to listen to in our cars, but it really comes alive when it is performed in a theatrical setting.

Steve Steinman has a superb voice and really brings the songs to life - but he doesn't attempt to give an impression of Meatloaf as he did when making his name on “Stars in their Eyes.”

You can't escape the fact that he's a thoroughly English northerner and not a biking icon from Texas!

And he does allow his own personality to subtly (not a word you often read in a Meatloaf review) change the arrangements of some of the numbers.

Emily Clark gives superb support by singing female lead - although once or twice I did feel as if we could have done with a little less banter and a little more music.

That could have been because the banter did seem slightly familiar for those of us who had seen the show before!

Next year Steve Steinman is bringing a new Meatloaf show on tour, this time with a 30-piece orchestra.

Exactly how that will go down in the Regent remains to be seen - but it should make a great new departure for this show.

Then last night another American legend, with a very different style, got the full tribute treatment when the Illegal Eagles took to the Regent stage.

The band says it is not a “tribute band” but produce a fine musical tribute to The Eagles.

Quite what the difference is escapes me - and I suspect many others in the audience - but the fact is they play superb music and really bring the west coast sound of the 1970s and 1980s to life.

Danny Vaughn has taken over as joint lead singer of the group this year, along with Jeff Green, and has settled in well, helping to bring the music of The Eagles to life.

The last few months has, of course, seen an upsurge of interest in the group after they released their first new album in decades, Long Road Out of Eden at the end of last year.

But it is the classic numbers from the 1970s that most fans wanted to hear last night - and we were not disappointed.

The Illegals include examples of all types of music from the American legends from gentle ballads like Desperado and New Kid in Town through to the almost-heavy Life in the Fast Lane.

At the end there was still plenty of Eagles material not used - plenty to bring in and change around the set when they return to their appreciative Ipswich audience next time.

PAUL GEATER.