Kasim-Bear and I didn’t take too many photos this time ‘round… Mommy was busy driving and K-B was busy napping since we’d been up at 5:30 Tuesday morning. We did make one stop at the Post Office, to mail some of the videos and assorted Christmas presents we’d managed to get done for people…

Then we swung by Mom & Dad’s to pick up Dad’s Saturn (much better chance of making it to Sioux City & back than my poor little Festiva, plus it has a working radio!

Took a couple of photos at the parents’ house, grabbed a bite of lunch with bookmom, then grabbed a few winks - about an hours’ worth. The cat in the photos is my brother’s Cymry - he lives with his grandparents now, as my brother-in-law is really allergic to cats. He refused to move, so there ya go - Cymry, Kasim-Bear and Kasim’s presents… Ssh, don’t tell, there are hand-dipped pretzels and “thumb-print cream cheese mints” made by the bookgirl herself (who says I’m not domestic, hehehe), the obligatory Peach Snapple, a SpongeBob calendar and a copy of the October 20 Chicago show on video for OOMS…

Got on the road about 4:00, hit Sioux City at about 6. There was an accident at the intersection near the theatre so we drove around for a bit trying to figure out a way ‘round it. Kasim-Bear SUCKS as a navigator, luckily Mommy here was pretty good and managed to find a parking place a couple of blocks away while avoiding the emergency vehicles.

Walked over to the theatre and picked up my tickets. I was trying to figure out how to find Kasim - he’d told me where to meet him at 6:30 but the venue staff members were not really helpful or forthcoming with directions and I wasn’t keen on wandering around alone at night… Then the police officers started eyeing me a little strangely so I decided to go in and find my seat first, deal with everything else later. While waiting for the house to open, I bought another copy of QPQ - yes, that makes at least 6 by now! Most of them are presents, I just can’t help myself…

Got into the theatre, it’s really gorgeous (and in an interesting side note, I sat behind one of the people responsible for the renovation and upkeep! He and his girlfriend? Wife? Were very nice and appreciated Kasim’s music a LOT) and reminded me a lot of Omaha’s own Orpheum. Found my seat, 6th row on the aisle!! I had a great view of stage right, where Kasim usually spends most of his time. I saw Patti talking to a fan and signing an autograph, and asked her to let Kasim know I was here since the venue staff weren’t being overly helpful about helping me get in touch with him. They were a darn sight nicer about it than this summer in Des Moines, I will say that much, they just kept looking at me like I was a nut case or something as they politely said “Well, I guess you’ll just have to wait until after the show, won’t you?”

Patti is a great lady, she and a stagehand graciously let Da Man know, and in a few minutes I was in a big Kasim-bear hug… er, that’s a big warm Kasim hug as opposed to a Kasim-Bear bear hug, his arms are too little… we spent a few minutes talking and I gave him his presents. Then, Kasim noticed that the QPQ promo cards he’d laid out on some of the seats had disappeared. Frustratingly, no one knew where they’d gone. But he still sold some CD’s to people other than to me, so that was good… All too soon it was time for Kasim to get changed for the show. We agreed to meet at the stage door after the show.

The audience was filling up fast - it truly was a sold out crowd!! My neighbors were all good sports, listening to me babble about Kasim’s incredible new CD, the songs I loved and why, his impressive resume, how I was really excited for him as it was a whole new audience and how I expected them to cheer and clap loudly for him as we were all friends now!! One of my neighbors commented that I looked like the one who was nervous, not Kasim… and he was the one going on stage!

Then, at 7:35, the lights went out. Blue light washed over the stage. Two spotlights hit the center of the stage. The announcer said, “Ladies and gentleman, please welcome Kasim Sulton!” The crowd politely clapped, a couple of rowdy people upstairs might have booed and cried out for Meat but all in all a polite response. Kasim wore a light grey long sleeved dress shirt, black pants and the boots I think of as his “stage boots” - if you’ve seen the photos from NOTP or other Meat shows, you probably know which ones I mean, the leather with the tiny heel and the stretchy part of the uppers? Okay, can we say too much detail here, move on bookgirl…

(That said - before I go on I should mention that they allowed drinks in the theatre and the liquid refreshments - read: beer and wine and water and soda, with other spirits in it - were flowing quite freely throughout the show… several people up front seem to have had a few too many before the show, and continued to imbibe throughout. Bless their fuzzy hearts, they were well behaved through Kasim’s and Patti’s sets.)

After a brief introduction (Hi, my name is Kasim, here’s how this works, I’m here to warm you up, then Patti comes out, then the full 2 ½ hours Meat show, etc…) he opened with Sacrifice - my suggestion! - and the crowd responded well. Only one voice called out for Meat and that was the last time during Kasim’s set. Others in the audience were clapping and cheering and whistling, and my neighbors all turned to me and said, “Wow, he is really good, you weren’t exaggerating!” and other positive comments. The next song was Don’t Hold Me Back - with BOTH strong’s done in that STRONG voice that we love so much. He talked a bit about QPQ, mentioned the web site and moved on to Before She Was Gone. Mark and John joined him part way through. The lighting effects were great, what a fun way to add them in!! Sorry I have no pictures, they were not allowing cameras and confiscating those people had managed to sneak in…

Patti came on, blazing set as usual, the NE were really tight. The audience and I both enjoyed it very much. Gee, that was a shorter section than Kasim’s - can you tell where my attention was focused?

Finally the main event began. Like some others have said - Meat knows how to play the crowd. Like some others have also said - I’m not a big fan of the dramatics, but it does give me time to Kasim-watch… And the rest of the audience really seems to eat it up so I enjoyed their being so into it. The drumming, the pacing, the leaning on the lighting trusses, etc… The show was pretty much what I expected although there was no Kasim solo during the acoustic set. He did receive a standing ovation when he was introduced by Meat - okay, well, I stood and I think a few others did too, but he was also greeted by lots of cheers and clapping and hollering. Since I was up so late and pretty focused on OOMS, I’m down to impressions and so forth of some of the songs.

Life Is A Lemon - saw several people in the second row rocking out during this one. One lady in particular looked particularly affected by the song - touched my heart as it appeared she’s recently finished chemo and was really energized by Meat’s performance… spoke to her for a few minutes afterward, nothing too deep but got the impression that this was definitely a high point for her year and I definitely wish her the best.

Lawyers, Guns and Money - really heard Kasim throughout this one. Something about the chorus just always makes me smile. Hmm, that’s a disturbing thought…

Tear Me Down - good audience response.

All Revved Up - the guitar lead in got a HUGE response, and the audience stood up for the first time that evening…

Anything For Love - WOW. The entire stage was awash in blue light at one point, and the band was backlit - it was SO beautiful I almost cried. Or maybe I was too tired. But I think it was the stark simple beauty of the “scene” - I could just not believe that I was watching this guy who a mere hour before had just been sitting around talking to me like a “regular” guy. That’s what we love about him, though, isn’t it - his “regular guy” qualities combined with that amazing talent… And the audience really fed off this one as well. I also got a kick out of watching Kasim and some of the rest of the band take a small cigarette break during the opening keyboard part…

I particularly enjoyed the reggae ending to Paradise, haven’t seen that one before…

Two Out of Three - Meat invited us to sing along, in fact, he said he’d encourage it. Kasim stood at one point and pointed to us repeatedly, leading the singing then Meat & company stopped singing and we took over for a verse. The band applauded us at the end and we all stood & clapped for them too.

Pearl’s solo was AWESOME. I think it’s called Guilty, I don’t know that for sure but Meat said “Make Daddy cry,” and she was certainly on last night.

LOVED BAT OUT OF HELL!! That song is so fun, Kasim always has so much fun with the bass line on that one and looks like he’s about to burst from happiness. And we got the encore Johnny Be Goode… awesome!

I was mostly fascinated watching Kasim as he led the NE through songs with such control and grace. I’ve never been close enough before to watch how he signals everyone, keeps one eye on Meat and one eye on the rest of the show elements. There were several times I could tell Meat was doing something unexpected, and Kasim held it together, keeping the band from getting ahead or behind. I saw several “WATCH ME!” and “Don’t go until I SAY SO!” and “NOW!” and other musical director type of stuff… He’s just a consummate professional, our Kasim, and it made me so happy & proud to finally get to see that up close and personal.

After the show, Kasim came out and we went to check on his CD sales. Not bad - 5 that night. Toledo holds the record, BTW - 12! Now all you Floridians have something to work toward at “your” upcoming shows…

We ran into a fan in the lobby, she’s known Kasim as an extremely talented guitarist over the years but had no idea he was a singer/songwriter. Her 14-year-old daughter is in love, we all know with whom, don’t we? He was just sweet as could be, signed a CD for Taylor (the daughter) and posed for a couple of photos. Their camera had been confiscated and they still weren’t sure how to work it, so I took ‘em on my camera and emailed them to Taylor this morning. Kasim promised that they could count on me - aww! Thanks, man! He & I both insisted that we do 2, “just in case!” Taylor was so happy she was crying, and I almost cried myself as the entire scene was so touching! Taylor & her Mom really enjoyed meeting Kasim, and he really enjoyed meeting them too. After they left, Kasim made the comment that “You know, that’s what it’s all about. Meeting that one person, making that connection, it’s all been worth it.”

All too soon it was time to go, one last hug and wave goodbye, and I was on the road home. Drove through some really thick fog, but I made it home and safely into bed by 3 am! Then I sat down to write this review several times throughout the day and got sidetracked… by naps mostly. But now it’s done, except for the obligatory photo of Kasim with the bookgirl and Kasim-bear… Roll on February and Kasim Sulton solo shows!

Back to Kasim Sulton's Meat Loaf Winter 2002 / 2003 Tour