Back in 1994 when Meat Loaf used to start his set with Anything For Love, I remember he gave an interview when he said that most acts play their biggest hits at the end of the set and lead up to it but he hits them with the best part first - “if you come in late, you miss the best part”. Well, obviously with having Kasim open the show, Meat Loaf is continuing with the same routine but sadly loads of people will have missed it tonight!

After Kasim’s usual introduction about who he is (which is very effective as it immediately puts the crowd more on his side IMHO), he launched into Don’t Hold Me Back which certainly grabbed people’s attention.

Tonight can not have been an easy set for Kasim as even after he sang one line he had to get something changed with the sound (he did this by just touching his head and yet not missing playing a note!). A couple of lines later and I noticed that one of his guitar strings was very loose and then it broke! Despite this, I’m sure that anyone at the back of the venue who couldn’t see his string hanging down wouldn’t have realised that one had broke as Kasim just carried on without missing a note (again)! I thought that was so impressive.

Kasim then used CC’s prop for Testify to play the rest of the set. Kasim next mentioned Quid Pro Quo and then sang Before She Was Gone from the album. I listened carefully to this song tonight and there was definitely an echoed “fire” after Kasim sang the word “fire”. I did notice too that the cameras had that lovely long slow pan up his body again so maybe they do it at all the concerts? (Or maybe only at the concerts where they have plenty of smelling salts for the swooning girls?)

When Kasim only plays three songs, it just makes me ache to hear more (I think it’s a dreadful shame that it’s been over a year since Kasim has played a solo gig) and tonight his third song was Sacrifice. He sang it the usual way with the muted couple of bars at the end of the guitar part.

And then, all too soon for me, it was time for Kasim to leave the stage after a good opening set but one when he appeared to be slightly unsettled after breaking that string and having to play with a different guitar but equally an opening set when he demonstrated how professional a musician he is!

Back to Kasim's Opening Set Tour page