When Kasim played at Club Café in Pittsburgh last June as part of a singer / songwriter circle, the club was only about half full with four people on stage. Tonight, with thanks to a group of locals plastering posters over the city, it was over three quarters full for “just” Kasim Sulton! The guy on the door told me that it was a far bigger crowd than they usually have on a Tuesday night!

Kasim came out to cheers and applause wearing a black suit and orange shirt and said that he felt like he was about to give an annual report about why the company was folding!

Kasim kept everybody’s attention right from the outset by blasting into Don’t Hold Me Back and then going straight into Jason Falkner’s Afraid Himself To Be without any waffle! The sound in the club was far clearer than at either Cambridge or Westerly and sometimes it had an echo which was very effective!

Next Kasim told us about his record deal and that his CD will be out in April before a brief intro (with joke) into Sometimes Love Is A Dangerous Thing! He played some very nifty guitar work on that song too! As he got to the musical part he said “Take it boys” to his “imaginary band” and later asked if he could have more drums in the monitor which made most people laugh!

There were obviously a lot of Utopia fans there tonight as everytime he mentioned the group or sang one of their songs, most people started clapping so the Set Me Free / Alone / There Goes My Inspiration segueway was a big hit!

There was a lot of light-hearted banter and conversation between Kasim and the audience tonight including people asking what the rest of Utopia were doing and if he had any dirt (he only came up with the fact that Michael Jackson doesn’t look so good these days!)!

After my favourite The One Sure Thing (which received a massive round of applause!), Kasim sang one of my Utopia favourites Back On The Street, complete with his great gun shots! Kasim’s “homage” Cliché to Todd was a big hit too as I think the Todd fans there appreciated how hard that song is to sing and play (correctly at least!).

Someone asked for Roll The Dice but Kasim misheard it as You’re As Cold As Ice so he sang a few bars of it! Next someone called out Kasim’s own song Sweet Little Accident and he sang several lines of it before he couldn’t remember any more words but he did say that as he managed to sing that much, he may play it all on stage sometime!

After a slightly shaky start, Kasim sounded especially good in Across The Universe tonight - I always think that that song suits his voice but the PA system there emphasised it! It’s just a shame that videoing wasn’t allowed in the venue.

Kasim told us that he was only going to sing one more song but someone at the bar called out for Libertine so he sang that too! The girl at the bar then also called out for him to not stop after a few bars - thankfully he completed the song, even with some audience members singing the background vocals!

A couple of people stood when Kasim started One World (complete with hand punch!) and most people in there joined in with the clapping part! Unfortunately Kasim really messed up the second verse as he went from Kristy the Clipper straight into the “Here on the street, we’ve got it under control” part! Kasim did include Pittsburgh in the cities list at the end!

At one point in his set Kasim joked that it was a sign of his age that he couldn't manage to drink without spilling any as he dropped some water onto his trousers (pants)!

Kasim left the stage to massive applause (and several people standing) but only got as far as the back of the room when, despite already having sung his encore, he returned to the stage as people were chanting “Kasim, Kasim”! He sang This Must Be Love which really emphasises his guitar playing (I love the part when he plays up the neck of the guitar and tonight he played it with a flat sound).

Kasim then left the stage again but he didn’t get to his dressing room for about twenty minutes as he was mobbed by the crowd wanting autographs by the sound desk!

Out of the three gigs so far on this tour, this was by far my favourite! From 8 in Cambridge to 12 in Westerly, I think that was definitely a 16 tonight! Kasim is going from strength to strength on this tour!

Roll on Kent tomorrow….!