As soon as I walked into Old Miami in Detroit, I wanted to walk out again! It was a dump, plain and simple. It was located in a dodgy part of Detroit and the surrounding buildings were all run down and boarded up - I was glad that I arrived and left with friends! Apparently the bar is owned by some Vietnam Veterans and there has been a drinking place on this site since the 1920s but it has definitely seen better days! It was a long building with a low stage at the back which is where Kasim played. There was only one bench facing the stage so most people stood to watch Kasim (or sat on the beer crates that were stacked there!).

The opening act were called Three Sheets who opened with an hour long acoustic set which was about 55 minutes too long for me!

Kasim took the stage at about 11.00pm and promptly made us all forget what a dump we were in! There were loads of Utopia fans there who were totally enthralled with his performance and several people there had travelled for way over an hour to get to the gig! Kasim burst into Don't Hold Me Back (it’s a great dramatic way to start his set!) before switching Sometimes Love Is A Dangerous Thing and Afraid Himself To Be from their usual order! He next sang Set Me Free before he asked if we wanted him to sing his songs chronologically or to throw caution to the wind and sing them in any order! Appropriately given the venue, Kasim then ignored his set list and next sang Back On The Street which was a massive hit with all the Utopia fans! They also really applauded Kasim’s own The One Sure Thing!

Kasim explained that so many people had covered Todd Rundgren’s It Wouldn't Have Made Any Difference which is why he was going to sing Cliché instead and he sang it word perfect - he received massive applause after that!

All too soon for me it was time for Kasim to sing One World (with Detroit mention) and for him to vacate the stage for Three Sheets to bore us all again!

Although it was great for a fan like me to be able to see Kasim mingling with the crowd all evening, I felt really sorry for him as there was no dressing room at the venue so he was like a goldfish in a bowl all evening! Even when Kasim was talking to people, he was often interrupted by others wanting photos and / or autographs. Kasim being Kasim signed and posed for everyone with his usual great humour!

At about 1.00am Kasim returned to the stage for his second set. By this time I could tell a slight deterioration in Kasim’s voice. He still sounded great but probably only as great as a good singer on a good day rather than as great as Kasim usually sounds! Much to the annoyance of the lady sitting next to me (who enjoyed his stories), Kasim didn’t do much talking in his second set as he mainly just played the songs with no introduction.

(The sound guy, who by this stage was totally drunk, also started flicking the stage lights on and off during this set so some of my photos are quite dark so click on them for a brighter version.)

A funny part happened when Kasim played the rift part in Ticket To Ride as it took him several attempts to play it correctly! Possibly nobody told Kasim that he was playing two sets tonight but certainly the last time he played that track on stage was way back in August and it’s a tough piece to play!

Despite what Kasim said earlier in the evening, he opted to play Todd Rundgren's It Wouldn't Have Made Any Difference in his second set - Kasim's version is far far better than most covers of this song!

All too soon for me (and the rest of the crowd that had stayed in this dump until 2.00 in the morning!) Kasim was playing Across The Universe as his finale! Afterwards almost all the people who were on the one bench or the beer crates stood to applause him and there were loads of calls for Kasim to play an encore but he already had his jacket on by then!

Afterwards it seemed that people didn’t want to go home but stayed to tell Kasim (and talk amongst themselves) about how much they enjoyed the gig! At least four individual people told me that they didn't realise that Kasim was THAT talented!

This gig was filmed by a local video group so I think the second funniest thing I saw tonight was all these human crabs crawling on their knees across the floor to film Kasim!

However the most funniest thing I saw all night was Kasim standing talking to a drunk guy who had the word “vagina” in capital letters stuck to his forehead!

Only in Detroit…..!