Although I didn’t actually see too much of it, Valparaiso seemed to be a lovely quant, peaceful town just inside Indiana. All the people I met there were very friendly, especially the two staff of Front Porch Music! On the ground floor was the music shop and downstairs was a coffeehouse kind of place with an amazing selection of various teas - I felt like a philistine asking for boring Lipton! There were tables laid out and some spare seats at the back and to the side and the best on-stage lighting that there’s been so far on the tour!

It was a lovely relaxed informal atmosphere so Kasim dressed perfectly for the occasion in jeans and a jumper. Kasim opted to play one longer set rather than two short ones which was a great idea as it meant that the evening flowed more.

After a great introduction by the manager, Chad, Kasim took the stage and told us that as it was in a basement it reminded him a lot of his home as he does most of his work in the basement there!

Kasim’s first song was his great Don’t Hold Me Back but he sang it slightly slower tonight (and not as loud as usual due to the small venue). Kasim then went straight into Afraid Himself To Be which again he sang a touch slower.

Next Kasim told us about the singer / songwriter Terry Reid and how Kasim used to play his songs when he was just starting out in the music business on Staten Island so he sang his great song Speak Now Or Forever Hold Your Peace.

After Sometimes Love Is A Dangerous Thing, Kasim started talking about Utopia until he spotted a boy of about 13 in the crowd and asked him if he’d like him to play a NSync song! Kasim said that he would play a request from the boy providing it wasn’t from someone like Metallica! Kasim then tried to guess what sort of music the boy listened to before he asked him his name. He said that it was Todd and the room just erupted!! The poor boy obviously didn’t know what was so funny about his name so his mother had to explain who Todd was to him!

Kasim told us about his record deal with Sphere Sound Records for his forthcoming album Quid Pro Quo which will be released in April. He said that he’s calling the album Quid Pro Quo because he gets SO much from his fans and the audiences that he wants to give something back…..”you give me something, I give you something”. Kasim then played The One Sure Thing and Before She Was Gone from his album!

Kasim played a great different version of Libertine tonight as in the middle of the song he played the same few bars over and over, getting softer and softer - it was a lovely touch!

Kasim joked that no coffeehouse show would be complete with a Beatles song as he started the intro into I’m Looking Through You. There were a couple of tables here tonight of people who just came to the show not because they knew who Kasim was but just for a night out and they obviously really enjoyed this song in particular!

Tonight in One World Kasim sang the line “From Berlin to San Francisco, From Valparaiso to New York!”. After that everybody kept clapping so Kasim was persuaded to sing another song! First Kasim told us about how this basement setting reminded him of his parents' house and that he used to practice in the basement there but had to go upstairs to join his family for meals and his father would insist on him playing his guitar for his grandmother and his aunt which he never wanted to do! He said that this was very similar except that now he enjoys playing so much! Kasim then played Across The Universe before he disappeared upstairs leaving us all wanting more!

Roll on Chicago tomorrow…..!