Set List: Hold Me Back Afraid Himself To Be Sometimes Love Is A Dangerous Thing Set Me Free Alone The One Sure Thing Before She Was Gone There Goes My Inspiration Cliché Back On The Street Libertine This Must Be Love One World Across The Universe

When I turned off the I95, I drove past at least three Go-Go Girls clubs before I found the venue! I parked my car in a side street near the venue and, as I was getting my stuff together, someone managed to back into my car! Thankfully she (yes it was a female driver!) only hit my bumper (I believe it’s called a fender over here) but then, when I walked into the club, I was the only paying customer there for quite a while which was worrying! Thankfully it was eventually realised that there was some confusion about the timing of the gig and that it was actually supposed to start at 9.00 not 8.00 as I’d been lead to believe so I was almost two hours early! The Acoustic Café in Bridgeport was actually a lovely venue! I was pleasantly surprised that the club was well lit in a safe part of the town and probably could have seated about 70 people around tables with more seats along the sides. They sold a nice selection of food too!

Ricky Byrd came on at 9.00 and played for about half an hour. He played a good upbeat set with his usual tunes and his usual jokes but they always get a laugh! Although both he and Kasim play acoustic sets, their styles are totally different as Ricky Byrd stands and plays a more dramatic set, Kasim (the star of the gig) certainly in the first half of his set, sits and chats and plays a more personal show!

Kasim came on stage at about 9.45 and started his set with his dramatic Don’t Hold Me Back / Afraid Himself To Be opening! Before he played his next track, Sometimes Love Is A Dangerous Thing, Kasim told his joke that he’s telling on this tour about how the song came to be written. I won’t spoil the joke but it always receives lots of laughter!

There were obviously loads of Utopia fans in the audience as both Set Me Free and Alone received great reactions tonight (even though Kasim got the opening words of the latter wrong!).

Next Kasim told us that his new CD Quid Pro Quo will be coming out in April. He said that he opted for an independent record deal rather than a major label as that would be “too darned time consuming……painful…..and depressing” (it was funny when Kasim said it on stage!). He then went on to say that he has a certain amount of fans that like what he’s doing so he’s releasing it for them which again received a round of applause! Kasim next played his great The One Sure Thing (for some reason tonight Kasim’s Washburn guitar on that track sounded richer than normal) and Before She Was Gone!

Doug Kennedy of the Philadelphia based band The Isle Of Q joined Kasim on stage for Before She Was Gone and then stayed for the rest of his set proper. I’ll freely admit that when I first heard that Doug Kennedy was joining Kasim on stage for some of his gigs, I wasn’t too keen as I would have preferred 100% Kasim (sorry Doug but it’s true!) but Doug really does make a great contribution to the set as he plays on the songs that sound better with two guitars, as well as sometimes playing the lead parts while Kasim sticks with the rhythm which is VERY effective!

They especially used the two guitars to great effect in Back On The Street tonight as Kasim started it quietly while Doug was switching guitars and then they played a few bars before Kasim started singing - it was only then that most people actually realised which song it was! Both of them played some amazing guitar in the middle - it was just a blur of hands on the stage! The gunshots received some laughter in the middle and there was loads of applause afterwards! They then went straight into Libertine and then Kasim’s own This Must Be Love (again with the fascinating part when they both play up the neck of the guitar)!

Several people started clapping at the beginning of One World and most people in the club joined in with the two-one clap part after Kasim had sung “From Berlin to San Francisco, From New York to BRIDGEPORT”!

Doug Kennedy then left the stage but, due to all the applause, Kasim decided to play one more song so he opted for his great version of Across The Universe! Ricky Byrd managed to get a tambourine from somewhere so he stood at the front of the stage playing that too (after Kasim had given him an appreciative wink)! Afterwards most people in the venue stood to applause Kasim!

After a dodgy start, it turned into a really great evening!

Roll on Albany on Saturday……!

Video Clip
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Kasim singing Before She Was Gone

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