Kasim seemed to be at his most relaxed and joked a lot through the show which created a great atmosphere! As soon as he came out he joked that he was going to start with some poetry reading(!) before noticing that someone at the front already had some things for him to sign and then telling us that he has so far driven over 5,000 miles since 1st February (a month today) when the tour started!
As usual Kasim started with his great attention-grabbing Don’t Hold Me Back (with the longest and strongest “strong” of the tour - that song is always a great indication of how is voice is each night!) before going straight into Jason Falkner’s wonderful Afraid Himself To Be. This year at most shows Kasim sings the slower (to me the less dramatic) version. Kasim’s voice so suits that song!
Next Kasim spoke for quite a while (not that I’m complaining!) before singing Sometimes Love Is A Dangerous Thing as he told us the story of trying to find his first guitar teacher (that he once mentioned during a radio interview), about not wanting to play in front of his family when he was young and about writing a Meat Loaf song for his album story! (Kasim also always makes a funny joke during Sometimes Love Is A Dangerous Thing which I won’t spoil until the last gig of the tour!)
Kasim told us that he purposely didn’t come out with a set list tonight as he wanted to “wing it”! Someone told him that he usually played Set Me Free next at the shows but someone else called out for Eternal Love so he played an extract from it! I think it’s the first time that he’s sung any of the song on this tour and he sang it longer than he used to last year. Someone called out for Ticket To Ride so Kasim sang that for only the second time on his “Have Guitar, Will Travel” Tour! As, when he hasn’t rehearsed, Kasim sometimes gets stuck at the difficult guitar part in the middle of the song, he copped out nicely by “Duh-duh-duhing” it! Loads of people clapped through this song tonight!
Next we got back to the plot with Set Me Free and yet another of Kasim’s different versions of Alone(!) before Kasim said that he was singing the next song, It Wouldn’t Have Made Any Difference, because it was so beautiful (I’m not sure if it was also because Todd’s mother was in the audience!). Kasim’s even more beautiful The One Sure Thing followed after Kasim told us about his “forthcoming …..soon to be released…… finally……..” CD, Quid Pro Quo!
There was obviously a group of Doug Kennedy / Isle Of Q fans there as, as soon as Doug appeared, they all started clapping and cheering! Kasim gave him a lovely introduction by saying how much Utopia were respected as musicians and that he’s frequently received requests for people to play with him on stage. Apparently Doug kept bugging him so Kasim had to change his phone number twice, he moved house once and got Doug arrested a couple of times as a stalker but finally Doug said that he would mow his lawn for life if Kasim would let him play with him (true!) so he acquiesced! Doug and Kasim started off by playing Kasim’s great Before She Was Gone.
Kasim gave a very nice homage to Todd Rundgren tonight as he said that he was a really great songwriter, is amazingly intelligent and that “if he’s your friend, he’ll be your friend for life”. He also said that he’s not the easiest person to get along with and that he’s sarcastic and can be condescending! This then lead into Todd’s great Cliché (with Kasim adding some nah-nah-nahs tonight), followed by There Goes My Inspiration and Kasim and Doug’s amazing version of Back On The Street before Kasim was told that he was running out of time so they played One World which tonight included the line “From Berlin to San Francisco, from New York to PHILADELPHIA!!” as almost everybody joined in the clapping!
All too soon for me (and everybody there) it was time for Kasim to finish his great set tonight with John Lennon’s Across The Universe. Not surprisingly Kasim received a standing ovation as he left the stage!
And the best news of the evening was that Kasim said as he left the stage that he will be touring again in 2002, hopefully with a band!!!
Roll on Bound Brook on Wednesday…..!
It was apparent from the first few notes of "Don't Hold Me Back" that he was in excellent and strong voice!! It stayed that way throughout the show!! He was full of personality galore and jokes and stories to top it off!! He told the story of trying to find his old guitar teacher by phone only to be talking to someone whom had no clue who he was asking about! It was also funny to hear him say how he used to be so scared when his father would ask him to play guitar for the family and he would run and hide!! It's so obvious now that he was meant to be a performer. He knows exactly how to keep and audience right in the palm of his hands!
It was a treat to see him joined by Doug Kennedy! He did an excellent job of adding to the music with his dexterity on the 12 string guitar (which I love!!) Their version of Todd's"It Wouldn't Have Made Any Difference" was truly beautiful!! They were so synchronized on the guitars it was amazing!! Doug also had quite a few fans in the audience as well!! It was apparent he loves playing with Kasim and they are both so talented with their art!
Kasim also sang one of my favorite Beatles song "Ticket To Ride" which I've heard he'd only done for about the second or third time on this tour!!You wouldn't know it from how well he sang it!! He ended the show with wonderful versions of "One Word" and "Across The Universe"!! As I was standing there clapping during the much deserved standing ovation..I couldn't help thinking.. "Can we do that again??" I was amazed by the whole show!! The highlight of course came after when I got to talk with him for a few mintues!! I don't know who tipped him off...but he knew who I was..which added to the thrill of it all!! He was extremely gracious with his time with all the fans there!! I got a chance to see him chat with Todd's mom, Ruth, for a few minutes. She was thrilled to be there many of the other fans were talking with her as well. Again..I can say that this evening was more than I ever imagined it could be! It was a thrill to meet all of the ot! her fans there from the officical message board and the Yahoo club! It was great to finally put faces with all the messaged and emails!! Thanks to all and especially Kasim for a wonderful evening!!
Video Clips
These are 15 second video clips which will take about 5 minutes each to download on a normal modem.
Kasim singing Afraid Himself To Be
Kasim singing Ticket To Ride
Kasim singing more of Ticket To Ride
Kasim singing It Wouldn't Have Made Any Difference
Kasim singing more of It Wouldn't Have Made Any Difference
Kasim singing The One Sure Thing
Kasim singing Before She Was Gone
Kasim singing Cliché
Kasim singing more of Cliché
Kasim and Doug playing Back On The Street
Kasim and Doug playing more of Back On The Street
"PHILADELPHIA!!"
Kasim singing Across The Universe
Back to The Kasim Sulton Have Guitar, Will Travel Tour