As they are all excellent musicians in their own right, the musical pedigree of this Power Trio was exceptionally high. Todd Rundgren is a prolific songwriter and recording artist, as well as having a long list of producing credits to his name (including Meat Loaf’s Bat Out of Hell album and arranging the background vocals on Bat Out of Hell II). He is also a very talented guitarist (he composed and performed the long guitar motorbike solo on the track Bat Out of Hell) and he really excelled in tracks like #1 Lowest Common Denominator on this tour.
Kasim Sulton has played with Meat Loaf since 1993, first on keyboards and guitar before switching to bass and being made Musical Director in 1998. Prior to that, Kasim played bass on the album Bat Out of Hell when he was in the group Utopia alongside Todd. Kasim has also worked with artists as diverse as Joan Jett, Hall and Oates, Richie Sambora, Jon Bon Jovi and Mick Jagger, as well as writing and recording two solo albums and one with Thommy Price. He also produced Meat Loaf’s StoryTellers album and the single Is Nothing Sacred.
Trey Sabatelli has played the drums for The Tubes and will be touring with Jefferson Starship this Autumn. Also, at six of the concerts (when he wasn’t touring with Tony Levin) the trio were joined on stage for part of the show by Jesse Gress on guitar.
At most gigs they played for around two hours and performed about 20 songs from a list of 25 or so. Although the opening and ending songs were always the same, the actual tracks played changed each night depending on what Todd wanted to play or, as he said at one concert, depending on “the vibes he receives from the audience”! Most nights Todd would perform an acoustic song on his own in the middle of the show before playing Bang the Drum on his ukulele.
They also included a selection of Utopia tracks like Hammer in My Heart, Fix your Gaze, Love in Action and, often the audience’s favourite, Trapped (the track on which Kasim sings lead vocals). Another Utopia track, One World, was used near the ending of the concerts with Todd switching the words “From New York to 
Tokyo” to “From New York to” whichever town they were in that night or to “Where the hell are we?” if he forgot where the concert was being held!
As the tour was partly to promote Todd’s new CD “One Long Year” they performed several tracks from that album, the most popular being Yer Fast (And I Like It) with it’s sensational abrupt ending that always catches the audience out! During the tour they also made three television appearances (including Letterman which was shown in UK) performing either Yer Fast or I Hate My Frickin ISP.
One of the highlights of the concerts was the musical track The Ikon as each member of the band jammed in the spotlight in turn. It was then that Kasim’s playing really came into it’s own as he made such amazing sounds emit from his bass – sometimes the floor even vibrated! After seeing Kasim play The Ikon seemingly so effortlessly I can’t believe that he’s such an underrated bass player.
As it appeared that the band just used whatever PA system was available at each venue, sometimes the sound was not perfect (Todd’s microphone blew during the gig in Columbus and Kasim’s mike wouldn’t work at all at the beginning of the show in Harrisburg) and there were occasional lighting problems (in Pittsburgh they had horrendous trouble so for one song a tech stood holding a torch over Todd!) but all of these blips were greeted with amusement by the band and sometimes added to the atmosphere of the concert!
However, disaster struck on the tour at the eighteenth concert in Anaheim, California as Kasim broke his left foot on stage! It occurred during the song Couldn't I Just Tell You as, for the first time on the tour, Kasim and Todd started doing their scissor legs jumping. They'd only kicked once when Kasim landed on his guitar lead and fell down flat onto his bum. Although he sat there and laughed (and then laughed even more when he got to his microphone as Todd was laughing at him!) it was obvious that he'd hurt himself as he kept favouring his left leg and badly hobbled off stage. What I found most amazing was that not only did Kasim scarcely miss a note when he fell but he then played five more songs before he finally left the stage. I guess if you’re a professional musician the show must go on…..!
The story goes that the next day they flew to the East Coast so Kasim didn’t receive medical attention to his foot until the following evening but by the next night he was back on stage on crutches with his foot and lower leg in plaster up to his knee! For the next couple of concerts Kasim had a stool to sit on but it wasn’t long before he was back to predominately standing during the concerts. He used a special surgical sandal (see trio photo below) but soon swapped his crutches for a cane. By the August dates, the plaster had been removed and Kasim was back to his energetic self on stage, although he had switched to using cordless guitars and did the scissors kicks extremely carefully!
Despite the problems, I thoroughly enjoyed this tour as it was really great to be able to see Kasim play again in more intimate settings and especially playing solid rock music, a lot of which he helped to create as part of Utopia. It’s only really been on this tour that I’ve began to appreciate exactly how talented a bass player he truly is and that voice is so crystal clear…!
Sue Williams