Don't Hold Me Back
Afraid Himself To Be
Before She Was Gone
Set Me Free
Just A Little Bit
Sometimes Love Is A Dangerous Thing
It Wouldn't Have Made Any Difference
All The Right Reasons
Across The Universe
Don't Hold Me Back
Afraid Himself To Be
Before She Was Gone
Set Me Free
Just A Little Bit
Sometimes Love Is A Dangerous Thing
It Wouldn't Have Made Any Difference
All The Right Reasons
Across The Universe
One of my favorite moments was when he did “Sometimes Love Is A Dangerous Thing”. This song has a “Ricky Byrd” type feel to it…that was how Kasim described it. The story behind how it was written is soo funny too and one of Kasim’s favorites to tell. Anyway, I loved the way he did this song tonight, again, he was very “into” it and was adding a few extra “yeah’s” and just letting himself go. Awesome!
To be honest, I am not familiar with Utopia's music and therefore I do not know a lot of the Utopian songs like “Set Me Free” so I can’t compare the acoustic sound over the “full” version. It all sounded great to me and I look forward to May 19th when we get to enjoy TWO shows on the same night!
After the show, Frank and I met some other fans…some we know and some we know from the list but never met. I think that meeting with them made my night complete and it was great to share stories and our love for Kasim and his music. We even got to meet Kasim’s brother Alex and of course spent a few moments with Kasim himself.
That’s about the best I can do, we had a great evening and an uneventful ride home, re-living the evening every mile!
Review by Kathy
The show began with a brief monologue from Kasim's longtime friend, Mike, who treated us to tales of teenage escapades.... ah, growing up.
Shortly after Mike left the stage, Kasim walked on... looking confident, comfortable, and so very happy to be there. He greeted us with a warm smile, and immediately launched into an absolutely stunning version of "Don't Hold Me Back." It's a bit of a shock to witness, because you're not expecting his voice to be so strong and powerful... you see one person onstage, with an acoustic guitar, and you just automatically expect a softer delivery. Wrong! It's big, bold, and vibrant. Just beautiful.
After capturing everyone's undivided attention with that gorgeous first number, he introduced the next song -- a Jason Falkner cover, called "Afraid Himself To Be" -- which he has successfully crafted into a version that I feel rivals the original. I heard the Jason Falkner version for the first time earlier that afternoon, and without taking anything away from Jason's talent, I personally prefer Kasim's style and delivery. Perhaps it's because I heard Kasim sing it first... and not til later did I hear Jason's version. In any case, it's an excellent choice to include in the show... and always goes over extremely well.
There were lots more great stories, and an especially nice introduction to one of Kasim's new songs, "Before She Was Gone." He shared that it's a song about NOT saying you're sorry, and realizing afterward that you should have. (wish I had a nickel for every time THAT happened in life! Too true).
One of the many highlights of the evening was when Kasim brought up good friend (and surprise guest)-- Patti Russo. What an angel. You could tell how happy she was to be joining him, and likewise how glad he was to be sharing the stage with such a lovely person. She's really what you call "good people." They sang Todd's "It Wouldn't Have Made Any Difference, " and did a wonderful job. A real nice combination of vocal harmonies. Patti's presence added a lot of love and light to a room that was already filled with happiness. It was truly special.
The show ended much too quickly (that whole "time flies when you're having fun thing, you know?) But before it was over, we were lucky enough once again to be treated to the beautiful Beatles song "Across The Universe" for Kasim's encore.
Another perfect ending..... to another perfect night.
Get to this show if you can. It's worth the trip.
Review by Sandy
Can't remember the order of the songs but he sang Set Me Free, IWHMAD, a couple of new tunes and Don't Hold Me Back.
He told some good stories from all his years as a singer....reckoned it's pointless arguing with a woman....Meat thought he was gonna sing Puff The Magic Dragon....real funny stuff.
Just Kas and a guitar boring? .....NEVER!!!!
The Bitter End is a great venue for an acoustic show. Tables, arranged directly in front of, as well as to the side, of the stage... a cozy, intimate setting. Any seat in the house provides an excellent view of the performance.
Went to see Kas at the Bitter End last night and he just blew me away. Wasn't too sure when I heard that it was just him and a guitar but that made it more special.
Kasim's friend Mike came on at 8.30 and his comedy routine was about double the length than at Arlene Grocery. Someone had explained earlier to me the sauce versus gravy joke (for other non-Americans, it's to do with spaghetti) but I still could have done with a translator for the rest of the jokes but maybe that was because I was impatient for Kasim to come onstage! This was exaggerated when I could hear Kasim (briefly) warming up his voice in the dressing room! Loads of people tonight found Mike really funny as he got into more of a roll.
Kasim came on stage at about 8.45 to loud cheers and applause. He looked far more relaxed this week and reacted well with the audience - these shows are just so magical to watch!
Kasim’s first song was Don’t Hold Me Back and that is a great one for him to start with as he just launches into “I gave no promise or guarantee” in a loud, strong voice that grabs everybody’s attention right from the outset! He said that he used to play it in his solo spot when he was still with Utopia and, of course, it’s on The Basement Tapes so I wonder if this is almost becoming his theme song?
His second song was Jason Falkner’s wonderful Afraid Himself To Be. This song really suits Kasim’s voice (he sings it in a slightly lower key) - it was almost as though it was written for him! After a slightly sexist but very funny tale about how women argue, Kasim next sang Before She Was Gone and this week he hit all the notes perfectly! He sounded slightly husky in it (he said later that his throat was dry) but I liked that sound on him!
He next sang his wonderful version of Set Me Free after telling us the story that it was written as he wanted to be released from his record company and, ironically, became a big hit for Utopia (which earnt him a much deserved round of applause). As I was last week, I was totally amazed at this version of the song! For a track that relies so heavily on the background vocals, Kasim filled in all the spaces which makes one wonder why they bothered to have Todd, Roger and Willie on the song in the first place! Personally I think that this version is strong enough that it could almost be released as a single and be a hit the second time around, acoustic style!
Next Kasim sang my favourite from the Kasim album Just A Little Bit and again I’m amazed at the arrangement of this song as, on the album, it’s more keyboard based. After that Kasim repeated the story from last week about Tommy Hambridge and how they came to write Sometimes Love Is A Dangerous Thing. Although several of us heard the story at Arlene Grocery, it was just as funny tonight the way he told it!
Earlier in the show, Kasim had explained that he’d been recording in Los Angeles with Meat Loaf this week and he’d told him that he was doing a solo acoustic gig tonight so Meat had assumed that he was playing a folk gig!! Kasim sounded horrified that he had visions of “Peter, Paul and Kasim” and that they would be playing Puff The Magic Dragon!! (It doesn’t sound so funny when I write it but you have to remember that Kasim’s sense of comic timing is absolutely spot on!) Kasim explained that how, after he’d finished playing with Hall and Oates (who he thought were “the best”) in 1992, he was offered the chance to play keyboards with Meat Loaf. They then had to find the “Paradise Girl” (it was a long, amusing story so I won’t repeat it all here) and that Patti Russo had applied and she was his “special guest” tonight! Kasim and Patti sang Todd Rundgren’s It Wouldn't Have Made Any Difference together and they harmonised wonderfully! Patti wasn’t 100% sure of the words so she had some “crib sheets” but they both sang perfectly! It was another magical moment!
Next Kasim sang my favourite from The Basement Tapes CD, All The Right Reasons which was just brilliant! I was slightly disappointed that this song wasn’t included last week but tonight more than made up for that! This is one song that was meant for this solo acoustic tour!
Kasim then said that he’d finished but, of course, the whole venue wanted him to do an encore! He then did a really sensible thing and said that it was rather pointless him walking all the way back to the dressing room only to come back out again so he just sat back down and played a brilliant version of The Beatles song Across The Universe - I think you could have heard a pin drop during that song, it was so spell-binding!
And that was it until 4th May……!
Click here for 3 great photos of Kasim Sulton by Frank Ciapanna
Video Clips
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Kasim Sulton Solo Acoustic Tour 2001
