Roxie's Roost

Roxie's Roost is a restaurant that overlooks the Illinois River. Kasim played outside with a huge cliff (where Bald Eagles nest) behind him and nearby there was a fully landscaped garden and waterfalls. Everybody I met in Tahlequah was so very friendly which will be one of my abiding memories, along with their wonderful accents and as for the gig.......! It was the longest so far of the tour as Kasim played for over two hours!

It was a very relaxed atmosphere with Kasim getting there early enough to hear some of the opening act "Travis" and then mingling with the crowd. Unfortunately there were sets of flashing lights either side of the stage which made taking photos quite difficult. Kasim started with his usual Don't Hold Me Back / Afraid Himself To Be which really grabs the audience from the start!

Before Kasim sang Set Me Free he explained that the song was about trying to get out of his record contract with Bearsville Records and that the reason that all of Utopia signed their contracts with the company both individually and collectively was so that each member of the group could release individual records on the label but then they wouldn't allow him to do so.

After Utopia's Alone, Kasim played his great Just A Little Bit / Ticket To Ride melody which is always such a hit with the audience (after playing the bridge perfectly, Kasim joked that it took him weeks to learn it!). Kasim then told us that he saw John Lennon out window shopping in New York once when Kasim was about 14 years old! He said that he went over and shook his hand and then made an interesting comment that he didn't bother him anymore than that!

After This Must Be Love, Kasim remarked about how great it was for him to be playing outside but that it wasn't too good for his guitars! He also said about how much he enjoyed playing these solo shows but that it seemed weird that he didn't have someone else with whom to share the guitar playing!

Kasim next sang Sometimes Love Is A Dangerous Thing which was a tremendous hit with the crowd tonight (maybe because it's a country style song and Tahlequah is out in the countryside??) before singing another crowd pleaser, There Goes My Inspiration.

After Before She Was Gone, Kasim explained about how much Todd meant and means to him, even though he didn't speak to him for the first two years he was in Utopia! Unfortunately (or fortunately as it turned out!) during It Wouldn't Have Made Any Difference, it started spitting with rain. Kasim made a joke of it (as people dashed around covering up the speakers and lights) by ad-libbing, "Enough to believe me, enough not to rain on me, enough not to look for a place to stay dry...."!

Although Kasim only had a couple of more songs to sing he decided that we should all go inside so that he could finish his set! We all went into a kind of indoor barbecue area and this was one of the things that I really appreciate about Kasim as he not only completed his set but he sang loads of other cover, unrehearsed songs which made for an amazing show! The first song Kasim sang was Libertine but he had to sing it without a microphone as "Hank" hadn't set it up yet!

Next Kasim sang Johnny Be Good with the support guy, Travis, and another guitarist joining him which was amazing! At one point in the song, Kasim ad-libbed about the rain too! He explained afterwards that he was going to sing all the songs he knew (which he joked was only about another three or four songs!). Someone shouted out that they wanted to hear Mustang Sally but Kasim misheard it as Tossed Egg Salad and made up an amusing song about that!

We got back to the plot with Across The Universe but unfortunately Travis joined in with that one and his guitar was way out of tune with Kasim's! (Kasim said afterwards that he tunes "half a step down".) Next Kasim played my Kasim favourite, The One Sure Thing, followed by a faster than normal version of All The Right Reasons.

Next, as promised, Kasim sang Mustang Sally into Money with Travis accompanying him again which was just amazing as all the audience joined in the chorus! It was at this point that Kasim was supposed to have stopped but he said that he was enjoying himself too much! Instead he sang The Monkees (I'm Not your) Steppin' Stone and then a great version of Elvis Presley's Your Teddy Bear. Someone next asked for a Led Zeppelin song so Kasim sang The Immigrant's Song - I was just amazed at some of the notes he hit in it! Kasim then completed this brilliant show by singing The Beatles Get Back!

Massive thanks to Michael Burris for arranging the gig - Tahlequah will never be the same again!

Kasim Sulton Solo Acoustic Tour 2001