I think that out of the two guitar promotional appearances that Kasim made on this tour, this was by far the better one as he played some guitar, he was VERY informative about various songs and he really reacted well with the crowd! Unfortunately the set-up wasn’t ideal as Kasim played on about a five foot high stage at one end of The House Of Guitars that had cases of guitars leading up to it which only left about a three foot gap in the front of the stage which wasn’t enough for all the crowd that had gathered to see him!
To start with, Kasim signed some autographs and posed for some photos. He correctly (as usual!) guessed the age of a two year old boy (Paul) who was there and had a photo taken with him and then joked that he felt like a politician and asked if there were anymore children he could hold!
Kasim was handed by The House Of Guitars staff a “pea green” Double Anniversary Gretch guitar which Kasim said was the same make as his first ever guitar that his father bought him! He then measured it against him to show how large it was when he was small!
Once the guitar was plugged in, Kasim asked for requests! Someone asked for The Martyr (which Kasim said he couldn’t play!) and then someone else asked for Windows (“That’s a bad one! It’s a great song but there are so many chords in it that I can’t remember!”). Kasim then asked young Paul if he was okay and said that he’d just given him the finger! His parents changed it to him sticking up his thumb but, according to Kasim, that means the same as one finger in Japan!
Kasim told us that he was reluctant to play any songs that he’ll sing tonight on stage so he played a Terry Reid song called All Tied Up (see video below) into Don’t Hold Me Back which received a big round of applause.
Someone then asked for a Meat Loaf song but Kasim said that he just can’t sing Meat Loaf songs! He explained that Meat is never around for soundchecks for his shows so that he, as Musical Director, usually gets asked by the sound guy to sing in Meat’s microphone to test that it’s working properly and the band will play a song but he just can’t sing it…….”only Meat Loaf can sing a Meat Loaf song”! Kasim did sing part of You Took The Words Right Outta My Mouth but stumbled through it a bit "without a band behind me"! He also sang some of the first verse of Two Outta Three Ain’t Bad with all the crowd joining in the chorus!
I found the next part fascinating as Kasim explained that the "Two outta three ain’t bad" part of the tune goes from a major chord to a minor chord back to the root (a C minor to an E flat bass). However, when they were rehearsing for the album up at Bearsville Studios, Jim Steinman originally had the tune as all one chord but it was Kasim who actually suggested the E flat bass that changed the whole feeling of the chorus! Kasim joked that he should have asked for some money for co-writing the song!
Next someone suggested Love Alone so Kasim played the first verse and chorus of it (he really got into it!) which was great to hear! He even said that he MAY play it tonight on stage but he needed a piano and this was The House Of Guitars not the House of Pianos! He ended by singing his faster, deeper version of All The Right Reasons to massive applause!
Kasim then signed loads more autographs and posed for photos for anybody that wanted them. He really did go out of his way to make everyone glad that they’d attended! He even arranged for one young budding musician to meet up with him before the show for him to give her some tips on guitar playing!
What a great way to spend a Friday afternoon in Rochester….!
Video Clips
These files will take about five minutes each to downlaod on a standard modem but really show how great this appearance of Kasim's was!
Kasim singing All Tied Up
Kasim singing Two Outta Three Ain't Bad!
Kasim playing how Two Outta Three originally sounded
"And I said!...I swear to God...."
Kasim singing the verse of Love Alone
Kasim singing the chorus of Love Alone
"I might do that one tonight!"
Kasim singing All The Right Reasons
Kasim Sulton Solo Acoustic Tour 2001
