Review by SueW:
This was my twelfth trip to US this year and this was the gig that I came closest to missing! I was supposed to meet a friend for dinner so I left almost an hour early for this "23 minutes" drive into NYC from where I was staying. Unfortunately there was loads of traffic and it took me an hour to queue just to get through the Holland Tunnel! I’ve seen Kasim at The Bitter End probably 10 or 12 times over the years so it was very frustrating that when I did get through the tunnel I missed a turning and then couldn’t get back on the road that I wanted. The next thing I knew, I was heading back into the Holland Tunnel on my way out of NYC and there was nowhere that I could turn off!!! I reckon I swore more in that half hour than I did the rest of 2006 put together! It took me a while to turn around and get back through the tunnel (and cost another $6) so I didn’t get to TBE until about 7.45pm! (It serves me right as I remember posting on KI.com a while back "The Bitter End is really easy to find"!)

Although he’s played fuller gigs there, thankfully there was a decent enough size crowd there for a night between Christmas and New Year. The most astonishing part was that there were people there from Los Angles, Dallas, West Virginia, Rhode Island, 3 from Europe and the famous Grady Moates had driven all the way down (and back the same night) from Boston!

Kasim came out about 15 minutes late at 8.15pm and told us to imagine that it was still Christmas as his first song was one obscure song that someone had suggested - Feliz Navidad. Considering the long day I’d had (I’d already been up for about 20 hours by this point) and the fraught journey, when I was sitting there listening to Kasim singing a song in Spanish, I thought I must have slipped into some sort of parallel universe! Lots of people obviously knew the song and joined in when Kasim asked us to (there are some English words in the song too).

Next we were back to a more typical Kasim Sulton gig with Yellow Cab. This is the one song above all others that I miss Dennis Delaudia in because his background vocals add so much to the song. Thankfully Doug Kennedy was playing with Kasim again tonight and he played some great guitar during the set! I did hear a couple of people moan afterwards that the advertised "band" was not there and the fact that the set only lasted about an hour and a quarter (we were told that the set would be longer) but every single one of those people also added that they thought it was a really great gig!

Nik Kershaw’s Somebody Loves You was next – I have to keep reminding myself that it’s not a Kasim written song as it really suits his voice so well! Kasim’s voice tonight was really good which made the song sound even better.

Kasim next did a recap of his 2006 (after he’d introduced is all to Grady!). He said that he’d rehearsed with The New Cars in January and February before they went on tour. He also said that he recorded Bat Out Of Hell 3 and then had to check with the audience whether he’d played concerts with Meat Loaf or not! He decided that he only played a few shows with him but also did some promo and he mentioned the Royal Variety Performance. He also briefly mentioned his own solo gigs, although I know these were the highlight of 2006 for lots of fans.

After Are You Happy Now, Kasim said that one of the best parts for him of 2006 was "spending a lot of time with Todd"! Kasim explained that he never plays a solo gig without mentioning Todd and sang There Goes My Inspiration. Kasim then went straight into another Christmas song, Hawaiian style this time - Mele Kalikimaka. It certainly caused lots of laughter, especially Kasim’s "I don’t know the f**king words" line!

Kasim next mentioned his new line of T-shirts and sweatshirts and pointed out that the logo is on the right hand side whereas most merchandise will have it on the left. He also modelled the hat but quickly took it off, although he did put it back on for someone to take a photo! Kasim then sang Sometimes Love Is A Dangerous Thing and Doug played a really great lead in the middle of the song before they went straight into Libertine (with an amazing lead guitar part from Doug which even evoked some cheers from the audience!).

Kasim then took his jacket off before he told us about his new CD! He said it was to commemorate his 30 years in the music business. He explained that it’ll be out in “a couple of weeks”, is a 25 track, double CD, and will contain songs from the 4 solo records he’s released plus "ever yet more unreleased demos", and will include a recording of a shouting match between members of the horn section of Earth, Wind and Fire which they caught on tape before a recording of a track for the album Kasim! Kasim and Doug then played Before She Was Gone which Kasim believes is on his new album – he wasn’t sure at first! He explained that this song was one of the first he wrote after his 10 year "I can’t write songs" period.

Drive was next (with some amusing imitations of Todd singing the song!) but before that, Kasim told us of his annoyance at seeing a billboard driving to Atlantic City where they’d removed him from The New Cars publicity photo!

Kasim next told us about Christmas during his childhood. He said that in his family they never used to put the Christmas tree up until Christmas Eve and that it was always taken down on Little Christmas which is 6th January. I found that interesting as in UK it’s considered unlucky to have Christmas decorations up after 6th January (which we call 12th Night) so it’s always amazed me that often in US people will still have theirs up in the middle of January. Kasim also told us how his father used to work shifts at Christmas and that all the children had to wait until he got up before they could open any presents and that it meant that he wasn’t always in the best mood that day! Consequently Kasim sang Elvis’ Blue Christmas! He sang an amazing version of it in a really deep voice! It was uncanny and was definitely a highlight of the gig! His line "I’ll be doing alright on my baby tonight" (instead of "I’ll be doing alright with my baby tonight") brought loads of laughter.

It was time for Doug to shine on the lead again in Sacrifice which was brilliant! The funniest part was that during the first verse Kasim had to check with Doug whether his key was high enough or not (for the lead). When Doug played the correct note (I assume that it was an octave higher), Kasim then hit it perfectly! Hearing Doug playing a great electric lead really makes me hope that Kasim soon gets his own full band to play at these gigs.

Kasim then said that he was looking forward to the New Year and mentioned that he’d be on the Dick Clark show (with Meat Loaf) that night. He said that they recorded it in Los Angeles and it was about 78 degrees outside but there were about 200 people there wearing 2007 glasses and wishing people a Happy New Year! He also told us that he’s never been to Times Square to see the ball drop.

Kasim’s brilliant version of Todd’s Cliché was next before Kasim told us about losing his friend Jon Parascondola earlier this year and he dedicated Minutes Slipping Past to him. Kasim also said that the track will be on his new album.

Next up was One World (especially for Michelle as usual!) which almost everyone clapped along to! It seemed that Kasim was going to end his set then (he’d only been playing for only about an hour and 10 minutes by this point) but thankfully he was persuaded to sing John Lennon’s beautiful Across The Universe. He then made us a promise about the next time he plays at The Bitter End before he sang I'll Be Home For Christmas and then he left the stage to loads of applause and cheers!

I wasn’t sure about whether or not to include the final part but it has already been posted elsewhere on the Internet. The aforementioned Michelle (the unofficial Social Secretary of the Kasim Sulton Fan Club!!!) had posted an open invitation for anyone who wanted to go out for dinner after the gig. About 15 or 16 of us went and (much to my surprise!) Kasim joined us for a while too! There really can’t be many musicians who would take the time to join a group of fans at a restaurant and to make everyone there feel so welcome! (It wasn’t as though we were just in the next block either as it was about a 7 or 8 minute walk away!) He stayed for about 20 minutes or so and chatted to everyone there and even some friends and family on people’s cell phones!

That was a great ending to a fun-filled evening!

Comments posted on various mailing lists and messageboards:
"I had the best time Friday at The Bitter End. It was so nice seeing all the usual suspects and meeting some future friends. I'm proud to have been there from the beginning. Thank you Kasim so much for joining us at our after show party."

"That show was a blast! We especially enjoyed the after-show party with Mr. Sulton's appearance. How cool was that?"

"It was such a great night, Kas and Doug were awesome as usual, and it was nice to hang some some old friends and meet some new ones too."

"It was great seeing Kasim Friday night and especially at the aftermath, er afterparty. It was good seeing him having such fun on stage."

"What a fantastic show we got to see Friday, huh? It was so intimate at The Bitter End - I felt like we were just hanging out in someone's family room, listening to music. Wasn't it great having Kasim join us afterwards at the restaurant? We must've done something right to get that nice surprise. He was so jovial and friendly; what a great guy."

"Enjoyed very much the part of last night's show that I did get to catch on the web."

Kasim Sulton:
Click here to read Kasim writing about this gig. He includes the comments "Thanks to everyone who came to the show last night at The Bitter End. I think we had some fun.
It was great to see all the familiar faces and some new ones as well. I hope you all enjoyed my attempt at some post Christmas Christmas songs. I think I might just keep Blue Christmas in the set for the January shows.".

Pre-show page on KasimInfo.com:
Click here

More photos will be added soon!

Kasim's 2006 Tour