Review by Pebs (Janet):
Well my day started out dropping my daughter off at the local junior college for classes/camp. She wanted to see Kasim too and felt torn (they are friends after all - geez Mom) but needed to finish up this session. I love that Kasim can touch the lives of so many young people - and be an inspiration.

The drive was uneventful - aside from 2 truckers nearly running me off the road (was I invisible?). These little near misses in life keep me very aware of the fragile nature of our lives and how lucky we are to be a part of it all.

Opening act was a local guy - wrote his own style of songs - very unique. Kinda of a dry sense of humor and of himself - interesting. Now onto the good stuff.....

Kasim!!! First there is an anticipation in the room and then he takes the stage and there's a rush of excitement. Because we get to experience a little bit of history. A guy who has made some of the music that was/is the fabric of our lives - he is now here in front of us. Now the fans come from every avenue of his career. Todd - Meat Loaf - The New Cars - and on and on. I like to sample the crowd a bit and find out how they know of Kasim. And every person had a little different story. This is all part of my experience seeing the show. Tonight the room was quite full and I was so pleased to see that.

So he plays 3 or 4 songs - with great ease I might add. Remember - he hasn't done this in a while. I always feel like he's playing to a room full of friends. Some old - some new - some for the first time (now a friend). But I feel like that at Todd shows too - so I will always travel and make great efforts to be there for these guys. It is a great experience.

So before the show we had seen that Randy was in the house. Guitar player and friend of Kasim from the Meat Loaf tour. I was hoping we'd get to hear from him - and sure enough Kasim pulls him up on stage. Now fulling admitting and I'm sure that they had no rehearsal for this - Randy compliments Kasim's guitar just beautifully. As professional musicians can do this - I have no idea how - the whole thing amazes me. But there must be a rythmn to friends playing together night after night and Randy tapped into that with Kasim. At points you could see a kind of fear come over Randy - but once his hands laid on the guitar - the fear was gone. And Kasim playing with his mind and teasing (just like with Doug) was just his way of showing his love and appreciation - and at Randy's expense we get a laugh.

So the night went too quickly but towards the end - out comes Lou with huge cake and umteen candles - for Randy - and we all sing Happy Birthday. Thank God cuz when Kasim said we'd all be singing one of the most popular songs in history - I thought we'd be singing "Oh my darlin...Oh my darlin...Oh my darlin....Clementine!"

Near the end we got another special treat. CC singing Bobby McGee - which was awesome I might add. Man that girl can sing.

Kasim was right on the mark tonight - his voice was strong - and his songs were well received. Of course he gets me with the "girly songs" - they always touch my heart. It was a nice blend of old and new - songs - Todd and Utopia. Always get a blend of funny stories and beautiful music. And I got the sense that the band and crew from Meat Loaf are a great group of people - supporting Kasim - and being there - no - I think really wanting to be there for him. It was so nice to see.

A great night - as always when I see Kasim. Seeing my friends from all these years now. And people really have to ask why I travel to see this show? I think they will stop asking now - ha!

Review by SueW:
I think this was Kasim’s 5th or 6th solo gig in Cleveland since 2001 and I’d hoped by now that he’d be playing in the city itself rather than back at the Beachland Ballroom which is well outside the city centre, or at least in the main ballroom hall and not back in the Tavern. He could have easily have been booked into The Flats area as there are loads of places that would book him with the Utopia history in this city but I guess it’s easier to just book him back here. Despite the only publicity obtained for this gig being both Kasim and myself posting online about it, there was a decent size crowd - not as many as at some of his other solo gigs here but some people will be away on holiday. There were some seats empty but several people opted to stand at the bar or at the side.

It was great to see some Meat Loaf fans at the gig (and hopefully they’ll have enjoyed it enough to come to some more of Kasim’s solo gigs) but unfortunately some near me chatted through a large proportion of his gig which was distracting. I felt very sorry for the opening act (Denny Carleton) as most people talked all though his set which was very rude. TC (Meat Loaf’s sound guy) did the sound for Kasim’s set and you could easily tell the difference between tonight and when he’s played here before as the sound was very clear (and loud!). It was also nice to see Paul Crook and Aspen Miller from Meat Loaf’s band, plus a couple more of the crew in the crowd too.

Kasim started off by introducing himself (in the third person) which was funny before explaining that he’ll sing a few songs and then talk and then sing some more and then he launched into Sacrifice. Unfortunately he’d only played the intro when he felt that he had to stop to ask people to stop talking! He made a joke of it but he can’t have been too happy about that.

After Sacrifice, Kasim played Nik Kershaw’s brilliant Somebody Loves You before we had the Utopia section of his set with Libertine (which he said that he "f**ked up" as he hadn’t rehearsed it enough!) and then There Goes My Inspiration. Kasim said that he’d love it for Utopia to tour again but joked that he was the only member of the band still alive! He also said that he thought that sometimes things are better left the way they were and that sometimes memories should be left as memories.

Kasim then spoke fondly of Todd before he played his song Cliché – Kasim does such an amazing version of that song always! Next Kasim told us an amusing story about a friend of his describing his music as “girly music” before he sang his great Before She Was Gone. That song received a massive round of applause.

Kasim then spoke about the Meat Loaf tour and said how great both the band and the crew were on the tour. Kasim then brought Randy Flowers on stage to play guitar with him. Randy is a really good guitarist on stage with Meat Loaf but this set showed off his playing even more. Kasim joked that during the Meat Loaf concerts Randy will walk over to him and Kasim will expect him to ask a question about a chord or something but supposedly Randy asks him if his hair looks okay! I don’t know how much rehearsal they had but they played together really well (it was just a shame that Randy didn’t sing any background vocals as that always adds to Kasim’s set).

First of all they played Yellow Cab which was great to hear with the two guitars - Kasim was playing a silver (that looked green with the bad lighting at this venue) more electric metal acoustic guitar and Randy played a more traditional wooden acoustic guitar. Kasim then spoke about how much he enjoys touring as part of The New Cars before he played his amazing version of their hit Drive. Kasim’s voice really does suit that song well.

Next Kasim spoke about All Sides and played Are You Happy Now from the album. Kasim then played Bourgeois Tagg’s I Don’t Mind At All – I think one of the best aspects of a Kasim solo gig is that Kasim has a great knack of finding cover songs that suit his voice really well.

Apparently it is Randy Flowers’ birthday so Lou brought on a large birthday cake with loads of candles on it at that point (which caught Kasim slightly unawares as apparently that was supposed to happen later in the set!). Kasim sang a couple of choruses of Happy Birthday while Randy tried to blow out all the candles but they were the type that relight themselves! They then put the cake at the back of the venue and everyone was invited to have some cake after the gig which was a lovely touch.

Kasim then spoke fondly about Tommy Hambridge and about Sometimes Love Is A Dangerous Thing. Kasim used to tell a funny story about the writing of the song but apparently it got it back to Tommy so Kasim made a great point tonight of saying that Tommy contributed so much to the song too. I’m not overly keen on this song (it’s too country for me!) but tonight near the end Kasim kept singing the title line and Randy Flowers played some amazing chords on his guitar between the lines!

Kasim then joked that Randy Flowers had written a great song last night (Randy had a totally confused look on his face at this point!) and that Kasim had decided to sing it. The song was The Beatles’ Blackbird and Kasim gave an amazing performance of it! (Another cover song that suits his voice perfectly.)

Next we had Utopia’s brilliant One World and Kasim asked us to sing the “oh” (grunt) part but it was also great to see that most people knew the clapping part too. Kasim then briefly left the stage before he returned to bring onto the stage Meat Loaf’s background singer CC Coletti. She sang the Janis Joplin song Me and Bobby McGee. She gave a great performance of the song (Kasim and Randy played guitars). I don’t believe that people at Meat Loaf concerts realise how strong her voice is but tonight we certainly did! The only thing I found was that Kasim enunciates his words so clearly but I struggled to make out the words that CC was singing. One of the great aspects of this part of the show was watching Kasim’s face while he was playing guitar during this song as he really looked as though he was thoroughly enjoying himself!

Next Randy and CC left the stage and Kasim thanked us all for coming to the gig in his unique and genuine heartfelt way. One Meat Loaf fan wanted to give Kasim some sort of present there and then(!!!) so Kasim asked her to wait after the gig. She said that she’d worked hard on it so Kasim made up a little song about working hard on something that everyone clapped along to! Kasim then finished his set by singing the song that is almost his signature song – Don’t Hold Me Back!

Kasim then left the stage after a mesmerising hour and a quarter to massive rounds of applause!

Roll on his next solo gig in Toronto next Wednesday!

Comments about this gig posted by fans on various mailing lists and messageboards include:
"I enjoyed this show as much or more than any other Kasim gig I've attended! And not just because of the "surprises" Kasim had in store for us - even before Randy and CC came onstage I was thinking to myself that Kasim has never sounded better, and that he was just in great spirits - and that always makes a show more fun."

"Kasim's voice sounded magic last night."

"Kas was absolutely phenomenal last nite....."

"Went to see Kas last night out at the beachland....he hasn't aged a day. Small crowd & some talked though his set. Thanks to Sue for posting or i wouldn't of heard about it."

"Kasim singing Drive was great to hear live."

Many thanks to trs for all the photos on this page.

Pre-show page on KasimInfo.com::
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(L to R) Kasim Sulton, Randy Flowers, Aspen Miller and Paul Crook

Kasim Sulton's 2007 Gigs