Review by SueW:
The staff at Alligator Alley were really friendly and helpful and the sound system was great but this was not a good venue for a solo acoustic gig! I admire Kilmo for selling his basses to open this facility and the food has won awards but it’s badly designed to see the stage. It was located in a street of shops (with a ceiling fan next door and a British shop opposite!) and Kasim played with his back to some glass windows that fronted the building. It meant that I had the bonus of being able to keep an eye on my car through all of Kasim’s set and at one point a lady stood and watched him from the street for a while!

The room was an L shape with the tables (4 or maybe 5) covering the vertical part of the L and Kasim sitting on the horizontal part. It would have been better if he’d sat at one end of the stage rather than in the middle (it was only about 5 feet wide anyway) but it meant that most people stood with their backs to the wall so that we could see him. EJ had been here before so she had reserved two bar stools at the front so she had the best view! There was no dressing room here so Kasim was in the unenviable position of being constantly in the goldfish bowl with people watching him all evening with no escape! The food here was very tasty and I did take up the opportunity to taste alligator!

I counted 32 people in the room when Kasim started his set which was more than in Toronto but less than in Cleveland. I really find it depressing that someone with all of Kasim’s talent (and extensive back-history of songs) plays to such small crowds. Once again it’s all down to publicity (or lack of it). Both Kasim and I had publicised the gig online but there’s a limit to the number of people that will reach. Despite the fact there are 11 newspapers that cover the area, unfortunately he can't have anyone getting him off-line publicity any more so loads of people won’t have known that he was playing in the city that night.

TC (Meat Loaf’s sound guy who has also toured with The New Cars ) gave up his night off to do the sound during Kasim’s set and he made a great job of it again. This was despite not working under the best circumstances as he was having to use the light of a torch! He added a lovely bass / echo to Drive which was perfect.

Kasim started by saying that he’d never played a solo gig in South Florida before and thanked us all for coming before he sang Nik Kershaw’s wonderful song Somebody Loves You. Usually Kasim will sing a few songs before he chats any more but tonight he stopped after his first song and gave a really personal and heartfelt thanks to someone who was in the audience tonight who helped him through his drink and drug rehabilitation. It was very touching to hear.

Next we had the Utopia / TR section of the set as Kasim played Libertine, There Goes My Inspiration and Cliché. A couple of times Kasim’s voice showed that he’s been on the road singing almost constantly since the middle of February but considering that fact, I’m surprised that he sounded as great and clear as he did!

It was back to his own songs as Kasim then spoke briefly about how he and Tommy Hambridge co-wrote Sometimes Love Is A Dangerous Thing before singing that song. Fans of Kasim used to call that song the reject song (as it was rejected for a Meat Loaf album and then for Quid Pro Quo) but now that it’s a track on All Sides, it can’t be called that any more! Kasim followed Sometimes Love Is A Dangerous Thing with another of his own songs, Before She Was Gone (which received a big round of applause) before he thanked all the Meat Loaf fans who were at the gig tonight. He then sang a couple of lines of an acoustic version of Bat Out Of Hell which was funny to hear! Kasim also spoke about playing as part of The New Cars and sang their song Drive which was just beautiful. Kasim told us that he’d heard that Atom Ellis (who replaces him in the band) actually dances on stage as he’s playing!

It was back to Kasim Music again with Are You Happy Now followed by Sacrifice. Between the two songs Kasim spoke about having to walk on stage in Boca Raton back in April when Meat Loaf stopped the concert after a few songs and apologise for the concert being stopped and then he read later that a girl had posted online about the concert and called him a “dweeb”! Sacrifice was funny as there was an abortive start to the song and then in the second verse Kasim omitted the "I guess I could be wrong again, It might just be my struggle never ends" part and sang the line about "my old man" again! A big smile came over his face as he realised his mistake!

Bourgeois Tagge’s beautiful I Don’t Mind At All followed Sacrifice which then went into Kasim’s theme-song - Don’t Hold Me Back.

There was some discussion about a Yankees / Boston Red Sox game that was currently being played (I later discovered that it was a baseball game but it went totally over my head!) before Kasim invited long-time Utopia fan Grady Moates up on stage to sing One World with him! That was a really lovely touch and Grady has a great voice which blended well with Kasim’s. Most people joined in with the clapping at the end of the song too.

Kasim’s final song of his set proper was John Lennon’s beautiful Across The Universe. Kasim then received loads of applause and left the stage and started to put his guitar away but the club owner Kilmo asked him to come back to sing another song! Kasim then had to tune down his guitar (as he only had the one with him) and he played his beautiful The One Sure Thing! Kasim obviously wasn’t expecting to sing this but he played it perfectly which was just brilliant to hear!

Kasim then spent at least another hour chatting to people, signing autographs and posing for photos and so many people mentioned to me how personable he is always! Roll on some solo gigs in December!!!

Many thanks to EJ for some of the photos on this page
More photos will be added soon.

Pre-show page on KasimInfo.com:
Click here

Kasim Sulton's 2007 Solo Gigs