I Hate My Frickin' ISP Black Maria Soul Brother Mammon Fascist Christ I Saw The Light Black And White Lunatic Fringe No 1 Lowest Common Denominator Drive Tiny Demons Mystified / Broke Down And Busted / Mystified S.L.U.T. The Walls Came Down One World
Hawking
Review by Grady Moates:
So here I am in Milwaukee again, to see Todd, Kasim, Jesse
and Prairie at the wonderful Pabst Theatre, on the Riverwalk.
This venue is just wonderful! Not only is it a State of
Wisconsin Historical Site, but the United States Department of
the Interior has designated it a National Historic Landmark.
Fully renovated, it's a great place to see live music because
of it's excellent acoustics. From my vantage point about
20 rows from the stage in the left-hand section of orchestra
seating, the sound and the view were quite good.
The musical performance was tight and full of energy, and
the audience was really into it from the start. As the
(by now "standard") set-list progressed, Todd's mood clearly
seemed to improve. Having played the night before in
Minneapolis, the day of travel became the subject of much
of Todd's between-song patter. . . he spoke of grey skies
in Minneapolis, a grey Minneapolis airport, flying
through grey skies to the Milwaukee airport, and then
the grey highway into Milwaukee, and suggested that only
just now had the day begun.
A little further along, we learned that this was the first
time that Todd had experienced temperatures this low
since he moved from Woodstock to the southwestern-most
of the 50 states.
Later, after a screaming performance of "Drive" that left
the audience breathless, Todd told us that he had
changed the lyrics to "Dry". I agree, having been
dealing with nosebleeds for hours.
The sound was so good that I was able to hear much more
deeply into the mix than in other shows on this tour.
I could clearly hear the little accents and fills that
Jesse does so well. Kasim's bass work was not at all
muddy, and the way he frequently plays lead guitar parts
on bass was strikingly apparent. The Prairie / Kasim
rhythm section was really cookin' all night, providing
a strong foundation for Todd's amazing catalog.
Another benefit of the good sound was the way Todd's
joyous sense of harmonic relationships was showcased.
There are some chords he wrote 20 years ago that still
turn my spinal chord to jelly! Broke Down and Busted,
Mystified, Number One Lowest Common Denominator, all
were clear and powerful.
Now it's on to Chicago and the first of two sold-out
shows at Park West.
Other websites:
MusicBox has a review of this gig here. It only mentions Kasim in passing but the gig is described as "just under two hours of prime rock ‘n’ roll.".
Comments posted by fans on mailing lists and messageboards include:
"It sounds like a broken record but the boys ripped through another great show flawlessly on Saturday night."
"Watching Kasim & Todd interacting seemed like old times."
"It was a seriously rockin' show. Two guitars, bass, drums. Kasim Sultan on bass. Todd played a lot of guitar (he's got a pretty cool, wild style) and his support guitarist was also excellent. Kasim has never been one of my favorite bassists, but he did a good job and his vocals are very strong. The bass was something with soapbars, tobias or modulus or something and was a little too boomy for my taste, but it worked OK in the context of things."
"TR's energy level was amazing & the whole band seemed to be having a great time."
"Todd, Kasim, Jesse, and Prairie play so well together."
"Kasim and Todd had some goof ups, and they laughed at it."
The venue (taken from the KasimInfo.com Blog that day):
The address of the venue is The Pabst Theater, 144 East Wells Street, Milwaukee, WI, 53202. Click here to view the venue website and here to purchase tickets for the show which are $29.50 each. Yesterday there were two seats together in the 26th row from the stage. This venue seats 1,345 people and the gig starts at 8.00pm.
Kasim Sulton has not played at this venue in recent years (if at all). The last time that he played in Milwaukee was on 7th July last year when he played at Summerfest as part of The New Cars.
Many thanks to Chris Z for all the photos on this page.
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