Click here for photos by EJ of this gig.

Review by SueW:
I usually find KasimInfo.com a really brilliant and reliable website but tonight it was way off!

I set off to drive the 15 minutes ( I thought) to this tournament at about 5.30pm as I wanted to look around the festival before Kasim’s set at 6.30pm. As I turned into the road where I thought the 43rd Annual Fort Lauderdale Billfish Tournament was being held I had my doubts as I was nowhere near any water! Eventually I realised that I must be at the corporate headquarters! Worst of all was that I didn’t have the correct address with me. I called into a petrol station but nobody there had heard of it and my mobile phone wouldn’t connect for some reason so I had no alternative but to return to my hotel to look it up on the Internet! I decided that Sunday night must be the night that all the slowest drivers in Fort Lauderdale go out for a drive as it I didn’t manage to get back until 6.05pm. I immediately set off again and my SatNav said that I would get there at exactly 6.30pm however it didn’t account for all the red traffic lights and then I even got stuck at a drawbridge for a good 4 minutes!!! I must admit that my language was ripe at this point. Eventually I got to the venue at about 6.45pm but I missed the entrance to the car park. As I tried to turn around I was taken across another drawbridge which AGAIN was up to let a boat through! I sat on the bridge listening to Kasim’s soundcheck (not very quietly) swearing! I eventually got to the venue at about 7.05pm and thankfully couldn’t hear Kasim playing yet. The lady at the entrance said that he hadn’t started but that he was "very good"!

They were just finishing the Award Ceremony (thankfully running half an hour late) so I walked out to where Kasim would be playing. The stage was about 4 feet high and was a decent size. It must be the only venue that Kasim has played where there’s been a boat parked at either side of the stage!

When this gig was first announced I really thought that this could have been a very important gig in terms of Kasim’s solo career as he was headlining a tournament where he could also have picked up a lot of new fans. (This is a tournament where people like Rick Derringer and Pat Travers headlined on other nights.) Unfortunately it seemed that playing after the award ceremony was not a good idea as lots of the boat people had already left by then (I imagine that sailing for 5 days must be tiring.) Despite that Kasim, Doug and Jesse put on an amazing performance! In fact it was as good and professional as if there had been 10,000 people there.

Kasim started by playing Are You Happy Now straight into Yellow Cab before he asked us what a billfish was. It turns out that it’s any fish with a bill (e.g. a swordfish). Kasim then played Sometimes Love Is A Dangerous Thing and during that a little girl (of maybe 8 or 9) was dancing to the music which was so sweet to see! Kasim noticed that she had his name on her T-shirt. For most of the gig she sat on her mother’s lap and she was moving around to all the songs! It was at this point that some drunk started calling out to Kasim, mainly about the raffle that they were supposed to have but hadn’t (in the end they had it after Kasim’s set) so Kasim said that he would cover it for the guy!

After This Must Be Love they went straight into Kasim’s brilliant version of Todd Rundgren’s Cliché. Kasim then spoke about Todd before they played Utopia’s There Goes My Inspiration. There was a drunk guy who had been quietly sitting along to my left a bit and it was during that song that he came over to me (with a bottle of beer in his hand!) and asked me if I’d like to "make out"!!!

Libertine was next and that was brilliant to hear with the three guitars, especially playing the extra bits at the beginning of the song. There was a funny bit in the song as Kasim didn’t sing a line at the right point and made a face - he said afterwards that it was because he had a sweet in his mouth and it went down the wrong way! Kasim said that although he wished there had been a large crowd there he was quite happy playing to just a few people and he really did seem to be having fun on stage tonight! As much as I enjoyed the gig last night tonight he just seemed so much more relaxed and it showed in both his patter and singing IMHO. Afterwards I spoke to someone who was also at last night’s gig and he said the same and that in fact he thought tonight was the best of Kasim’s solo gigs that he’d ever seen!

It was back to Utopia for the next song as they played Back On The Street which is so brilliant to hear with 3 guitars. Jesse sang the divide it by zero line too.

It was then that they diverted slightly from the set list from last night as they went straight from Back On The Street into Before She Was Gone. (Last night they played Minutes Slipping Past at that point.) So many people cite Before She Was Gone as their favourite track from Quid Pro Quo but it’s never been one that has meant all that much to me but the version tonight with all the guitars, sitting outside on a warm (but windy) early March evening, was just magical! One person told me afterwards that they had tears in their eyes listening to that song tonight – it’s amazing the effect that Kasim’s music has on people.

After that song a young woman went to the front of the stage and asked for Todd’s Gotta Get You A Woman! Kasim said that he didn’t really know that song so instead they played I Saw The Light! It was obviously unrehearsed (there were a few uh-uhs in it!) but it was great to see them obviously having fun with the song! Jesse sang the echo part of the chorus with Kasim too which was just brilliant!

Sacrifice was next and, like last night, they all stopped playing near the end before Kasim counted them in to finish the song. Next they played The Up (after an abortive start!) which is such a great addition to the set, especially with Jesse singing background vocals on the song too.

It was unfortunate that it was then that someone at the side of the stage told him that there was only time for one more song (and not even an encore) so Kasim played his great new song. Kasim actually called it Watching The World Go By tonight so it will be interesting to see which title he uses when it appears on an album.

They then left the stage after playing for about an hour. Although it wasn’t as large a crowd as I had hoped it was as good (if not better) a gig as I had hoped. One of the things I admire about Kasim is that he always puts on a great professional gig regardless of how many people are there and tonight he made everyone really feel a part of it. Tonight I was so wrapped up in the gig that I totally forgot to take many photos and there aren’t many gigs I can say that about!

The venue (taken from the KasimInfo.com Blog that day):
Tonight The Kasim Sulton Band (consisting of Kasim, Jesse Gress and Doug Kennedy) plays a gig at The 43rd Annual Fort Lauderdale Billfish Tournament in Fort Lauderdale, Florida (32 miles north of Miami). This tournament is described as "a five day event with a three-day offshore tournament that attracts hundreds of tournament anglers from South Florida and across the country" that has a total purse of over $380,000.

As well as a selection of restaurants with a variety of fish dishes and a specialist market featuring metal creations, beadwork and bags, on each of the 5 days of the festival there is entertainment each evening with a selection of different bands. The other headliner acts at this festival were Rick Derringer on Wednesday and Pat Travers on Saturday night. Kasim has the prime spot of the final night straight after the big awards ceremony! This could well prove to be one of the biggest gigs of Kasim's solo career as he could play to his largest audience (other than when he opened gigs for Meat Loaf in Europe) and the majority of people there may not know who Kasim is so he could convert a lot of people into fans tonight!

The address of the tournament is 841 SW 14th Court, #4, Pompano Beach, FL 33060. Click here to view the venue website. Entrance for the whole day is just $5 (available only at the gate) and you get a wristband so that you can wander in and out all day. The music started at 1.00pm on Sunday.

Presumably this is an outdoor gig and currently the weather is 79 degrees and is supposed to drop to about 75 for Kasim's set. There is supposed to be a 10% chance of precipitation but there's currently hardly a cloud in the sky! Kasim's set is expected to last 90 minutes and, as usual, there will be a chance to talk to Kasim after the gig.

Pre-show page on KasimInfo.com:
Click here

Kasim Sulton's 2008 Gigs