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Are You Happy Now Yellow Cab Set Me Free Sacrifice Summer's Gone The One Sure Thing Watching The World Go By The God Of Low Over For Now The Up Mimi Gets Mad Sometimes Love Is A Dangerous Thing Cliché Do You Love Me  The Kasim Sulton Band played their first gig tonight and it was a great sucess! They played for about an hour and three quarters to a packed room (with people having to stand at the back) at Micho's in Reiseterstown, MD. Their rehearsals obviously paid off as they sounded well knit together and an outsider would not have known that this was their first gig. As well as Kasim's own songs they played Set Me Free, The Up and Mimi Gets Mad from Utopia, plus Cliché from Todd Rundgren and Somebody Loves You from Nik Kershaw and their final song was The Contours' Do You Love Me.
Review by Dawn Mikos:
Review by SueW:
Micho’s was a great place for a gig as they were so helpful when the gig was changed from 30th until tonight. The staff there were very helpful and friendly and Mike Miller, the owner of Micho’s, couldn’t seem to do enough for Kasim. Another plus was that the lighting on Kasim in there was excellent for taking photos! Too often Kasim has played venues where you can barely see him, far less take photos. I’ve paid to see a gig so I at least expect to see the artist! At Micho’s he was really well lit (other than for a couple of songs when they changed to a blue light).
Kasim’s band (I do love writing those words!!!) came out on stage at just past 9pm and Mike Miller introduced Kasim who received a massive round of applause and cheers and some people even stood up at that point which was great to see. Kasim started by saying that he was nervous about the gig tonight. He explained that it was not the butterflies in the stomach type of nervous that he had when he was in his twenties but “the nervousness that this is about the only thing that I can do in life and that I hope I’m half decent at it.” He also said that it was a good type of nervous. Kasim added that “We’ve been in rehearsals for the past week and my voice is a little rough. But I’m going to sing like it’s not rough.” Kasim also explained that most of the songs he was playing tonight he had played before but that this was the first chance to hear them with a band. Kasim’s first song was the one that he said was for us his fans, Nick Kershaw’s Somebody Loves You.
Just after the first few bars I felt as though I should be sitting there with a big grin on my face as I was so ecstatic that I was finally seeing Kasim playing with his own full band! I know he said that he was going to be playing with a full band but I was worried that he’d be sitting down with an acoustic guitar but with a band playing keyboards, bass and drums. For some reason the fact that Kasim stood made such a difference to me. But then he started playing lead guitar on the songs too and that was just incredible! To be fiercely critic Kasim isn’t used to playing lead and I got the impression that he didn’t feel relaxed during the lead solos but he nailed them all (except one) and I’m sure that after a few more gigs, he’ll be totally relaxed at playing them. It certainly can’t be easy playing a different instrument when you already have the pressure of not only singing lead vocals but thinking in your head all the time about how the band are playing your own songs so I can only admire Kasim for that.
After Somebody Loves You they went immediately straight into Are You Happy Now? It was during this song that I first noticed the background vocals and that makes such a difference to the song! Unfortunately where I was sitting the background vocals were not quite loud enough but it was still brilliant to hear Kasim’s songs being sung with strong background vocals! Unfortunately I couldn’t see Tad McCully from where I was sitting but both Mark Alexander and Mike Chiavaro sang background vocals on most of the songs and their voices blended really well with Kasim’s as they all have what I would call warm voices.
The one thing I’ll mainly remember about the band though (at least the two thirds that I could see) was how much they were both smiling and seemed to be enjoying themselves on stage which was lovely to see! They both seemed to make a lot of eye contact with the audience too. Unfortunately they were not very well lit so none of my photos of them came out very bright.
Kasim then told us that hearing our applause was a real confidence builder for him before asking us how we all were. The chatting to the audience aspect of his solo gigs has been continued into these gigs. They next sang Yellow Cab and it was a more mellow version that what I was expecting which was nice at that point in the gig.
Kasim said that he used to be in the band Utopia (loads of cheers as always!) and that he would play some of their songs later in the set and then he explained why he came to write Set Me Free which they then played. I’ve heard recordings of when he used to play that song both with Utopia and as part of his own band back in the 1980s and tonight it sounded almost identical - even his voice did! I really liked his solo version at his gigs (both on acoustic guitar and on keyboards) but hearing it with a band and with full background vocals was just amazing!
Kasim next spoke about his appearance on The Joey Reynolds Show and one couple said that they had heard about this gig through that before The Kasim Sulton Band (I DO love writing those words!!!) played Sacrifice. However Kasim stopped the song after the lead solo as he didn’t quite get it right but he played it fine on the second attempt.
Summer’s Gone was next and then Kasim changed guitars. He had been playing a Les Paul guitar but swapped to a Gibson that was tuned slightly deeper (I know that’s not the technical way of saying it!). The Kasim Sulton Band then played the beautiful The One Sure Thing. The version they played was exactly the same as the recording on Quid Pro Quo so it started with some guitar and then we just had Kasim’s voice before the rest of the band started playing. I think that arrangement is just brilliant as it’s such a simple song that an all-encompassing musical arrangement can swamp the song.
After Kasim had retuned his Gibson slightly they played Watching The World Go By which sounded especially good with the background vocals. Kasim then switched guitar again (this time to a black and white one which I couldn’t see the make of) before telling us that he had written a new song. There was then a lot of chatter with the audience (which was quite a feature of this gig) before Kasim explained that his new song was not written about anybody in particular but can be about anybody that we want. After that Kasim told us about his first experience of taking drugs and why he did and also mentioned that he had been clean for 20 years this year. They then played The God Of Low which is a really catchy song and sounds great with a full band.
Over For Now was next and that was brilliant as they emphasised the keyboards (as on Quid Pro Quo) and Mark Alexander played it really well. The one surprise (disappointment) for me in that song was that there were no background vocals (or if there were then they weren’t loud enough).
After that Tad had a problem with one of his cymbals (I think) so Kasim asked Mike Miller if he had a replacement which he managed to find and bring out during their next song. Kasim explained that they were going to play a couple of Utopia songs and the first one was The Up which sounded brilliant especially with the background vocals.
After The Up, Kasim pointed to someone at the front and said that he had her before the gig and that her name was Mimi so, of course, that lead into Mimi Gets Mad which was another song that sounded amazing with the background vocals.
Kasim next told us about some wildlife on Staten Island that joined them on the journey down to the gig (he said that he’d put a video up on You Tube about it) and then they played Sometimes Love Is A Dangerous Thing. That’s one of my least favourites of Kasim’s songs (probably because it’s too country for me) but I really liked this version as it was far heavier and had quite a bit of emphasis on the keyboards.
Next Mark, Mike and Tad left the stage and Kasim played Cliché on his own as his homage to Todd. He said that any song that has the word vivisection in it has to be special!
The band then returned to the stage for the final song and Kasim explained that he had chosen it because it was such a cool song. It was The Contours Do You Love Me which went down really well and was a great one to end on! A few people even stood and danced during it which was great to see.
The Kasim Sulton Band then received a standing ovation from (almost) everybody in the room! There was a great vibe in the room afterwards and it was obvious that everybody had enjoyed the gig as much as I did.
I go to quite a lot of gigs of all types of bands but the following morning I was still buzzing from this gig which is a very rare event nowadays for me so I think that explains how brilliant it was to see Kasim playing with his own band.
Roll on Dayton on Wednesday!
Comments by fans posted to various messageboards, mailing lists and Twitter include:
"The Kasim Sulton Band were just AMAZING last night."
"Kasim and his band put on a fantastic show!"
"First Kasim Band show in Reisterstown, MD went great, full house and lots of fun."
The Band:
The venue (taken from the KasimInfo.com Blog that day):
Kasim's gig starts tonight at 8pm and Kasim will be playing with a full band for the first time since the 1980s! Click here to purchase tickets which cost $18 (recommended) or $20 on the door. There is no opening act listed on the website.
The address of the venue is 35 Main Street, Reisterstown, MD 21136. Micho's has a restaurant at 31 Main Street where they serve "American cuisine infused with Mediterranean flavors".
This will be Kasim Sulton's first gig at this venue. The gig was originally booked for Friday 30th October but tickets purchased for that date are valid for tonight. Click here to read the blurb about Kasim on the venue website (unfortunately it uses an out of date press release).
The Kasim Sulton Band consists of Kasim Sulton on guitar and vocals, Mark Alexander on keyboards and vocals, Mike Chiavaro on bass and Tad McCully on drums.
Pre-show page on KasimInfo.com:
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