Highlights of the set were the Jason Faulkner song Afraid Himself To Be making a return to his set list after about five years, an a cappella version of Does Anybody Love You and an audience participation performance of Libertine.

Review by SueW:
The day of the long-awaited Kasim Sulton gig at The M Room in Philadelphia finally arrived! Originally this gig was booked for early December but had to be postponed to late December when Todd’s tour was extended. The later gig was then cancelled due to snow so it was a relief that the gig finally happened tonight! The gig was also originally advertised as The Kasim Sulton Band but Kasim decided to play it as a solo acoustic gig instead.

In the event it was just as well that it was changed as the stage was quite small and I’m not sure that they would have all fitted on! Unfortunately this was not one of the best venues. I thought it was going to be in central Philadelphia but it was on the outskirts in rather a rundown area. On the left of the building was a long bar and the music was played on the right hand side of the building. For the opening act most people sat at the back of the room so there was about a 15 feet gap between the band and the audience but they soon all moved up before Kasim’s set and it literally was standing room only! (I was one of the standing.)

The gig was advertised as starting at 9pm but the support band didn’t go on until 10pm. I sat in the bar for them but they sounded like one of the better opening bands that Kasim has had.

Kasim’s set started at about 11.15pm (just about the time that I’d been up for 24 hours!) and he played for just a few second past ninety minutes which was brilliant! Even though I personally prefer a slicker, more polished performance where Kasim has thought out what he is going to say in advance and doesn’t get side-tracked, I thoroughly enjoyed this gig as there were some lovely touches to it, for example Kasim standing throughout the whole gig, audience participation in Libertine, Afraid Himself To Be returning to the set list and some new stories.

My main complaint however, is the fact that the venue was so badly lit. I know it was only $10 to get in but I would have preferred to have paid $11 and to have had Kasim lit well so that we could see him! He was in a brown sort of light with blue lights behind him so his face was in shadow. It was that bad that I couldn’t even see whether he still had his beard or not until they turned on all the lights after the gig! Consequently I didn’t bother taking photos, especially as I could see that the bright flashes that other people were doing was annoying to those around them.

Kasim started his set by going almost straight into I Just Wanna Touch You and then into Sometimes Love Is A Dangerous Thing. It was back to the country version of that song and he made the comment in the middle that if he had a band on stage that they would have played that part! Kasim choked on his Halls cough sweet that he had in his mouth so he had to stop to clear his throat. He then added the line at the end of the song "Sometimes love, like a Halls cough drop in your mouth while you’re trying to sing, is a dangerous thing!"

After talking about the cancelled gigs, Kasim then sang Nik Kershaw’s Somebody Loves You before going almost straight into Sacrifice. Kasim played that muted guitar strings part of that song which I like so much. Tonight unlike most of his gigs, Kasim mainly played on his more wooden acoustic guitar and switched to his brown metallic looking acoustic gig for The One Sure Thing and Watching The World Go By instead of the other way round.

Kasim then explained that the reason that he was unprepared for the show tonight was that he had recently been helping a close friend who was sick (he went into more detail than that) so consequently hadn’t had a chance to work on the songs. In fact tonight he had his set list sellotaped to his guitar!

Kasim next sang Yellow Cab and then spoke about global warning and Tiger Woods’ apology and Maury before singing Summer's Gone and talking about Steven Tyler and Aerosmith. Next up was some Utopia songs starting with There Goes My Inspiration. Kasim asked us to sing the line “Stay away from Libertine” through that song which was a great success with the audience! Kasim was then going to sing Todd Rundgren’s Cliché but somebody asked for Does Anybody Love You (which Kasim recently sang at the AWATS gigs). Originally he said that he couldn’t do it but then he sang an acappella version of the song which was brilliant to hear! Kasim’s voice had sounded slightly strained at the beginning of his set (or maybe he hadn’t warmed it up) but it sounded perfect in that song.

After Cliché (which was a massive hit with the crowd) Kasim then said "I am officially no longer a member of Meat Loaf’s band" to which most of the audience gave a massive gasp. Kasim then wished Meat Loaf all the best and spoke about his album (Kasim said that he’s on some of the tracks and said that he thought it was good). Kasim also told us the great news that he is now also working on his own new album and that he’s already written some songs for it. He also said that he will continue to work with Todd between the times that he’s writing his new songs. Kasim added that he doesn’t have a title for his album yet.

Next Kasim sang Jason Faulkner’s Afraid Himself To Be which was brilliant to hear again. Kasim used to play it at his first solo gigs in 2001 and 2002 and it was lovely to see it back in Kasim’s set list as it suits Kasim’s voice so well.

Kasim continued singing songs from his older set list by singing This Must Be Love. He changed the line so that the girl came from Fishtown (where I assume we were) instead of from Queens.

Kasim then changed his guitar and spoke about his songs as being like babies or children and how they take on a life of their own and that, although you shouldn’t have favourite children, this was one of his favourite songs – The One Sure Thing. He had to restart the song as he sang the wrong verse first but it was still beautiful to hear. Just hearing Kasim’s voice with a guitar singing that song really made my trip over here totally worthwhile. With the song writing quality of that standard, it makes me look forward to Kasim’s new album even more.

Watching The World Go By was next followed by a great story about Kasim being stopped for speeding (but not charged due to his honesty to the policeman) in Los Angeles last year.

Kasim’s final two songs were Don’t Hold Me Back and One World with the line “From New York to Fishtown.” It was then sadly time for Kasim to leave the stage to masses of applause and a standing ovation.

Fingers crossed that it’s not too long until Kasim plays another gig!

The venue (taken from the KasimInfo.com Blog that day):
Tonight Kasim Sulton plays a gig at The M Room in Philadelphia, PA. This was to have been played with his band but now it will be a solo accoustic gig instead.

The address of The M Room is 15 W Girard Ave. Philadelphia, Pa 19123. Click here to view the venue website. They descrive themselves as "The venue is the first original music venue in the Fishtown neighborhood of Philadelphia and features live music, independent film, art openings, DJs and special events seven nights a week in a unique lounge setting." The M Room serve food of the steak / chicken / pasta variety.

The gig tonight starts at 9pm and tickets at $10 can be purchased from this link. This is a General Admission 21+ gig.

This gig was originaly to have been played on Sunday 6th December and then on Sunday 20th December but that date had to be canceled due to snow. Tickets bought for both prevoius dates are still valid for tonights gig.

This will be Kasim Sulton's first gig at this venue.

More info about this gig can be found here.