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Sacrifice The Traveler Summer's Gone Set Me Free Over For Now Yellow Cab Before She Was Gone Drive Are You Happy Now? Libertine Lady Madonna Cliché Love Alone The One Sure Thing Someone To Watch Over Me Across The Universe One World When I first received the email about choosing which date for Kasim Sulton to play his first ever podcast, my choice was over the Christmas period but when they announced that the date would be Thursday 13th January I deceded to watch it from home as flights are so expensive during the week. I must admit that I was slightly concerned as Kasim’s previous two filmed solo gigs had not been his best. For his first one on Staten Island he was very hesitant and for the Atlanta gig it was probably his worst gig of that tour. It’s such a shame that gig was made into a DVD. Thankfully tonight’s gig was much better although probably a better idea would be to film a gig during one of his solo tours when he’s had a chance to get into playing live again more. To start the host Dave Jurman spoke to a few of the people in the audience about how they became fans of Kasim Sulton. Unfortunately the sound wasn’t great at that part so it was difficult to hear the fans’ responses. The Nevessa Studio was a nice size with Kasim’s fans sitting around the outside and behind Kasim was a large screen which probably wasn’t totally necessary in that sized room but may have been useful when Kasim moved to the piano and had his back to some people. Generally Kasim’s voice sounded quite strong although he struggled a little bit with some of the higher notes after a few songs so possibly he had been rehearsing a lot this week? Kasim Sulton, Everett Bradley (percussion) and Jeff Allegue (guitar) came out to loads of applause and their first song was Sacrifice which was great to hear as a trio. After that song Kasim introduced the band and then played his latest song The Traveler. As that song will be on his forthcoming CD it was nice hear to hear a version with more than just Kasim’s guitar. Kasim then moved across to his piano and said that he knew everybody in the room by their first name and how he liked that aspect of his fanbase. Kasim played Summer’s Gone which was great to hear on the piano as (at least to my ears) he appeared to play it slightly lower than when he does on the guitar. Kasim then moved back to his guitar stool but said that he didn’t have his glasses with him so he couldn’t read the set list so he gave it to Marsha to read it out to him! The next song was Set Me Free which is a piano-based song so he moved back to the piano! Kasim then told us that he had lived in Woodstock (where the gig was taking place) for about 2 years in 1976 – 1978 and that he wrote that song on a piano while he was up here. Kasim also mentioned that it was Utopia’s mist successful song (except for Love Is The Answer which was successful when it was covered by another band) but Kasim also made the point that although he wrote it, the song wouldn’t have been as popular with Todd, Willie and Roger’s contribution to the recording of the song. Kasim then explained that his next song was from Quid Pro Quo and was his homage to a Beatles song with a similar theme – Over For Now. Of course Kasim has played this song live on stage before on a piano but it was lovely to hear it with a guitar and percussion accompanying him! Jeff played a lovely guitar rift in the middle of the song. Kasim then moved back to his guitar and told a revolting story about projectile vomiting before singing a song which Kasim said was one of his favourite songs – Yellow Cab. For some of the do dos Jeff joined in with Kasim which was great to hear as I always like it when Kasim’s band sings background vocals. Kasim changed guitars and explained that his next song was about regrets and wishing that you had done something. The song was Before She Was Gone. In that song there was one part when Kasim sang Before She Was Gone in almost a talking voice which was very effective. Kasim switched guitars and spoke about The New Cars before he sang Drive. Kasim said that when he sings the song he thinks of Benjamin Orr singing it but for me the song always reminds me of the emotive video during Live Aid which used this song as the backing track. Kasim explained that he hadn’t originally planned to sing the next song but he’d realised that he didn’t have many up-tempo songs which is why he included it. The song was Are You Happy Now? This was one song where Kasim particularly struggled with the high notes. Near the end of this song Everett started clapping so all the audience joined in too. Jeff and Everett then left the stage and Jesse Gress came out. Kasim said that they had been playing together with Todd since the late 1990s and he spoke about the With A Twist Tour which Kasim indicated that he didn’t enjoy too much as all the band except him got drunk on stage each night (it was set in a Tikki bar). Kasim and Jesse then played Libertine with the audience joining in but this crowd were probably one of the weakest that I’ve heard. Thankfully Jesse’s guitar solo in the song made up for that! There Goes My Inspiration was next before Kasim returned to the piano where he spoke about playing as part of the Classical Mystery Tour which lead into Lady Madonna which was great to hear with a full band as Everett and Jeff had returned to the stage. As Kasim asked Jesse to stay for that song, it seems that he hadn’t rehearsed it but he played well on it. Jesse, Everett and Jeff then left the stage and Kasim spoke about Todd and their relationship. He gave the example that he (Kasim) usually grows a beard at this time of the year and last year when he met up again with Todd, before he even said hello Todd told him that he looked like a paedophile! Kasim then played Cliché as his homage to Todd. Kasim then introduced someone called Bill who asked his girlfriend Stephanie to marry him! He had a ring and got down on one knee to propose and thankfully she said yes. Kasim then played Love Alone which was very appropriate. Kasim then moved back to his guitar stool and sang my favourite The One Sure Thing. This time he just had Everett on a drum accompanying him which was very effective. Everett left the stage and Kasim moved back to his piano. If I had one complaint about this gig it would be that the set list didn’t seem to take into account all the moves between his guitar and piano or between his guitars so the gig didn’t flow as smoothly as it could have. However Kasim spoke about his upbringing and that his home was filled with music. He said that he had always liked this George Gershwin song so he played Someone To Watch Over Me. Kasim then moved back to his guitar and Jeff and Everett came back out. They played John Lennon’s beautiful Across The Universe (with background vocals by Jeff) which was great to hear again as it was a song that Kasim used to play back in 2001 when he started doing his solo gigs. Unfortunately Kasim didn’t remember 100% of the words tonight! Jesse Gress then came back out and they played One World after Kasim had gone through the audience saying whether or not he thought they would know the song. Kasim introduced the band again also before they sang it with everyone there joining in with the clapping afterwards and Jesse singing background vocals on the song. And then, all too soon for me (despite it being one hour and 56 minutes long including the introduction) it was all over. Roll on Kasim Sulton’s next solo gig!
The band:
Pre-show info posted on KasimInfo.com:
Tickets to attend the gig (including a chance to chat to Kasim and his band) afterwards are $50.
The webcast will be available to view an unlimited number of times afterwards for 60 days for $19.95.
Click here for more details about this event and the link to purchase either package.
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