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Black and White Black Maria Open My Eyes Trapped I Saw The Light Mad Afraid Mercenary Gun Courage Weakness Strike Pissin Today Bardo Mountaintop Panic Manup
Open My Eyes
Review by RMAC:
At 8:00 pm, the two-person opening act of George Hertzl and George Allenbant performed for approximately 25 minutes. Their music was very eclectic with guitar, bongo drum and keyboard. It was something different that perhaps would have been more suitable some where in SoHo New York. Keep trying guys.
 At 9:16 pm, the Todd faithful almost caused a riot when Todd and Crew finally took center stage. To kick things off, Love In Action, Black and White followed by Black Maria and Open My Eyes brought an orgasmic effect to the die-hard audience who came wearing Todd T-shirts from the Faces, Liars, and excuse me folks, Freeze Your Ass Off Tours. Todd introduced the band one-by-one leaving Kasim for last. Todd jokingly implied, "With a name like Kasim Sulton, he could easily be the next President of the United States". Kasim then smiled and raised both arms as though campaigning for the job. I heard some one in the audience respond, "He does have the hair". Who knows? Maybe Kasim might have a solution to the financial quagmire this country is currently in. Again, the "ageless" rock journeyman wowed one and all with Trapped leaving all Chicagoans absolutely speechless and wanting more. At the post of keyboards, percussion, guitar and backup vocals, Kasim exhibited true showmanship and personal attention to detail and style as he acknowledged familiar faces old and young especially to a little girl who approached the stage with her dad and giving to Kasim a simple gift – a wave of a hand. Kasim took a few seconds to walk to the little girl and gave her a kiss on the cheek. What a poignant moment. Undeniably, Kasim’s heart-felt spirit and exceptional intensity to voice and instruments were the perfect inclusion for the Arena Tour. Without it, this would simply be just another rock concert.
 Trapped set the mood for Todd’s palette cleanser; I Saw The Light followed by Mad, Afraid, Courage and Mercenary. For sure, the Windy City was unprepared for the tidal wave of songs and crazy stage antics that awaited them. Todd’s disclaimer that all in the house were to raise the arm straight up and not in any other direction to avoid injury was the signal that Strike was not too far away. Throughout most of the Arena shows, Jesse maintained a silent demeanor. But, in the latter part of this show, Jesse broke a guitar string and pretended to "ad lib" it proving quite comical. For sure, Jesse got his moment of fame at the expense of a broken guitar string. As they say, the show must go on. This being the last leg of this tour, Todd and Company truly delivered the goods. Chicagoans left the Park West excited, exhausted yet saddened that this was the last show and the fun was over. If you attended any of the Arena shows, you knew this was a rare happening especially to see Todd and Kasim together again giving their all. After the final bow, each member of the band walked off stage except Kasim who remained a few extra minutes to shake hands, blow a few kisses and give a big wave to all … until we meet again!
Comments by fans posted to various messageboards and mailing lists include:
"It was an awesome show! The energy was amazing."
"Todd and the band were having such fun and everyone sounded great."
"It seemed no one was working a spotlight. Besides Kasim being in the dark the whole time, when Todd was doing guitar solos at the front of the stage, he also was in the dark."
"This show was EXCELLENT/FANTASTIC/ROCKIN'!!!"
"It was great to see Kasim singing in front at times when he was playing guitar."
"he songs, the voices, the sound, the playing, you all did a GREAT JOB and I hope you know by the SOLD OUT CROWD, that it was VERY MUCH APPRECIATED!"
"Doesn't it seem kind of cruel that the band rocks it out like they did last night only to disappear afterwards for weeks to months?"
Other websites:
Jim Snyder has a good series of photos of Kasim sharing Rachel's microphone here, here and here.
Many thanks to RMAC and Whitney Burr for all the photos on this page.
The venue (taken from the KasimInfo.com Blog that day):
The concert tonight starts at 8.00pm and doors open at 6.30pm. Tickets are $52.50 General Admission. Click here to view the venue website and here to purchase tickets.
The website describes the venue as "The 11,000 square-foot facility with 5 tiered levels, large balconies, 7 bars, and comfortable booths is both beautiful and practical in design". It was built in the 1920s and opened in 1925 as the Park Lane Vaudeville Theater. It was converted to the Town Theater movie theater from 1935 through until the 1960s and then it converted to Park West (a night club) in the 1970s.
The last time that Kasim Sulton played at this venue was on Monday 6th October (also with Todd Rundgren). Prior to that they played two concerts here in January 2008 (as the first one sold out quickly).
Kasim last played in the city of Chicago on Thursday 12th March 2009 when he played a solo gig at The Abbey Pub.
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Tonight Kasim Sulton plays the 20th and final concert of of