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Black and White Black Maria Trapped I Saw The Light Mad Afraid Gun Courage Weakness Strike Pissin Today Bardo Panic Manup
Couldn't I Just Tell You 
Review by Michele Kotlarsky:
I have never seen the Cityfest main stage draw such a large crowd
(although Weird Al was close a couple years back). It was a beautiful
evening, the weather was pleasant and it didn't rain. Since we last
saw Arena, a year ago in Cleveland, the music was even tighter and the
addition of Kasim is always a plus; his playing of keyboards, guitars
and vocals gave the concert a fuller sound and it was LOUD. Jesse and
Todd, as usual, played perfectly off one another and Prairie held the
whole thing together with rock steady rhythms with Rachel on bass.
One fan kept shouting “Hello It’s Me” and Todd told them if they
wanted to hear that song they would have to watch a Tums commercial.
He was definitely there to rock the Arena. Someone overheard another
guy say that it was about time someone rocked this *u@&ing festival!!!
Along that line, Todd intro'd "Strike" by talking about how Detroit
always was and always would be a union town. My son Shaun thought the
show was really good because the songs sounded angry and he liked
that, plus Rachel Haden was eye candy for the guys who like punk-
dressed babe bass-players. So Todd is appealing to a younger crowd
with this show, even if the younger crowd probably hasn't been buying
a large percentage of tickets to his shows. So, once again, free is
good; it exposes people who wouldn't normally show up.
To sum it up, one of my friends emailed me that she was in "Todd
Shock." Great concert, great venue, great crowd, good times.
Comments by fans posted to various messageboards and mailing lists include:
"Todd and the band came on at about 9:15. They tore through the standard set with a glaring omission of "Mountaintop." I'm guessing they had a curfew because the show ended at 11:00 on the nose without it."
"The band was tight although Kasim seemed a little distracted or distanced from the proceedings and the rest of the band. Dunno why I thought that but it was the impression I left with."
"Kasim is the ace in the hole. "Brother John had visions of God so they put him in chains for acting too odd as the crowd shouted off with his head the priest said have mercy lets burn him instead..".do do do do do do do...Trapped!!!! That's always worth the price of admission."
Other websites:
There are some photos of this gig by Shaun here.
There are some photos of this gig by Michele Kotlarsky here.
DirectFromDetroitMusic.com has some photos of this gig here.
The venue (taken from the KasimInfo.com Blog that day):
According to the venue website "Comerica Cityfest is a five-day outdoor food and culture rich entertainment street festival in Detroit’s historic New Center over each Fourth of July weekend. The event exemplifies city life, (what it is and what it could be), in one of Detroit’s fastest growing 24-hour districts. Founded in 1989 as a fundraiser for New Center Council, the annual music, food and cultural event has been continually improved and reinvented. It was renamed Comerica Cityfest in 2007 to reflect the event’s maturing into a celebration of city life: a locally and nationally recognized cultural experience offering a diverse mix of restaurants, musicians, merchants, artists and children’s activities.
The festival is open from 11.30am until 11pm tonight and continues through until Sunday.
Todd Rundgren is playing on the Main Stage and his set starts at 9pm.
This will be the first time that Kasim Sulton has played at Comerica Cityfest 2009 but he last played in Detroit (with Todd Rundgren) on 30th January 2008. Kasim also played a solo gig in the city on Saturday 9th February 2002.
Many thanks to Michele Kotlarsky and DirectFromDetroitMusic.com for all the photos on this page.
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