The owner or booker called Dean introduced Kasim by saying that there had been a great out-pouring of ‘love and affection’ for Kasim and about how good his sound-check was. Kasim started with a Halloween joke (‘What do you get if you cross a vampire with a snowman? Frost bite’) before starting with The God Of Low. That song is fast becoming one of my favourites since he changed the way he performs it as much gentler and less aggressive. It was obviously a favourite of this crowd too judging by the applause.

Kasim next said that he had never played on Hoboken before and then sang Are You Happy Now? Unfortunately he had to stop at the beginning of the second verse as he had forgotten the words! This happened a couple of times during the set which surprised me as he’d only played a solo gig last weekend. However Kasim explained afterwards that he hadn’t played that particular song for a while.

Kasim then spoke about the great view of Manhattan that could be seen from Hoboken before playing Yellow Cab which, of course, is about Manhattan. However before he started talking he had to ask for some attention as there were some people talking loudly (i.e. trying to talk over Kasim singing!) in the bar area. Unfortunately this happened a fair bit during Kasim’s set which surprised me as all these people had paid to come into this room so why not shut up and listen? (Or possibly they were fans of the opening act.) It’s just a shame that Dean didn’t ask them to keep quiet.

Next Kasim said that back when he started his solo shows (in 2001) he used to play a song by Jason Faulkner which he had ‘retired’ for a while but now had started playing it again. Of course it was the beautiful Afraid Himself To Be.

Kasim then asked if there were any fans of Utopia here. Obviously there were loads! He said that he spoke to Roger the other day and that he was suffering quite badly with his hands although Kasim followed that with something which may have sounded slightly hopeful but I won’t repeat it here just in case! He then played I Just Wanna Touch You straight into There Goes My Inspiration.

Kasim then moved to the keyboards and played Love Alone which was beautiful. Next Kasim told us about his two solo gigs coming up (Bordentown on Saturday 4th December and Chicago on 8th December). Kasim said that the 8th December will be his 55th birthday and spoke about getting older and hopefully wiser. Kasim also spoke about his forthcoming CD and how all of us fans can get their photo on the cover. The competition to win Kasim playing in someone’s house sounded very popular tonight! Kasim also said that he has set his web cast for (Thursday) 13th January and that only a few tickets would be available to be in the audience. Kasim then played Set Me Free before saying that he was going to play another song but would probably mess it up (which he did!) but it was his lovely Over For Now from Quid Pro Quo which he hasn’t played on stage for a couple of years so that was good to hear again.

Somebody then called out for Umbrella Man which Kasim played a few bars of which is a song I doubted I would ever hear him sing on stage! Kasim then moved back to the guitar and found someone in the audience called Kate who was originally there to see the opening act but she said she was enjoying Kasim’s set so was staying to watch it all. Next a lady near the front got up to go to the loo so Kasim asked her where she was going and that we would all wait for her! The poor lady didn’t know if to go or return to her seat! (The tip is to always wait until during a song if you need to leave your seat!)

It was then the audience participation of the evening and the crowd here were very good as Kasim played Libertine! Kasim prolonged that part for quite a while (with a few political references at the end as apparently there’s an election over here next week) and the audience were excellent at joining in. Kasim followed this with Todd Rundgren’s Cliché before explaining that he was writing his new album in a different way. He said that usually he’ll spend a month writing one song, the next month recording it and then he’ll go on to the next song but this time he has ‘a bunch’ of different songs in different stages which is why he wasn’t playing any gigs in November but that he would have some new songs to perform in December!

Sacrifice was next (with the muted guitar strings part and with some forgotten words!) before Kasim said that he would be playing his new song The Traveler (which is what he said he is) but that he needed to read the words. However he then realised that he had left the words downstairs so he would ‘wing’ it. He actually gave a very good performance of the song.

Kasim then tuned down his guitar and played his beautiful The One Sure Thing which actually received a round of applause as he started the song.

Kasim then said that he was going to wind down the set as he had already been on stage for about an hour and a quarter and he moved back to his keyboards. (It was then that a guy dressed in some blood-stained clothes but with a bunny face came in who said that he was a judge for the costume contest!) Kasim then spoke about playing on the Classical Mystery Tour and played The Long And Winding Road followed by Lady Madonna.

Kasim next spoke about all the great songs over the years and wondered whether a song like Poker Face from Lady GaGa would still be popular in fifty years. Kasim also told us that his father was a fan of old 20s and 30s music and that he was going to play one of his (Kasim’s) favourite songs from that era which was Someone To Watch Over Me. There was a slightly abortive start to it but he played it far better than he did last week and I think it fitted into his set far better earlier rather than as the encore song.

Kasim then moved back to his guitar stool and it was then that Dean said that Kasim could only play one more song. This was one of Kasim’s longest sets but I thought it was a shame that his set was curtailed like that. Kasim’s final song was One World with almost all the audience joining in with the clapping as always! The funny part was that we had the line “From New York to Hoboken” which was probably the shortest distance he’s sung!

And then, all too soon for me it was the end of another brilliant Kasim Sulton solo gig! A gig which lasted an hour and 37 minutes from first note to last!

Roll on Bordentown, NJ on Saturday 4th December!