11/22/03: Seal at the Warfield


Seal still rocks my world, and gets to be on my laminated list!

Seal is probably the most charismatic live performer I have ever seen. I remember the first time I saw him on TV he seemed ill-at-ease and nervous. And subsequent TV appearances seemed only marginally better. But from the very first time I saw him live in the early 90's to 10 years later, last night, seeing him live has always been a transporting experience.

This is my 5th Seal concert, and ranks right up there with the others. And here are my Top 5 reasons Seal is on my laminated list: (Obscure "Friends" reference to those celebrities your S.O. will give you a free pass to shag if the opportunity arises.)

5. The Audience Connection: Seal gives you that feeling he is trying to make eye contact with you personally, even when you're in the balcony. And the people jammed at the front of the stage are practically having a heart-to-heart conversation with him.

4. The Song Selection: Seal appreciates that audiences like the old stuff too. his concert last night focused heavily (about half the set) on his latest album, but the other half was his songs from past albums, including 4 from his debut album. He opened with "Crazy" from Seal (1991) and closed with "Bring It On" from Seal (1994). He bounced back and forth , liberally sprinkling the older songs throughout the set, so he never lost the excitement and audience fervor in a string of songs less familiar to them.

3. The Music: Seal specializes in both romantic songs with soaring melodies and uptempo songs with driving beats...sometimes funky, sometimes old school, sometimes near-disco. He writes a lot of his own material, but also collaborates a lot, and whatever combo he's got going on works great. To me he ranks with Sting and Peter Gabriel as one of the few artists who consistently manage to write great songs and construct strong albums over decades.

2. The Voice: Seal's voice is awesome and consistent. He doesn't start to sound ragged, like Sting sometimes can. He doesn't sing with less secure pitch when live, like some artists do. He can sing the blues and the ballads with equal quality and intensity. It's smooth, yet has that sexy raspy undertone. It's a great instrument. And when he hits those big vocal moments, the audience goes wild. It's fun to be a part of.

1. The Sex Appeal: Seal is bee-yoo-ti-ful. And he is hot, hot, hot. And he should do a hot-to video about his finely sculpted arms...he must have one excellent personal trainer (to go with his excellent genes.) And while he's always been a charismatic performer, he has only gotten more comfortable dancing around and shaking a little booty. In fact, Cristy and I observed that he has begun incorporating his own version of the famous Danny Tate Booty Dance into his performance.

Any time you mix talent, passion and plain old-fashioned good looks into one package, you've got a winner, folks. And Seal is a winner to a laminated list degree!

One side note: Cristy and had some great seats up in the balcony right behind the sound board. So, we could see the set list, including encores, taped to the board, and the list showed him closing with one of the awesome uptempo tracks from Seal's first album ("Future Love Paradise" for you Seal fans.)

For some inexplicable reason they closed the encore with "Bring It On" (the penultimate song on the set list) left the stage, left the lights down for a few minutes, and then did NOT come back on to do "Future Love Paradise". I felt we were one rocking, screaming, foot stomping crowd, and don't know why he didn't come back out.

If we had never seen the set list we would have walked out of there on Cloud 9, but as it was, we couldn't help feeling a little disappointed.

Too much information CAN sometimes be a bad thing.

But make no mistake: Seal is one seal-icious music god.

Buy Seal's amazing debut at Amazon
Buy Seal's powerful sophomore effort at Amazon
Buy Seal's under-appreciated "Human Being" at Amazon
Buy Seal's latest hot hit at Amazon

Posted: Sun - November 23, 2003 at 12:18 AM       EmailFeedback

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