In Concert: Seal

2009-04-03
By Eric Easter

Even if Seal were not married to Heidi Klum, I would still say that Seal's new live tour is a very "German" production. Opening the show amid stark, projected black, white and red images from the classic vampire film, Nosferatu, and donning a black cape-like coat, the singer and his band could have been mistaken for a reunion of Kraftwerk, not the soulful, warm musician we're accustomed to.

It didn't help that Chicago's Lyric Opera House is a seated, formal venue. Chairs are never a good thing for a rock concert, the urge to sit is too great.  For a performer who clearly feeds off the energy of his fans, that meant a relatively low-energy first half of the concert, with Seal seeming to question whether the audience was really into it.  If he could have seen it from where we were sitting, there would have been no doubt that the multicultural, multigenerational crowd was enjoying it, but overwhelmed perhaps by Seal's strong and graceful presence as well as a sometimes distracting lighting scheme.

Whatever uncertainties the early moments brought, Seal more than made up for with a powerful and soaring vocal performance that made the choice of an Opera House as a venue entirely fitting. Launching the concert with "Human Being," the band jumped quickly into note for note interpretations of classic songs from the new album, Soul. Seal did them all justice, particularly James Brown's "A Man's Man's World." The group stayed focused on pensive, slow and mid-tempo grooves throughout a crowd-pleasing rendition of  the now 15-year old favorite "Kiss from a Rose." Has it really been 15 years?

At mid-point, Seal broke out his acoustic guitar which the audience in the balcony took as a cue to move to the main floor, closer to the stage. With an adoring crowd standing at his feet, he apparently found the energy he needed and the tone of the remainder of the show was measurably more upbeat, at one point even raucous as the band put an almost techno spin on classics like "Crazy" – still one of the best pop tunes ever.

If there was any disappointment it was in the performer¹s touring band. On this date (the second show of the US tour) Seal was traveling light with a power trio of drums, guitar and a bass player doubling when needed as a keyboardist. That worked fine for his more stripped down rock-edged tunes, but for his more lush arrangements the fact that string, horns, and flutes were coming from a track on a soundboard instead of live players was glaring if
those things matter to you.

Clearly to the women in front me standing on their seats and shouting, ³I love you, Seal!!² none of that mattered a bit.The U.S. leg of the tour runs through May 9. Find tour info, podcasts and
more on Seal at seal.com.

Eric Easter writes about politics, culture and technology for EbonyJet.com 

Listen to The Turntable podcast and interview with Seal.