I first saw Seal perform in 1989 – or it could have been 1990 (those years are a little bit blurrey) – when he sang on Adamski’s ‘Killer’, a breakout rave hit back in the day. Shoutout to Adamski, the original rave keyboard wizzard. They were playing alongside 808 State, Orbital, Guru Josh and assorted other ‘rave’ acts at the London Docklands Arena. At the time Seal was unknown. Soon after this he experienced a very rapid ascent to super stardom.
Flash forward – gulp – almost thirty years and I’m watching him at the Pacific Ampitheatre in Costa Mesa, CA. I haven’t been surrounded by this many out of control cougars since safari in Kenya. They worship this man. As soon as he comes on you can see he has that ‘thing’ – talent, charisma, a voice, presence, striking looks and good songs. Someone who fathers three children by Heidi Klum has to have something special.
He totally owns the crowd often striding into the middle of it touching outstrectched hands like a prophet talisman. His in between song chat is also endearing – coming across as humble and kind – and further gains crowd affection in buckets. He’s a great performer. Of course, aided by having classics like ‘Crazy’, ‘Kiss From a Rose’ and ‘Prayer For The Dying’ in his catalogue. He even plays ‘Killer’ towards the end keeping this old raver happy.