Seal is my new life coach. Most of Seal’s Friday-night concert at the Stifel, billed as a 30-year celebration of the release of Seal’s first two albums, was classic Sealness, filled with his best-known songs and soul-haze vocals over first-rate instrumental craftsmanship served up with enough sensual charisma to induce spontaneous ovulation for those in the audience in the applicable age range, of which, admittedly, there weren’t many.
Seal, wearing a blue blazer over a black vest, covered all of his hits and then some with precise vocal intonation and generous hip flexion, and it was all enough to make the audience at turns dance and swoon. At other times, though, the show felt like a TED Talk, with Seal offering stories of personal growth. He held forth on psychoanalytical topics both vague (finding “connection,” a story about digging) and precise (his drawings in a quadrant personality test).
It all worked for the audience, as it was pin-drop quiet during the spoken interludes. But the British hitmaker had the crowd where he wanted them, as he had previously primed the adoration pump with a film montage of career highlights before appearing on stage to sing “Crazy,” one of his signature hits. Sonically, the band pushed out a lush wash of sound, engineered by bassist and longtime Seal producer Trevor Horn, who also opened the show as part of the Buggles. You might remember the act from its one-hit oddity “Video Killed the Radio Star,” the first video ever played on MTV. (Too bad St. Louisan and former VJ Alan Hunter wasn’t on hand at the Stifel to introduce the song just as he did on MTV in 1981.)
The band also included percussionist Everett Bradley, last seen in St. Louis on last year’s Bon Jovi tour singing along in an attempt to bolster Jon Bon Jovi’s failing vocal cords. No need for that kind of assistance with Seal, who was in fine trachea all night. He promised to take us “on a journey through every chapter of our lives” even though he leaned almost entirely on his first two records. Then again, the soul claps he led on “The Beginning” and the disco party he encouraged during “Get It Together” indeed harkened to earlier musical memories.
His vocals were particularly fine on a sweeping “Don’t Cry” and a gorgeous version of “Violet,” backed by Horn’s electric upright bass and the rippling lights and patterns of the upstage video wall. Twice, Seal strummed a guitar while singing — first on “Deep Water” then “Whirlpool.” The acoustic-guitar-based “Fast Changes” was another highlight, and maybe the change was too fast, as the song had to be aborted and restarted. Seal is a southpaw, by the way, and his guitars are strung in reverse.
Seal was loving the crowd, both close — he sang much of “Bring It On” to an especially enthusiastic woman in front — and far — paying more attention to the Stifel’s balcony than most artists tend to. Seal knew not to mess with “Kiss From a Rose” and therefore performed it with strict loyalty to the original, saving his improvisational chops for “Killer” and “Get It Together,” both of which he performed out in the audience. As it happens, he waded out into the row I was sitting in, so I was rose-kissing distance from Seal, and you can imagine the cellphone kaleidoscope surrounding him as he leaned on fans, stood on seats and encouraged all-out revelry. After two hours, he Sealed the deal with a tender reading of his 2003 single “Love’s Divine,” putting the cap on a genuinely lovely and spirit-lifting evening.
This story has been updated.
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