Seal
The Venue – Hammond, IN
October 5, 2008

Heading to see Seal perform at The Venue (Horseshoe Casino), I had no idea what to expect. Honestly, I had never seen Seal perform before in any form of media outlet whatsoever. That means no talk shows, music videos, awards ceremonies, concerts, festivals, etc. Going into the show, I only could name three songs that belong to Seal: “Kiss From A Rose,” “Fly Like An Eagle” and “Crazy.” Having enjoyed listening to those huge hits for many years before, I had always wanted to see him perform in concert and hear his other songs that are not as commercially successful on mainstream radio. By the end of the first three songs, I was officially blown away by Seal’s live show. Everybody in the audience was entertained by this man and had a great time. The only let down came at the end of his set when the crowd realized he hadn’t performed “Touch,” which is apparently a fan favorite. I had never heard of it, but my anticipation to know what it sounded like grew along with the crowd’s chanting of “Touch! Touch! Touch!” Now I really wanted to hear this song that everybody loved for I felt like such a loser for not being familiar with “Touch.” But alas, he did not come back out to sing one more song. The crowd accepted defeat as the lights came back on to signal the end of the show…

Find out how Seal won me over as a fan for life and see more photos from last Sunday’s show after the jump!

First off, I had no clue he played guitar! Apparently, Seal is very adept at singing his heart out while jamming out on thee acoustic guitar. Who knew?! Not me, that’s for sure. Second of all, this man can dance! About half of his albums are in the “Rock” genre of music on iTunes, which doesn’t seem right, but don’t ask me why that is. Besides his obvious R&B/Soul/Pop signature sound, many of his songs are pure club dance tracks and boy was this audience dancing the night away. Seal’s last album, System, is the perfect soundtrack for mellow dance jams for the middle-aged generation. Admittedly, I cannot see other twentysomethings requesting a song like “Amazing” (Thin White Duke Edit) at the clubs in downtown Chicago, but for people in their 30s, 40s and 50s, it would work perfectly. I am 24 years old and was probably the youngest person in the crowd at the show last weekend.

Seeing as how I am a huge fan of Seal now since hearing at least a solid hour of his music, I would love to hear songs from System played at the nightclubs that I visit. Unfortunately, the rest of the young adults that hit up the same hot spots as me would not appreciate Seal’s music. But whatever, they will just have to live their lives and not know what they’re missing. I pretty much respect any artist that can play an instrument while singing and Seal’s guitar strumming convinced me to purchase the song “Dumb” from System on iTunes without a second thought. Seal performed both “Kiss From A Rose” and “Crazy” much to the audience’s delight. How could he not sing his two hugest hits for his fans? However, he did perform “Fly Like An Eagle,” which was a disappointment to me. I love that song and remember growing up with it. It’s part of my childhood and I wanted to hear him sing it live right in front of me. Oh well, I got to hear a bunch of his more recent collection of songs and that is what I was hoping this concert would do: give me the chance to only focus on checking out new music.

Popularity: 1% [?]