Wow!

What a show, what a performance, and what a venue.

Walking into the Empire at 7.05pm, I was struck by how small and close it was (a capacity of 2080 people I later found out!). Three bars in the main downstairs area, and all standing room! The three floors above were seating, but as we were standing, we were only a foot away from the stage!

My best man had stepped in for my wife to be due to her having to work, and we both got ourselves ready for a long wait - The doors opened at 7pm, with Seal scheduled for 9pm, and only a DJ playing in the meantime. After a quick trip to the merchandising stand, we waited patiently. Now, as I stand at just over 6ft, I did not make a very good window for those behind me, and a very pretty lady who could not see past me very well was accomodated as best we could, but I eased my conscience by reminding myself that I had been queing since half 6, and made the effort to get there early.

Seal came on to a hail of cheers with If Its In My Mind, followed by a swift mix into Amazing. We also got Just Like Before, Dumb, Killer, Future Love Paradise, Crazy, Loves Divine, Kiss From A Rose, System, Loaded, The Right Life, My Vision. We also had Bring It On and the cover of Vienna, the 80's hit by Ultravox as well.

Seal was chatty as always, and discussed a little politics wit the crowd, and talked about meeting Obama recently, and during Bring It ON, he borrowed a silver bling cap from a guy in the front row, and proceeded to wear it through till the end of the show. He finished off Bring It On stood on the guardrail, being held in place by fans and security, and the place was Crazy (if you pardon the pun lol)

I may be missing out a song or two, but I think I covered them all. Seal's new band seemed full of life and character, and suited the intimate venue. Jeymes was in attendance, dancing away with what appeared to be more of Seals family in the reserved section.

It was a very different show to the two I have been too before, with more of a dance twist, and some remixes and reworkings of some songs to incorporate more dance beats, while still keeping in the old stanbys (KFAR, Loves Divine).

A super show, thanks Seal, and again, apologies to anyone who missed any of the show due to the tall bald guy with the goatee in the black shirt dancing away near the front!

Wonderful review, Ian

Did Seal mention anything about more tour dates?

I would love to see those special screens

Peace, Janet

"he borrowed a silver bling cap from a guy in the front row, and proceeded to wear it through till the end of the show"

im choked.... bring it on is one of my favourite tracks i cant believe he stood on the guard rail....its awesome lol. i wish i'd have got there i could have stood in front of you on a crate and you'd still not have seen me im only 4ft 11 ha ha im so glad you enjoyed it Ian thanks for the review take care and best wishes on the forthcoming wedding luv sue xx

Ian...great review...thanks for posting it.

Love to hear he is performing at smaller venues...I cannot wait to hear about US dates...Bring it on Seal...we are Waiting for you!!!

Hello there, I'm Jose from Madrid (Spain) and my girlfriend and me went to see SEAL live for the 2nd time.
We flyed from Madrid and stayed in London for 4 days...not sunny days but in the end the concert was worth.

The venue was great...like an old theatre for a little audience as Ian perfectly said.

We queued since 6:15pm more or less and we suffered the stucky dj with his music.

We didn't want to lose our place in the ground so we didn't visit the shop till the end of the concert... no more "L" t-shirt, what a pity!!

The concert was amazing but to many music was played recorded...beat samples, no guitar riffs or live notes. The guitarist made some vocals to SEAL but he didn't play too much... I can confirm it cause I was at first row...he just moved the guitar up and down, and right to left. This was a bit dissappointing but in general terms, the performance was amazing with a SEAL full of energy!!!

Hope to see a dvd release soon of this little tour. I want to watch my funny and smily face on TV singing in english....puuf, what an effort for me!!

Greetings from Spain,

CB.

Thank you for the review and the info. I am in Calif - and we are ON COUNTDOWN!!!! T MINUS 58 HOURS AND COUNTING!!!

I am stoked on the Ultravox - was a huge fan and thats one of my favorites!

Hi guys. I've not been on here since 2006 and thought I'd try my login to see if it still works and hurray I'm still here! lol

I myself went to this gig and oh my god, it was EXCELLENT! I managed to meet Seal after too - he signed my tattoo of him on my lower back! ) I was over the moon! I've met him now twice and he's been so lovely.

Nice to see GRMNCHCK is still on here too! Hi! We met in Manchester 2004 - you sent me a photo of Seal signing my artwork if you remember??

Anyway, it'd be nice to keep in touch again. Sorry it's been a while.

Love love love

Lana xxx

Welcome Back to the forum...so glad that you could log in

Do you have a photo of your tattoo?

Love, Janet

Janet, sent the piccies to your personal email. xx

Thanks !

Lana here is the link so you can look at the photos:

http://home.triad.rr.com/birdfuzz/index.html

Thanks Again

Peace, Janet