Tampa Calling

The house lights went down, synthesizers swelled and the stage oozed dry-ice smoke. This went on for so long that it seemed Seal and his band had experienced a Spinal Tap moment and taken a wrong turn backstage. But the extended buildup was just indicative of a show last night at Mahaffey Theater that was long on pomp and drama and crescendo — and pretty darn good because of it.

I’m pretty sure it was Seal’s first Tampa Bay show, and an adoring sell-out audience turned out to hang on his every note, every pose, every sly reference to his family (he mentioned his three kids but never wife Heidi Klum). An interesting crowd: Lots of MILFs all done up, fashionista fellas in vests, white trash, even an elderly lady wearing plastic wrap-around sunglasses who insisted on dancing directly in my sight line, if you want to call it dancing.

Seal flexed his star power, even though showmanship doesn’t come naturally to him. He’s not a graceful dancer, yet he moved around the best he could.

People came to hear him sing, and that he did very well, more convincingly and soulfully than on his recordings. Whether it was the early dance single “Killer” with Adamski, the big hits, or any of several songs from his current Soul album of R&B covers (“A Change is Gonna Come,” “It’s a Man’s Man’s World” among them), Seal commanded the material, hewing closely to the recorded versions but breaking out from time to time for Big Moments (like a serpentine a cappella line during “Love’s Divine”).

Backed by a three-piece band (guitar, bass, drums and mountains of computer-triggered synths), Seal paced the show beautifully; “Kiss from a Rose” and “Crazy” came back to back just before encore.

At home before the show, I was hit by a wave of Sunday night lethargy and thought it might be a better idea to stay home and watch the NBA playoffs. I’m glad I got my ass off the couch.

Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment