Concert Review: Seal Ra’anana Amphitheater July 21

It was an outstanding performance with an unexpected Israeli twist.

By MEIRA BIENSTOCK
Seal 311 (photo credit: Courtesy)
Seal 311
(photo credit: Courtesy)
It was an outstanding performance with an unexpected Israeli twist. There was an electricity in the air as Seal came onstage, gripped the microphone, closed his eyes, placed his hand on his heart and sang – his soothing, rejuvenating voice ringing out – without holding anything back. The audience roared with excitement, the band members rocked out and adrenalin pumped through everyone as they clapped their hands over their heads. Those on the grass twirled each other to the beat, their love and passion for the music shining through, as if the moment was all that existed.
Seal continuously encouraged audience participation, and the ecstatic crowd responded with eagerness.
When he invited the audience to sing a song back at him, the Israelis unexpectedly sang “Hava Nagila,” and Seal, right on cue, improvised, picking up where the audience left off.
One man called out, requesting that Seal play a song from an old album because his whole family had come along to the concert and it was a special moment for him. Seal was forthcoming, playing the song even though the band hadn’t rehearsed it.
Afterwards, Seal asked the man if he liked his performance of the song, and the man made an inaudible reply, gesturing. So Seal responded: “This is how you know you’re in Israel: We didn’t rehearse that song, and it’s still not a problem, and my brother [the man who requested the song] says ‘my whole family is here,’ and I say ‘was that okay?’ And then he says, ‘eh.’” And Seal shrugged his shoulders and shifted his hand slightly in that decidedly Israeli gesture that means “so so.”
The audience laughed in appreciation.
At one point, Seal started speaking to a fan in the audience and right when he asked her for her name, the sound shut off. But the band quickly began to play again – overcoming the technical glitch – and Seal invited the young girl on stage, the two of them dancing as the audience clapped and laughed with delight.
“We don’t need electricity; all we need is each other,” Seal said as the dance ended, giving her a hug.
The concert continued with Seal’s most famous song, “Kiss from a Rose,” as well as songs from his newer albums, and ended with tremendous applause as Seal thanked the adoring audience and walked off the stage, leaving behind a soothing, reassuring aura and a resounding “laila tov!”