Desiree (pronounced DEZ REE) opened and the crowd's reaction to her performance was very energetic. I am not personally a fan of Desiree, but found her entertaining nevertheless. She has a very good show and received a standing ovation before she left the stage.

After Desiree, the normal intermission followed until, at 9:10pm, the house lights abruptly extinguished and the crowd's anticipation crescendo'ed to an extreme. The black curtain backdrop was lighted in splashes of purple light as a chord from the keyboardist (Jamie Muhoberac) sustained. The backdrop was raised slowly, revealing the silhouetted shapes of 5 band members. 4 synchronized and extremely bright light sources at the front of the stage rotated beams of light out into the audience and created visible lines as they reflected off particles from the misty air. 6 pin spots, also synchronized, rotated shades of green out into the audience in the opposite direction as the spotlight opened on the tall and reserved figure in front of the microphone. The crowd rose to their feet immediately as SEAL , dressed in a loose-fitting black shirt and pants began the opening number: I'M ALIVE.

My first reaction of him was one of respect. Mainly, because he is the type of performer that commands respect. He is indeed a professional showman and his stage presence is one of confidence, honesty, and self-control which is evidenced by his smoothness of delivery.

SEAL played from 9:10 till 10:50pm (over an hour and a half) and played all songs on both albums with the exception of (and this is from my notes only) "THE BEGINNING"-album 1, "VIOLET"-album 1, and "IF I COULD"-album 2. He played 2 songs that I had not heard before and I assume that they are from a single release and possibly European. SEAL plays guitar on most all songs which utilize an acoustic guitar. He is left handed. I was curious to note the accuracy of his work, since it seems to be very studio-limited at times. I found that the accuracy was very close to the studio versions with liberties of live performance only enhancing, as opposed to masking, limitations of live reproduction. I suspect that this is one reason for him not performing IF I COULD (which would be a very good song for the opening of a James Bond movie by the way) since there would not have been a female accompaniment, (even though I wondered if maybe Desiree would contribute to this song later in the show).

I had initially guessed that SEAL would open with CRAZY. Silly me, this was 1 of his 4 encores which also included FUTURE LOVE PARADISE. The house lights came on to reveal a thoroughly satiated group of audience members re-dedicated to the wonder and inspiration that SEAL produces. I left the auditorium with a feeling of spirituality brought on by the performance of a man who conveys his inner thoughts in a way that an audience member can only respect and admire. He is very well polished, smooth, and diligent in live performance. SEAL is down-to-earth (as he was in the parking lot) and from what I saw, he lives up to any expectations that you may have of him. I was greatly considering following him to the show in Tampa because the show had that much impact. Don't complain about the price of his show, it is well worth the ticket price, and more.