Recap: Macy Gray And Seal At Wolf Trap

July 16th, 2012

I’ve been to a lot of concerts and Seal was by far one of the best shows I’ve seen. He was at Wolf Trap Tuesday night performing in front of a sold-out crowd. He just delivered again and again.

Macy Gray (Photo Credit: Wolf Trap)

Seal’s opener was the talented and statuesque, 6-foot-tall Macy Gray. She almost seemed overshadowed by her talented back-up singer Shemekia, who received thunderous applause. Macy sang a couple of cover songs including a song by Sublime. She ended her set with her famous song “I Try.” Ironically, she dramatically sang the Eurythmics song “Here Comes the Rain Again” while the poor crowd on the hill top got completely drenched by rain. Macy had a cool backdrop of herself hanging behind her band. It is a side portrait of her head tilted back and her mouth wide open like she is screaming or singing.

When it was dusk, Seal suddenly arrived. I love when the performer comes out dramatically and Seal didn’t disappoint. The lights went down and then BAM the lights were highlighting Seal in the back of the stage. He sang most of his hits including “Love Divine.” Seal’s voice is strong. He can also dance like crazy, pun intended, but he is a great dancer. He seemed to really be enjoying himself. I cannot believe he is 49! He wore an all black ensemble as he criss crossed the stage back and forth.

Seal at Wolf Trap (Photo Credit: MJ Marino)

Seal engaged the audience quite a bit too. He held the hand of a cute child who was sitting on her father’s shoulders. He also caressed a female audience member’s head a couple of times and held her hand. It was endearing, but pick a new gal. Come on! (I kid, I kid. Sort of.)

Seal vaguely mentioned that he was doing better now than he was in the beginning of the year (the audience cheered). He also told the audience that tonight “we forget our worries and have a great time.”

He apologized for being so sweaty and that his ear piece kept falling out. He explained the ear piece helps him hear himself which is sometimes not a good thing. I guess Seal has the British self-deprecating humor. An audience member explained his sweaty ear piece was gross and Seal laughed and said, “Thanks for telling me it is gross!” Seal had only one song for an encore because he explained we are at a National Park and we have to obey the rules. He finished the final song in the audience on the left side. That was super cool!!

Seal in the Crowd (Photo Credit: MJ Marino)

Besides the tight band and Seal’s amazing singing and dancing moves, was the incredible light and visual display. They had about six or seven huge LED screens that set the mood to the music. It went from showing a beautiful ocean to birds flying to fire to green lines. Just stunning. It really set the mood. In addition, the lightning and lasers on the stage added an extra edge.

After the show, I got to meet the talented Theo Cox from London who designed the visual, lighting and laser display. He said it is a lot of hard work and not as glamorous as it seems. His background is in engineering. He got into the music scene because he used to go to tons of concerts. He said he believed Seal sounded better than ever. I concur.