Kids in London – Seal at The Tower Music Festival

This is an interesting idea – staging open air concerts in the moat around the Tower of London with added picnic facilities (well, grass to sit on and portaloos). For those with toddlers you will be pleased to know that today there is “Justin’s Summer Party Picnic” which promises Barney (big pink dinosaur), Angelina Ballerina and Pingu (the penguin). What more could any harassed London parent ask for on a sunny (!) Saturday – just add kids, a picnic and copious amounts of calming wine (for the parents, not the kids).

Well, as my daughter is a little bit older and as he is one of my all time favourite musicians (plus a real Londoner – and there aren’t many of us around) we went to see Seal last night. Despite the anticipated hassles with Ticketmaster (you can’t pick your tickets up til 530pm on the day of the show) which were without foundation we arrived at 6pm when the doors were meant to open. Around 625pm we got through bag security check to find that there were no tables and chairs except for the VIPs.

Thankfully, my friend is an expert at these events and had come equipped with a “picked up quickly from Waitrose” selection of picnic foods and wine. Thank you Elaine! So we sat on one of the few benches and tried to hold everything down (it was very windy!) and enjoy ourselves. Other friends arrived who had paid £38 for a Deliverance picnic (0844 477 1111 including a bottle of wine, tablecloth, disposable plates etc and some very tasty looking food).

Most of the other people there were older, middle class folk who looked like they had done a rapid change at the office. Sadly, there were very few black faces – except amongst the security staff - which is surprising and sad in view of Seal’s wide following. Anyway, can’t comment too much about the support singer (Josh Kelly) as we didn’t get into our seats til just before Seal came on.

There were plenty of Beefeaters around too - and they were nice enough to pose for pictures with the few kids that were there. Thank you!

Seal did not disappoint. Still sexy after all these years. And very early on we were treated to one of his all time best songs – Killer. Singing along was encouraged. And dancing (which caused a bit of trouble with my daughter who then couldn’t see – until I told her to stand up and dance too!). Word of warning though – with small kids the elevated seating area offers the best view but the stairs are a bit of a pain. He did many classics (Crazy – my personal favourite, Colour, Bring it on etc) and provided an entertaining commentary about the background to the songs. He was modest and real. My daughter thought he was funny and nice too. For the encore we were treated to Fly like an eagle (the Steve Miller classic), Future Love Paradise and, of course, Kiss from a rose as well as a few others.

We slipped away about 1015 and could still hear the last songs as we made our way to the tube station. A Richmond train was there so we had a crowd-free and very civilised journey home. The programme was a bit of a disappointment as it had only one page on Seal (the rest was on the other gigs in the series) and the tee-shirt, whilst great, was a bit steep at £17.

Other gigs in this series have included: Gipsy Kings, Bryan Ferry, Joe Cocker, Katherine Jenkins, Elvis Costello and arriving soon are: Paul Anka, Bryn Terfel Opera Gala, James Morrison and Dave Stewart. And with ticket prices starting at £50 we know what audience they are targeting!

:)