Holy Crow! Buggles US Tour [?!] Opening For Seal

A friend just let me know that…yow! The Buggles will be touring America…widely.. As the opening act for the 2023 Seal tour of The States. Trevor Horn was the musical director for the Seal show so…why not?!

The show comes to as close as two hours away in Charlotte. I'n not comfortable seeing shows but this one kind of tempts me. What was the likelihood that there would ever be a Buggles show in America? So far they have been rare UK-only events. Uncanny. I guess the big question is… is Geoff Downes involved?

[edit] It looks like it!

[edit] Naaaaw. He's on the road with Steve Howe's Yes at the same time. Retropop had it wrong.

Former TP subscriber [81, 82, 83, 84]

[postpunkmonk.com]
For further rumination on the Fresh New Sound of Yesterday®



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 01/21/2023 06:32PM by Post-Punk Monk.

Didn't Seal record for ZTT, with Horn producing his first album?

This is a nice reminder that I need to finally sit down and listen to THE AGE OF PLASTIC all the way through.

Horn seems to have produced many of his albums. The first four [I + II were ZTT albums] and then others later? When Horn sold ZTT to Warner Brothers they bought him out basically to get Seal. Horn was more than ready by then.

Former TP subscriber [81, 82, 83, 84]

[postpunkmonk.com]
For further rumination on the Fresh New Sound of Yesterday®



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/18/2023 04:08PM by Post-Punk Monk.

Oh my gosh! My heart leaped into my throat when I read the topic line. The Buggles were never on my bucket list, but only because I simply took it for granted that I'd never get the chance to see them. This is like a late Christmas gift, or an early birthday gift!

Marking my work calendar now, to make sure June 12 doesn't get stepped on. (And it's at a good venue, to boot.) Sweet! This makes my entire week.

They kept the grand finale of the tour just for you, Delvin.

If anyone happens to get their hands on the presale codes, kindly pass them along here. Thanks!

We saw the Seattle gig last night. I went in with the attitude that, for me at least, this was a Buggles concert, with Seal following the main act. Even though my wife had seen Seal before, and raved about him, I just kept thinking, "Yeah, he'll give a good show." I'm happy (and apologetic) to say that, no, the man named Seal showed why he's still a headline act, thirty-plus years into his career.

For at least the fifth time -- and for the second time in a month -- the opening act has also served as the backup band for the headliner. Trevor Horn led the six-piece version of The Buggles through a very cool set ... even though he devoted about half of it to his production catalog, rather than just playing Buggles songs. I would gladly have traded songs by Yes, Frankie Goes to Hollywood and The Art of Noise for a few more songs from the Buggles' repertoire. But hey, the set began and ended with me wearing a big smile on my face. No complaints.

BUGGLES SETLIST:
Two Tribes [instrumental]
Living in the Plastic Age
Elstree
I Am a Camera
Close to the Edit
Owner of a Lonely Heart
Video Killed the Radio Star

When the house lights went down for the headliner, the white stage curtain displayed a projection full of clips of Seal's award show appearances, his stint as a coach on The Voice, his better-known video images ... just a big overall brag-fest, like I've seen for Prince. Dude, we know you're a star! We bought tickets, didn't we? Come on, this is unneccesary. (Although the section that showed various mash-ups of the singer's head on seals' bodies showed that, yeah, he does have a sense of humor.) But then the white curtain fell, and his band kicked into the first song ... and all my attitude evaporated. I was blown away by his singing, his stage presence, and most of all, his songs -- how fresh and alive those songs are, after three decades.

He came out into the crowd on a couple of songs, and got up to walk across the arm-rests of the seats while he was singing. (My wife got a superb photo of him, standing up high about three rows ahead of us, with the stage lights framing him.) He gave a lengthy talk about the origin of "Prayer for the Dying" -- too lengthy, judging by the way a few people started to yell requests at him. But later, introducing "Fast Changes," he said, "I've been telling audiences on this tour how I wrote this song ... but the other night in Portland, I realized it's bullshit. I really have no idea what this song is about, or how I came up with it."

SEAL SETLIST:
Crazy
The Beginning
Deep Water
Future Love Paradise
Violet
Bring It On
Prayer for the Dying
Don't Cry
Fast Changes
Killer
Kiss from a Rose
ENCORE:
Get It Together
Love's Divine

We were seated next to two women, probably a bit younger than my wife and me. One of them was raving non-stop about how much she loves Seal, and how she couldn't wait for his set to start. She had a grating nasal voice, and she was complaining, "I was hoping there wouldn't be an opening act. Who the fuck are the Buggles anyway? I never heard of them." We've endured people talking near us during the set before, but something about this woman made us both just roll our eyes. (At one point, my wife looked around and asked, "Where's the camera?") A few songs in the Buggles' set made the woman yell, "Ohhh, I know this one!" Come on, give us all a break, would ya?

Well, this woman settled down during Seal's set -- in other words, she didn't talk and distract people with her grating voice, but focused on dancing and just getting into the show. About halfway through his set, though, she fell back into her seat, and reached up to grab my arm. I looked down at her, and her expression showed that she clearly was in a bad way. Then I glanced further down, and between the hem of her top and the belt line of her jeans, I could see her insulin pump. This changed my attitude pretty quickly. Right about then, her companion saw that she had crashed, and knew what to do. She rushed out to the lobby (which was all but deserted, I'm sure) and came back with some candy and a Pepsi for her friend. The woman was very embarrassed that she'd crashed like that, and apologized profusely for bothering me during the show. I told her, "My dad's diabetic. It's okay, I've seen this before."

I'm not huge Seal or Buggles fan but this sounds like a great night out, thank you for sharing.

You're welcome, Zwirn. And yeah, it was an excellent date-night for us. Sparks are gonna have their work cut out for them to top that one.