Seal is a sensation singing Standards in Scotland

Killer set...Seal turned on the style with his big band at the Usher Hall in Edinuburgh on Saturday night, performing Standards as well as some of his biggest hits. (Pic: Robert Kidd)

From the second Seal swaggered onto the stage, clicking his fingers as the big band played the opening chords for Luck Be a Lady, everyone in the audience knew they were in for a treat.

And the capacity crowd at Edinburgh Usher Hall on Saturday night lapped up every minute of the British superstar’s triumphant return to the capital.

Despite three decades in the industry, racking up more than 30 million record sales worldwide and a string of Grammy, Brit and Ivor Novello awards along the way, Seal always manages to remain current.

Which probably explains why such a mixed crowd turned out to hear him sing some of the most iconic songs in the world.

Seal’s new album, Standards, was released on November 10 and features a host of classic tracks, embedded in most of our memories thanks to our parents, films or, in recent years, even adverts.

And as his more than standard voice teased and caressed the second number, I Put a Spell on You, it appeared he truly had bewitched the lot of us.

It’s not hard to understand either – that voice is undoubtedly world class but charisma oozes from his every pore and he’s witty too, as hecklers in the crowd found out to their cost!

To the guy that shouted out Crazy just a few songs into Seal’s routine, the leading man quipped back, in a no too bad Scottish accent, Will ye wait yer turn, man! Gaun yersel, Seal!

As for returning to Scotland with Standards, he said: “It’s great to be back here. I was feeling great about doing the tour, but even more so coming to Scotland as I’ve got a lot of good memories here.

“It’s incumbent on me as an artist to have an experience with these songs, which are synonymous with our lives.

“They are written and arranged in a very, very different way than we write them today.