Stevie Wonder Concert Review

Toyota Center, Houston Tuesday, December 4th, 2007

A spotlight follows Stevie Wonder as he ascends the stairs leading to the stage. He is escorted by his daughter Aisha Morris, who is also a singer in his band (yes, the Aisha of "Isn't She Lovely"). The two stop at the far corner of stage right. He begins speaking. He talks of his mother's death last summer and of being so distraught that he was unable to work. Every man's first love is his mother, he says. Her image is projected onto the screens overhead. Then one night he claims she came to him in a dream scolding him for not playing: "boy you'd better get off your ass and get out there!"

With that, he hastily assembled a national tour, which for a star of Stevie Wonder's magnitude is no small undertaking. It's dubbed "A Wonder Autumn Night Tour". They move over to the piano and dive into a piano-vocal duet of "Love's In Need of Love Today". Aisha sings seated next to him. The band joins them during the second verse. He transitions into "Too High" followed by two other hits from the classic "Innervisions": "Visions", and "Living for the City". The somber mood is forgotten and soon the entire arena is on its feet. For the rest of the evening, it's hit after hit for three uninterrupted hours. In between tunes, and sometimes in the middle of them, Stevie is eager to spin wild tales in his characteristic charm, whether it's explaining the origins of one of his many hit songs or teaching the audience how to sing along with his tunes.

Stevie Wonder had his first hit in 1963 when he was only 13 years old. He has charted on Billboard's top 10 an astonishing 37 times in his career with 10 number one spots. Wonder has won 25 Grammy Awards and an Academy Award. He has sold over 100 million records. The performance was nothing less than awe inspiring. Wonder's vocal powers are super human hitting high notes you'd forgotten existed only to be followed by wild leaps in range and texture. Of course, he never once misses or cracks a note even as he cycles through a seemingly endless maze of modulations. Then there's the rest of it. The trademark Harmonica is brought out a few times for solos that could rival any of the great jazz players. He delivers a devastating Clavinet cadenza, hands moving so fast they blur in the giant projection screens of the Toyota center. Heck, he even dances during an off-the-cuff James Brown vamp.

The band was top notch. Long-time bassist Nathan Watts served as Musical Director which is a big job for a show covering this much material. Two keyboardists, two guitarists, two percussionists (including Fausto Cuevas, the great percussionist from Houston!), three background singers, and a drummer rounded out the group. Their boss gave each of them ample feature time, especially Cuevas who was given hometown props by Wonder. As the show neared its end, he emphasized that not only was it a great band, it was the best band he's ever had. He quickly added that this did not mean they were getting a raise.

Throughout one thing was clear. The man loves what he does. The joy was infectious. It was also clear that Stevie Wonder is the greatest talent the world has seen in a long, long time. I could imagine the pride Aisha must feel sharing the stage with this great American genius who also happens to be her dad.

I had planned on keeping a running tally of the set list, but fortunately my fellow geeky friend Kelly Dean did that for me on his handy iPhone:

01. Love's in need of love today (duet w/ Aisha, band joins in)
02. Too high
03. Visions
04. Living for the city
05. Master blaster (band on freakin fire!!)
06. Funky clav jam/voicebox
07. Good love/knocking boots/tighten up/farther on up the road/
08. Higher ground
09. Golden lady
10. Ribbon in the sky/he never sleeps he never slumbers
11. Overjoyed
12. Solo piano interlude (he plays GIANT STEPS!!)
13. You & I
14. The days of wine & roses
15. Send one your love
16. How will I know?
17. If you really love me
18. (Percussion feature) Don't you worry 'bout a thing
19. Signed sealed delivered
20. S.S.D. country-version/behind closed doors/I ain't gonna stand for it
21. My cherie amour
22. For once in my life
23. I was made to love her
24. Do I do
25. Sir duke
26. I wish
27. You are the sunshine of my life
28. Superstition
29. What the fuss?
30. I just called to say I love you
31. As
32. Fever
33. As

He has definitely earned the name "Wonder". For those of us who have been devoted to his music since those hits started pouring out (I bought "Songs in the Key of Life" when I was 11 and wore it out), this was an incredibly special evening. Hopefully it won't be the last. Until next time, Mr. Wonder!

All things Stevie: Wikipedia