When one ponders true musical geniuses, it is nearly impossible not to almost immediately think of Stevie Wonder.
Since his days as Motown Founder Berry Gordy’s successful wunderkind in the '60s through his countless masterful funk/soul creations over the next few decades, Wonder is one of the few artists who truly deserve all of the accolades that have been bestowed upon him.
Wonder has been more low key the past few years – especially when you compare his presence in the '70s when he seemed to put out hits at rapid-fire pace of machine gun fire. He is now touring (for the first time in over a decade) and closed out the final night of his brief, late summer tour (touted as “A Wonder Summer's Night”) at the Bank of America Pavilion in Boston on September 20, 2007.
Sans an opening act, Wonder put on a nearly three-hour performance which – and since he stuck to a mostly greatest hits format - more than pleased his faithful (and patient)
disciples.
A Stevie Wonder performance is similar to that of a Rolling Stones concert (not that their musical styles are similar – though Wonder was the opening act on the Stones 1972 tour) in that he (and The Stones) appears to have such an endless jukebox of hits that their live shows always makes you ponder if there truly is an end to either of their catalogues.
After a brief show opener, where Wonder spoke to the audience about the passing of his beloved mother (which was the main reason he decided to tour again), he kept it mellow for a while before kicking it up with “Living For the City.”
Wisely, Wonder dug way back into material his classic albums (e.g. Innervisions), which
made up a big chunk of his set as he tore through quintessential versions of favorites including “Higher Ground” most passionately.
An early show highlight was a Wonder-led audience sing-a-long of Parliament’s "Give
Up the Funk" as a tribute to George Clinton (who has also acknowledged that he
owes a lot to Wonder as well).
Article comments
1 - albert werden.
have mr. stevie wonder contact me as soon as he can. i,m asking for him to buy my movie copyrights for hollywood.