“I forgot my own words.” It was a surprising, funny and endearing moment during the opening night of Stevie Wonder‘s Songs In The Key of Life tour at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Just three songs into the concert, which saw him performing his 1976 classic double album opus,Songs in the Key of Life, in its entirety, it was just one sweet moment in a show full of them.
It came during “Village Ghetto Land,” during which Wonder stood, away from his keyboards, holding the mic crooner-style, accompanied by a full string section. There’s not much to laugh about in the song, the lyrics include “See the people lock their doors/While robbers laugh and steal/Beggars watch and eat their meals/From garbage cans.” But while Wonder takes his art, and his message(s) seriously, he is capable of laughing at himself.
His flub was a moment that both displayed Wonder’s incredible artistic ambition and his humanity as well. This is a guy with an impossible amount of talent, and even he can make a mistake. And, more importantly, he can dust himself off, have a laugh, and move on.
While the show had some other minor technical glitches (a few instrumental solos weren’t audible until moments into the solo), they happened in front of the most supportive audience. The sold out show was packed with fans who greeted nearly all of the songs, not just the hit singles, as classics.
Wonder’s tours tend to be “greatest hits” affairs and with a catalog like he has, who could begrudge him that? That said, there was a real sense of occasion to this show. It felt unique to nothear him perform “Higher Ground,” “Signed, Sealed, Delivered,” “Master Blaster” and other huge hits.
Also unique was the opportunity to hear lesser played ones like “Joy Inside My Tears,” “All Day Sucker” and “Ordinary Pain,” the latter of which he played on what he called his “thug piano,” a beat-up looking upright.
The show mostly followed the running order of the album. Opening with the absolutely gorgeous “Love’s in Need of Love Today,” he pretty much had the audience in the palm of his hand from the first few notes.
The album’s pair of No. 1 singles, “Sir Duke” and “I Wish,” offered obvious highlights, but equally as interesting was “Knocks Me Off My Feet,” which led to an extended jam and one of his many mind blowing harmonica solos throughout the night. He also stretched out on “Ordinary Pain,” on which he highlighted his six backing singers. Indeed, he tried to give some shine to his entire band during the night, and that was no small feat.
Besides the singers and the string section, there were two guitarists, three keyboardists, two drummers, two percussionists, a six-piece horn section and his bass player/musical director Nathan Watts. Special guest india.arie joined for a few songs as well, including “Saturn” and “Ngiculela – Es Una Historia – I Am Singing.” It would be easy for a band of this size to end up being a bit Vegas-y. But, Wonder isn’t just a great musician and performer, he’s a great producer, and knows which musicians to use on each song; the entire ensemble were rarely all onstage together, and even Watts spent some time on the bench. There may have been a lot of musicians, but Wonder was economical. No one was performing on a song if they weren’t needed.
Before singing anything in the second set, Wonder spoke to the audience, “Before I leave this world, I want everywhere in this world to be accessible for everyone,” whether they are blind, deaf, paraplegic or quadriplegic. He speaks with such earnestness, you realize that he actually believes that this can happen, and it makes you believe it a bit too. And then back to humor: “I challenge New York to beat Los Angeles in making it happen!”
An emotional highlight of the second half of the show was “Joy Inside My Tears,” which saw him slamming his fist on his piano for emphasis. It was moving to see such a seasoned performer get lost in the moment of a song that’s nearly four decades old. He followed that with another challenge, this one aimed at America and the rest of the world “To leave behind racism.” He dedicated the show to a family who lost a member in the Sandy Hook massacre, and asked that family, who was in the audience, to stand up.
“I don’t care who doesn’t agree,” he said, noting that includes the N.R.A. “The only things guns do is make gun manufacturers rich.”
After a guitar heavy “All Day Sucker,” he calmed things down for “Easy Goin’ Evening (My Mama’s Call),” a mellow harmonica driven instrumental. Afterwards, he laughed and said, “I’m gonna keep it real, I messed up the middle part!” He then switched instruments for “Ngiculela – Es Una Historia – I Am Singing,” playing a harpejji, another reminder of his ambition. He already appears to be a virtuoso at an instrument most people haven’t even heard of.
Another emotional moment came before “If It’s Magic.” He explained that the woman who played harp on the record, Dorothy Ashby, passed away a few years after the album came out. Instead of approximating her playing, he simply sang the song, accompanied by the recording of her playing. It was a lovely tribute to a musician who most of the audience probably wasn’t familiar with. After a funky and joyous “As” and the Latin flavored “Another Star”—both played out of sequence, but it was a great ending for the show—and then announced, gleefully, “Yes! We did it!” He then veered from the album for one more song, “Superstition.”
Wonder has said that he has two new albums almost ready for release, and one wonders if he’ll have more than that after wrapping this tour. He seemed completely invigorated by the challenge of performing the entire album. For now, he’ll be spending the next few weeks doing Songs in the Key of Life shows. It could extended into next year, but don’t count on it. So, if you have a chance to catch one of these shows, by all means, do so.
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Setlist:
Set 1:
Love’s in Need of Love Today
Have a Talk With God
Village Ghetto Land
Contusion
Sir Duke
I Wish
Knocks Me Off My Feet
Pastime Paradise
Summer Soft
Ordinary Pain
Saturn
Ebony Eyes
Set 2:
Isn’t She Lovely
Joy Inside My Tears
Black Man
All Day Sucker
Easy Goin’ Evening (My Mama’s Call)
Ngiculela – Es Una Historia – I Am Singing
If It’s Magic
As
Another Star
Superstition
