Thursday, December 6, 2007

Concert review: Stevie Wonder

A Wonder Autumn Night includes 2 1/2 hours of hits

By Catherine Cuellar

GRAND PRAIRIE — It's easier to describe Stevie Wonder's set list based on the songs he didn't play. To this day, he sounds as good as he did when his songs were recorded, and with a few exceptions, fans got to hear all chart-toppers that made him a legend.

A Wonder Autumn Night got off to a slow start Wednesday at Nokia Theatre Grand Prairie -- billed as starting at 8, the music began closer to 8:30. But with no opening act, no intermission, and no encores, fans were treated to a musical tour that included decades of career highlights lasting past 11pm.

Wonder started his set by speaking directly to concert-goers, first thanking God, then explaining that this tour (his first in decades) was inspired by a dream of his late mother, Lula Mae Hardaway, who died in May 2006. He then began singing a duet with his daughter Aisha (for whom "Isn't She Lovely" - one of the songs he did not perform - was written). The second song in his set, about his mother, included his first harmonica solo of the evening. But three's a charm, and he caught fire on "Visions" -- preaching against killing in the name of God or Allah, young men for shooting each other in the U.S., and Jena 6 as "unacceptable."

Wonder continued to play more hits from his seminal Innervisions ("Living for the City," "Higher Ground," and "Golden Lady"); Songs in the Key of Life ("Sir Duke" and "My Wish"); and Talking Book ("Superstition," "You Are The Sunshine of My Life," and "You and I") over the course of the evening. Other highlights of the evening included...

...a veritable choir rehearsal mid-show for a sing-along version of "Ribbon in the Sky"

...a harmonica duet with Little Jeffrey on Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind"

...Wonder's recounting of the inspiration for "My Cherie Amour."

He also performed chart-topping bookends "Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I'm Yours)" and "I Just Called to Say I Love You," plus his latest, "What the Fuss."

In conclusion, Stevie Wonder urged everyone present to love, saying all the haters who can't should just die and go to hell so we can live peacefully without them. His strong words were a bit of shock after such a love-fest, but he was clearly speaking from his heart.

Photos under Creative Commons license from Flickr user clared23

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