Stevie Wonder's 'Magical' All-Star Rave-Up
Written by Roger Friedman as published on Fox.com
Only the great Stevie Wonder, a megawatt genius with an outsized career and staggering song catalog, could have pulled off his concert on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden.
For one thing, he only booked it a month ago; tickets sold out in 45 minutes. You could tell: the backdrop was a white sheet pinned up behind the band, and two projection screens hastily thrown up on either side of the stage.
For another, his guest stars were only Prince — who played a wicked guitar solo on “Superstition” — and the really legendary 81-year-old Tony Bennett, who joined him for a historic duet on their shared hit from the late '60s, “For Once in My Life.”
Otherwise, in two and a half hours, Wonder jammed in as many of his numerous hits as possible and still left out several popular ones, including “Isn’t She Lovely?” and “Until You Come Back to Me.” Those will have to wait for a return bout.
In the meantime, Stevie managed to strike a balance between his earlier and later Motown years, and even featured his great singer of a daughter, Aisha, for whom the unsung “Isn’t She Lovely?” was written.
He opened the show with “Love’s in Need of Love Today” featuring Aisha, after doing something a little different: first he talked to the audience about his mother Lula Mae Hardaway and dedicated the show to her memory. He then rolled smartly through hit after hit, mostly showcasing his unprecedented run of classic albums from 1972 through the late '80s.
This isn’t easy, because a lot of Stevie’s songs are long. To get a lot of them in meant some careful editing, but in the end it was worth it to hear shortened versions of “Superstition” and “You Are the Sunshine of My Life” from "Talking Book"; “Higher Ground,” “Too High,” “Visions,” “You and I,” “Don’tcha Worry ‘Bout a Thing” and a magnificent rendition of “Golden Lady” from "Innervisions"; “Boogie on Reggae Woman” from "Fullfullingness’ First Finale"; “I Wish,” “Sir Duke,” “Always” and a stunning almost a cappella version of “If It’s Magic” from "Songs in the Key of Life"; “Overjoyed” from "In Square Circle"; and “Master Blaster Jammin’” and “Lately” from "Hotter Than July."
And that’s not all. Stevie didn’t forget his Motown roots. Besides “For Once In My Life,” he treated the audience to “My Cherie Amour” and “Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I’m Yours).” He jokingly showed off a country version of the latter (“I think this song could be a hit all over again! If anyone from Nashville is listening…”) and conducted a descant singalong with the audience on “Ribbon in the Sky.”
With Aisha — who should have her own album by now — he performed the only number from his most recent — and overlooked — album, "A Time 2 Love," called “How Will I Know?”
At a relatively young 57, Stevie still commands a full and supple voice that many have tried to imitate but none have achieved. He showed off his enormous octave range several times, an achievement in itself as he moved easily from intimate ballads to anthems to out and out rockin’ funk.
A two and a half hour show wasn’t the end of the night, either: some of Stevie’s guests — including his beautiful wife, designer Kai Milla, comic Chris Tucker, pop legends Ashford & Simpson, actor Anthony Mackie, attorney Londell McMillan, Spike Lee’s wife Tonya, Warner Music’s Kevin Liles, BET’s Steven Hill, Essence magazine’s Susan Taylor — all headed to a private dinner at Mr. Chow’s that didn’t commence until about 1 a.m.
Some of the other guests, like Tony Bennett, Motown chief Sylvia Rhone and opera great Kathleen Battle, who was in the audience, went home to bed, shockingly enough! Prince simply disappeared.
Before he left, I asked Tony — whose power, phrasing and soul on “For Once in My Life” literally made the MSG crowd go crazy — who did the song first?
“I did,” he said. “Ron Miller from Motown wrote it, but I heard it and recorded it. Then Berry Gordy said Stevie was going to do it. But there’s room for everyone and I always loved his version.”
And then there was Stevie, heading up one of the five or six tables at Mr. Chow’s, patiently listening and joking with each of the dinner guests as they came to pay respects later and tell him what an incredible night they’d had. “It was magical,” he told me. “I could feel it, too.”
The show is magic, and it’s not static by any means. Stevie doesn’t spend the whole night seated behind the piano, either. At one point, standing, he and guest artist Frederic Yonnet — a Wonder disciple — had a crazy harmonica duel that almost sent Stevie flying off the stage in a frenzy.
Roger Friedman
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