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November 17, 2007
Stevie Wonder concert review
It took a while to get going, but when it did, Stevie Wonder’s concert Friday night at the Mohegan Sun Arena finally turned into the uplifting event the sellout crowd of about 10,000 had expected.
Wonder started slowly, addressing his fans with his reasons for this tour, which began as a short summer tour to honor his mother, who had passed away in May of 2006. But the “A Wonder Summer’s Night” tour was such a success that it expanded into this leg, now called “A Wonder Autumn Night.”
Wonder was joined by daughter Aisha Morris for the opening number, “Love’s in Need of Love Today,” and that song, as well as the next two, failed to captivate the audience. Even when Wonder turned into a firebrand preacher at the end of “Visions,” calling for a halt to the evils plaguing the world today, the crowd seemed reserved.
That ended as soon as Wonder dipped into his catalog of hits for “Living for the City” and “Master Blaster (Jammin’)” that had everybody on their feet singing along.
Wonder then had a little fun with his talk box, distorting his voice as he noodled around on his keyboards, singing snippets of songs such as “She Loves You,” “I Heard it Through the Grapevine”and “Never Can Say Goodbye.” It was an amusing departure and segued nicely into a rousing “Higher Ground.”
My one gripe about the first half of the show was how Wonder dragged out the ending of his songs, sometimes it was magical and sometimes it seemed pointless. The worst offense was how he turned “Ribbon in the Sky” into a 15-minute bore, complete with a yawn-inspiring call-and-response session where you heard the phrase “There’s a ribbon in the sky” about 100 times.
He followed with three more slow songs, including another duet with his daughter on “How Will I Know,” before things changed for the better. A switch was flicked somewhere because the rest of the concert was transcendent as Wonder burned through most of the biggest hits of his four-decade career.
The only glitches the rest of the way was when Wonder finished “Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I’m Yours” and tried to make a country song out of it – it didn’t work – and then told a rambling story about the writing of “My Cherie Amour.”
But musically, the last hour of the 150-minute concert was everything you could have hoped for if you are a fan of Wonder. Classic song followed classic song with no let-up and the crowd ate it up, the roar of approval seemingly getting louder with the start of each song.
Wonder chose to wrap things up on a poignant note with the song “As,” letting his faithful followers know that he’ll “be loving you always.” The feeling was mutual.
The set list
Love’s in Need of Love Today/Too High/Visions/Living for the City/Master Blaster (Jammin’)/Higher Ground/Golden Lady/Ribbon in the Sky/Overjoyed/When I Fall in Love/How Will I Know/Don’t You Worry ’Bout a Thing/Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I’m Yours/My Cherie Amour/Uptight (Everything’s Alright)/For Once in My Life/Do I Do/Sir Duke/I Wish/You Are the Sunshine of My Life/Superstition/I Just Called to Say I Love You/As
Posted by Sean on 5:22 PM | Comments (0)
