“what happened?!”
With a very traditional Detroit greeting, Michigan native Little Stevie Wonder performed “Sing Your Song!” The “As We Fix Our Nation’s Broken Heart” tour hits Little Caesars Arena in the Motor City on Tuesday night. Escorted on stage by his daughter Aisha (of Isn’t She Lovely fame) and son Kailand, he continued: I want everyone to sing. ” He is not exaggerating about the latter.
Accompanied by a versatile backing band of more than 30 musicians, Wonder, decked out in De Ming gear and a black Detroit Tigers cap, flew through a wide range of repertoire, demonstrating both his formidable musicianship and his love for his audience. Merry sing-alongs continued throughout the night throughout the nearly full arena, from the front rows to the cheapest seats. The set was similar to other dates on his 11-date pre-election tour, which begins Oct. 8 in Pittsburgh and ends Nov. 2 in Chicago, but it’s clear Wonder was keeping the band on their toes. It was–that’s a hard thing to do, whether it’s changing arrangements or finishing early, turning 30 musicians for 10 cents (20 if you subtract the string section).
Wonder opened the night with the recently released “Can We Fix Our Nation’s Broken Heart,” his first new solo song in eight years. He explained that he wrote this ballad five years ago and didn’t understand the lyrics exactly, but wanted to put them out into the world as soon as he had them. After that largely solo performance, he upped the band’s pace with “As If You Read My Mind” (from 1980’s “Hotter Than July”).
The purpose of the tour is said to be “to call for joy over anger, kindness over condemnation, and peace over war,” but it is clear that it is not intended to be overtly political or partisan in nature. . A video screen behind the stage alternated with slides urging people to vote, saying, “Vote for Truth, Freedom, and Tomorrow” (a message purportedly from Stevie), and the concert There will also be QR codes directing visitors to nonpartisan activist groups. Check out the ballot and another slide with information about early voting in Michigan.
But he made some sideways political remarks earlier in the evening. After leading the crowd through a few bars of Motown labelmates the Four Tops’ hit “Can’t Help Myself,” he said, “Just to be clear, I don’t want to give Detroit a bad name.” I don’t like it when people say that,” he said, referring to former President Donald Trump’s recent derogatory comments about cities. Wonder then led the crowd in a chorus of “Don’t cha do it!”
The set list drew from a wide range of his truly impressive career, but included 1976’s landmark ‘Songs in the Key of Life’, 1973’s ‘Innervisions’, ‘Hotter Than・July” and drew heavily from Motown-era numbers from the 1960s. , had the audience singing along with “You Are My Sunshine” and briefly revived their cover of the Beatles’ “We Can Work It Out.” This is in response to a technical issue that occurred at the beginning of “Master Blaster (Jammin)”. )” caused Wonder’s vocal mic to overload and stop working completely. He and the band quickly recovered and got back into the groove, continuing to sing “Higher Ground,” “Signed, Sealed Delivered” and “My Cherie Amour.”
The night will include a short mid-set interlude during which Wonder takes a vocal break and the 30-person gospel choir fills in for a few songs. Many in the audience treated the interlude as a short break, but rushed back to their seats when the singers announced that their next number would be a tribute to Maze singer Frankie Beverley, who died last month.
Wonder returned to the stage wearing a plush black leather trench coat and matching hat, a perfect outfit for the second half of the show, a sleek and thoughtful 1970s Stevie. He opened with his 1973 hit “Don’t You Worry Bout a Thing,” but unfortunately the microphone malfunctioned again and the song went awry three times. However, he sang beautifully on the following song, “Love’s in Need of Love Today,” especially “Village Ghetto Land,” and explained that while the original version used a synthesizer, a string section was added this time. Although his unique voice has lost some of its elasticity, it remains in excellent condition, which is hard to believe considering he is 75 years old.
The rest of the set was mostly a medley, and Wonder said he realized time was running out, but there were plenty of songs he wanted to play. There he played a few lines of “Sir Duke,” a line from “Isn’t She Lovely,” and just enough of “I Just Called to Say I Love You” to get people excited. The audience had enough time to start line dancing on the floor during “My Eyes Don’t Cry,” but they lost out to “Superstition.” Stevie says he has to go, but “Do I Do” plays and he is sitting on a grand piano.
The gospel choir returned — there were 60 musicians on stage — and he said goodbye again, but then sang “Another Star.” Wonder then introduces all of the musicians in his 30-piece band before Aisha and Kailand walk their father from one end of the stage to the other so he can soak in the well-earned applause.
Some expected Barack Obama to show up — he was at Huntington Place, further down Woodward, channeling Eminem — but by the end of this long night, No one complained about that or anything else.
