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Live Review: Stevie Wonder in Glendale, AZ
On the last night of his US tour, Motown legend Stevie Wonder told the audience he was overjoyed that his management was able to put together a jaunt with only a few weeks notice.
For 20 minutes before the music started, Wonder, with his daughter/back-up singer Aisha Morris at his side, described the catalyst for the tour: the May 31, 2006, death of his mother, Lula Mae Hardaway. He said he fell into a deep depression and canceled all of his tour dates, including a wedding at which he was scheduled to perform. The audience fell silent.
"I stopped performing and writing. I was wallowing in my pain," he said Sunday (12/9) at Glendale, AZ's Jobing.com Arena. But, he said, a dream in which his mother appeared changed his mind.
"She said, 'Boy, you better get your ass out there and do what you do,'" Wonder recalled to rabid applause.
Wonder thanked the crowd for the "various things we've done together," which he said included making Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday a holiday and bringing an end to apartheid. So it was apropos that he and Morris kicked off his two-and-a-half-hour retrospective of hits with "Love in Need of Love Today."
But the politically charged statements throughout the performance could have been toned down and replaced with even more hits. He turned "Visions" into a 15-minute excuse to espouse about terrorism, the Jena 6, the need for nationwide health-care programs, and leaders he said are doing nothing to stop the war in Iraq.
"War is not the answer. Peace is," he said, much to the audience's approval.
The set, which began 22 minutes late, focused heavily on ballads ranging from "Ribbon in the Sky" to "My Cherie Amour." The 15-minute rendition of "Ribbon in the Sky" prompted older couples to slow dance. Wonder, whose extended jam sessions often bogged down the show, encouraged the women in the audience to sing the lyrics "ribbon in the sky" three times before seductively adding, "Oh baby." For the men, they were offered the chance to do the same, except adding "ooh ooh aah aah."
"I was raised in Detroit. I can put it down," Wonder said to laughter.
His rendition of "Living for the City" was stellar and one of the show's highlights, as were the muscular takes on "Master Blaster" and "Higher Ground," during which his 11-piece band shined. Wonder continues to stun the crowd with his deft chromatic harmonica playing.
Wonder sat behind his Hohner and Motif keyboards to serve up a medley of hits, including "We Are Family" and "Sugar Sugar," using a TalkBox connected to his keyboard.
The extended performance was just enough for Phoenicians to feel the love all over.
