Stevie Wonder.
In person.
In Glasgow.
Front row, centre stage seats.
A 3-hour show.
WOW!
Firstly, I must send eternal love and thanks to my best friend Phil for his generosity, kindness and friendship. Phil very kindly treated me, his super cool wife Mary and beautiful daughter Ella to VIP tickets. Front row VIP tickets. I was blown away when he told me. And then carried further away by the blissful breeze that Stevie Wonder and his band created in Glasgow last night. This was an experience that I am still processing 24-hours later.
Most artists with a worldwide fanbase that can sell out arenas in a heartbeat will announce their tour over a year in advance. One of the great things about this show was the fact that it was announced, on sale and then actually taking place within two-months. Like one big long super buzz that peaked at the end. And I'm still basking in the afterglow.
And it really was a buzz. I don't think I'd been as excited about a show since going to see the reformed Roses - a band I thought I'd never see. This was the case with Stevie, I really didn't think I'd ever see him live. He rarely plays the UK and previously it had always tended to be Hyde Park in London. Would he ever venture to Scotland?
I was at the Hydro waaaayyyy too early. There was a tremendous sense of anticipation in the air. I wasn't the only one to be feeling the buzz! I enjoyed watching people arrive. Parents of all ages with their kids of all ages, and grandkids. People dressed up to the nines, people in homemade Stevie jackets, people of all colours, I heard accents from all over, a Spanish woman asked me how to get in ... Stevie unites.
Phil, Mary and Ella arrived and we headed into the VIP section for wristbands and a couple of drinks, but we were really buzzing to get into the venue ... and take out seats. There was a genuine pinch me and knock me for six moment as we found them ... directly ... and I mean DIRECTLY ... in front of a Stevie's keyboard and piano. We were like giddy schoolkids.
I actually made some notes when I woke up this morning, so I didn't forget what I wanted to highlight in the blog. So here we go ...
The entrance - Stevie's band gradually came on to the stage. The string section, brass, drums and percussion, vocalists, bass, guitar, conductor .... The lights dimmed and Stevie's voice came through the speakers, asking us for a moment, asking us to close our eyes. What followed was an emotional and dreamy discussion about life, about love, learning, humanity and about music. I'd love to get a recording of this, it would be great over a chilled house beat and grooves. When we opened our eyes, Stevie was right in front of us. Like ... right in front of us. I might have squealed!
Before I go on to talk about Stevie and his extraordinary talents, I must mention the band and the ambition surrounding the performance of Wonder's epic double album Songs In The Key Of Life. WOW! It was incredible. The musicianship, the love on stage, the vocalists, the sound, the arrangements. I'll no doubt mention all of this again!
OK here goes. I'm not going song-for-song, but I'm probably not far off it!
Stevie opened with Love's In Need Of Love Today and it was utterly gorgeous. Wonder broke through with classic Motown singles of 3-minutes and less, but on Songs In The Key Of Life he is is no rush, stretching out, lost in the music and in grooves, finding blissful vocal melodies and hooks. The outro was gorgeous. Stevie's voice was absolutely on it.
Wonder has faith in greater powers and he highlights over experimental synth sounds in Have A Talk With God, encouraging people to talk things through, but somehow making it a super cool pop song. The vocal melody for Ghetto Land is super sweet, but over beautiful strings, Stevie sings of the grim realities of life for many.
Contusion is a bit of a favourite of mine. It's deliciously crazy, a little psychedelic, and just downright fun. That came across in the performance. The guitar playing was insane.
Stevie's smile, which he was famed for from an early age, is extraordinary. He really beams, really smiles, you see and feel the joy. It was an absolute privilege to see it up close. Just writing about it now gives me tingles. He smiled many times, joke with the crowd, attempted a Scottish accent several times, but ultimately broke into something out of Mary Poppins - real cockney. He responded to shouts from the crowd, he was taking it all in. So were we.
There was a euphoric surge for the brass intro to Sir Duke and everyone in the Hydro got to their feet - music uniting, just as Stevie was singing.
Music is a world within itself
With a language we all understand
Wonder and his band were showing off, into the shuffling soul groove of I Wish, being hopelessly romantic on Knocks Me Off My Feet
I don't want to bore you with it
Oh but I love you, I love you, I love you
Then into the unmistakeable string intro to Pastime Paradise, Wonder gets into the zone - listing the evils of the world and then what is needed for peace. Wonder spoke of his horror of what the world is like, but highlighted the importance of faith, love, family and peace. We can do it.
Summer Soft was so beautiful, Wonder's voice changing to be really tender, his fingers dancing across his piano, then everything rises as he hots the chorus and she's gone, and she's gone, summer's gone. The second time Wonder hits the chorus is sensational, lifting things even higher, then there is a glorious organ solo and jam. Brilliant.
The second part of Ordinary Pain is a real favourite of mine, I played it when I DJ'd recently. The song transforms from a ballad to a dirty synth funk groove with outrageous soul vocals. The female vocalists came to the front and took turns taking lead, the way the band jammed on this was utterly sensational. This was fierce, ferocious and on fire.
You're just a masachistic fool
Because you knew my love was cruel
Isn't She Lovely ... was lovely. Phil and Mary had played this on the birth of their daughter Ella and now here they were directly in front of the author. To see them all hug together. Wonder clearly loves this melody and switched between keyboards and harmonica.
There were many, many moments last night, but onstage, Stevie and his additional vocalists had one during Joy Inside My Tears. A tear rolled down Stevie's face, several of his vocalists were crying, Wonder's voice cracked at one point, the emotion coming through in the lyrics and delivery was heartbreakingly beautiful.
Now ... Black Man is my friend Phil's favourite on the album. He was grooving in his seat from the off, but he was wanting to get up, so I got up with him. We were lost in the grooves, the percussion section really went off on one. It was infectious. We were dancing away, catching the eye of the backing vocalists, with a couple smiling and one giving Phil a heart shape with her hands.
As luck would have it, my brother Ross was a few rows back and he captured us on film. Dancing away, not worrying a jot that no-one around us was dancing. We were only looking forward.
And then someone else captured us on film, someone we didn't know, sitting up in the stands. One of his friends spotted his instagram story congratulating the duo at the front for getting up to dance, especially the guy in the blue (Phil) for gien' it yaldi. One of Phil's colleagues saw it and exchanged messages - see below - hilarious!
What else? I've missed Stevie's son coming on to sing. Then his young daughter came on and sat next ti him to sing Lennon's Imagine. Other family members were among the vocalists on stage. Wonder jammed on harmonica, miraculously turning things into Jackson's Billie Jean and the whole venue sang.
Wonder spoke of his love of hearing other languages while introducing - Ngiculela-Es Una Historia - I Am Singing and then had us all singing. If It's Magic with Wonder accompanied by a harpist was sheer beauty, magical, I'm amazed it hasn't been used in a Disney film.
Another Star flowed with pace and power, everyone was up, everyone singing the la la la's, Wonder singing of a love lost, but he would never let go.
For you there might be another song
But in my heart your melody will stay with me
As ... was utterly incredible. They layers and arrangements in this song are stunning. Wonder is poetic, again singing of his love, his love that will never die, his love always ...
Until the rainbow burns the stars out in the sky (always)
Until the ocean covers every mountain high (always)
Until the dolphin flies and parrots live at sea (always)
Until we dream of life and life becomes a dream
What a singer. What a songwriter. What a performer. What a beautiful human being.
And to end, the bonus of Superstition, hugely extended with Stevie, his family and vocalists taking the acclaim, walking from one side of the stage to the other as the band jammed on and his vocalists singing the hook on a loop. Oh to get a 12-inch version of this!
I'm still buzzing, still a bit awestruck from this whole experience. Getting to sit directly in front of Stevie was just incredible. In the presence of greatness. A true genius.
