Stevie Wonder, Brisbane 25th October 2008
I saw Stevie Wonder on Saturday night, 25th October at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre. It was the BEST concert I have ever been to.
This man is a complete legend, and I found myself struggling to hold back tears has he was escorted on stage by his daughter Aiesha Morris. To know that I was in the same room as this incredible musician and breathing the same air was almost too much!
A few things should be pointed out before I continue. I saw Justin Timberlake in October last year (see my review) and thought it was great. A few things haven’t changed at the BEC- people were still walking out half way through the last song and before the lights went up, though not nearly as many as at the JT concert. But what had changed was the atmosphere. Justin Timberlake was standing nearly the whole time and dancing during his show, and barely anyone got up to dance as he performed, except for when SexyBack was played (when the place erupted) and those who were already standing (or stumbling rather) in the SexyBack Lounge.
With Stevie Wonder, things were quite different. For a man who sits at the piano nearly the whole concert, he had the crowd in an absolute frenzy, with people dancing, standing up, shouting, singing, for the whole 2 hours and 15 minutes that he played. I heard lots of “I love you Stevie”’s and shout outs from the crowd, to the point where Stevie actually had to ask the crowd if he could continue with his story at one point! The power of real music…. is all I can say.
On with the review…
From the moment the band started playing, it was non stop. At the end of it, I was thinking “where did the time go?” It was song after song- just amazingly good music. Normally I can’t stand “jam sessions” but with Stevie’s supreme band, I could have listened to them jam all night. The musicianship was beyond superb.
Stevie’s voice was better than I have ever heard it sound. And he’s 58 years old! Knowing that he has been touring for the last few months, and has been playing these songs over and over again, it was quite a treat to be able to hear all his classics delivered with so much attention, beauty and emotion as ever.
It didn’t matter what Stevie sang- the crowd would have sang with him. He had us all in the palm of his hand- calling us the Steveland Morris Brisbane Choir- and having us sing back to him from the start. In Master Blaster, he had 10,000 people singing “God is good!”. At other times, he had us singing backing for Part Time Lover (which we weren’t really great at) and chanting “Barack Obama” at the end. This man could have sang “My shit is brown” and everyone would have sung along with him or sang it back to him, and been in awe!
The crowd interaction was incredible- a real concert experience, where you feel like you are right there with Stevie. He didn’t have to ask us twice “Are you with us? Are you with me?” (even though he did), because we were all right with him from the very beginning.
Stevland Hardaway Morris is an absolute legend and genius. He did every song I was hoping he’d do and some I wasn’t expecting. Prior to the concert, I did hope he would do “You Haven’t Done Nothing”, “Ribbon In The Sky” and “For Once In My Life”, but it really didn’t matter in light of the songs he did do. It has always been my dream to see “Overjoyed” and “Lately” played one after the other. And he did just that. Needless to say, it was my favourite part of the concert- they were played with all the emotion and beauty that those songs deserve- it was just a dream to see. Other highlights for me were “Master Blaster”, “All I Do”, “Don’t You Worry Bout a Thing”, and “Higher Ground”. “Superstition” was an experience all on its own- I have never seen such crowd excitement! After the concert, Stevie had a 5 minute standing ovation from the crowd- a most deserving one too.
I feel sorry for everyone who missed out on this tour. It was absolutely amazing, and an experience I will never forget. It was exciting, beautiful, emotional… and simply WONDER-ful!
Thanks to the uploaders of this footage from the Brisbane concert:
Don’t You Worry Bout A Thing:
Master Blaster:
Lately:
