Stevie Wonder

breakbeatpete37 wrote:

I wondered what the "ghetto" track was, didnt know it was Curtis. I predicted that he might do a couple of cheeky covers. Spain was really incredible -got the band to warm up for the final shabang. Visions was mind blowing -what a journey that took me on-they transformed it totally! About half an hour in I turned round to my brother and said "Sh*t man, this is getting really trippy!" during that kind of dirty jazzy 70s melting pot & then he busted out the vocoder! I was very pleased to see him hitting the crowd with all this early on and not going for obvious crowd pleasers too soon. As if you read my mind is pretty much my fav song on Hotter Than July and I was pleasantly surprised that he opened with that..but only after that Miles Davis Harmonica intro. I actually started crying when he did that, the sound of it just soared through the arena and completely lit me up! This night was incredible. I dont care how much I payed. I'm truly privileged to have experienced it. Thanks Stevie!

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MUSTANGANN wrote:

Hi, It was Stephanie Benson, who was the guest singer and she sang Until you come back to me. Ayesha sang the slow jazz song, I met Stephanie backstage.

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TheJakeSnake wrote:

BTW loveloli, that was ayesha morris, stevie's daughter famously heard crying as a baby at the beginning of isnt she lovely all those years ago - great voice!

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TheJakeSnake wrote:

Hi all, we all got a massive treat on Thursday for 2 reasons. 1. He's not been here for years (and probably won't again). 2. Earlier UK shows had half the number of songs 'delievered' to them (1 professional critic moaned about the lack of Lately which he did brilliantly on thursday). I actually made it 2h 45 which is almost double what your average coldplay do - this from a total legend. I paid over the odds for my seats in block b and it was worth every penny. It was a disco fest down there with the entire arena singing along. Speaking of singing along, what we had to do was funkier than the usual 'I said Yeah...(Yeah) etc you normally get at concerts. Of course some people don't appreciate what they were witnessing but you get that at every concert, football match etc. (Going to the bar during the medley which was kicked off by superstition was akin to missing a goal at Wembley). I could go on but this was one of my '50 things before you die' and I was not disappointed.

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loveloli wrote:

Saw Stevie last night and wondered if anyone knows who the female guest singer/ song was??? Amazing show, worth waiting all these years for!!

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bmcg wrote:

Can't figure out what the below is on about with comments on "tedious trollop" and "random songs" ???? He quite rightly dedicated most time to his best songs (As If You Could Read My Mind, Visions, All I Do, Higher Ground, Do I Do, Superstitution, Living For The City, Golden Lady, great covers of People Make The World Go Round and The Ghetto etc etc) rather than the cheesier "hits" he's probably bored sensless of rolling out. I agree on "many people going to the bar and toilet" as there were a lot of fools there (on Thursday at least) who didn't seem to know any of the above and were more interested in getting beered up then educating themselves! Sound was good from lower tier centre too by the way.

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rickyburns wrote:

Stevie Wonder is a legend; however this concert was far from legendary. I have to say that it was almost a bit self indulgent of Stevie to totally reject what the crowd had paid a lot of money for, and play the tedious trollop that he did. I have been to several O2 centre concerts now and have never seen so many people going to the bar and toilet, if Stevie was rolling out the hits, I suspect that people would have been glued to their seats, instead they were up and down like clearly bored yo-yo’s. Instead of classic Stevie, we had sermons, instrumentals, unknown guest appearances and random songs which left me cold. The only good point of the whole concert was the last 15 minutes where he decided to give the crowd what they had come for, however by then, it was all a little bit too little too late. Sorry Stevie, but next time I’ll just listen to your genius on my iPod for free rather than pay for the four £130 tickets I naively purchased.

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AlfieFunk wrote:

Hi all, I was lucky to be 12 rows from the front and have to say the sound was fantastic down there. It felt just like being back in the 70's seeing Stevie nailing every last tune to perfection. I saw him 10 years ago at the Royal Albert Hall, which was great but this was mind blowing classis Stevie. It was without doubt all about him playing the tunes that he loves best. No pleasing record labels or promoting new albums just 100% vintage Stevie.... :-) The only regret I have is forgetting my camera... Doh!

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bmcg wrote:

ravisingh - People Make The World Go Round was the song he used vocoder for.

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halokel wrote:

Terrible review at This is london. I'd like to think that you guys are right though.

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jonthegeologist wrote:

... and ended with Always, ... what a playlist.

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ravisingh wrote:

I just remembered he also did "All I Do" and he let his daughter sing one song solo, can't recall what it was.

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ravisingh wrote:

The man is a musical genius. In no particular order, I remember him doing the following. All Blues (Miles Davis) The Ghetto ( Curtis Mayfield) Master Blaster Signed Sealed Delivered Superstitous Living for the City Higher Ground Sir Duke Lately Golden Lady Visions Ribon in the Sky Don't you worry Do I Do I wish I just Called My Cherie Amour Uptight knocks me off my feet Isn't she Lovely overjoyed As Does anyone know what the track with the vocoder was, I love that Roger Troutman sound

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jonthegeologist wrote:

No special guests, although his daughter did sing an excellent solo number. And I wish I had taken note of the setlist, but let me say that he played for 2.5 hours and did *all* the songs you'd want to hear --- I was like a sing-a-long-a-Wonder. I've never seen him live before and it sent shivers down my back -- amazing to hear. I was just so sorry that the sound quality was so poor for the first half. My advice is that if you're up in the 4th level, close to the stage and the sound is as bad as it was for us, complain and complain early. They had some spare seats and some were moved. By the time we got fed up, the venue manager had to supply tickets from the production team's allocation but I wouldn't count on their availability.

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halokel wrote:

Any chance of a setlist? Special guests?

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jonthegeologist wrote:

This was a great gig -- eventually. We had level 4 seats and the sound quality up there was absolutely appalling. We couldn't hear what Stevie was saying and the PA was unable to cope with the volumes. After a complaint, we got moved -- much better.

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D-I-N wrote:

Oh yes. How good was that! How many did he play that were on your wish list? Visions pretty much blew me away. Awesome performance from an awesome guy.

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car6on wrote:

Surely this is a most... i'm gonna be throwing ribbons in the sky

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