What a wonderfully funky, soulful, fun evening at the Key Arena in Seattle last night for the Stevie Wonder show. Toni and I got to the venue a little early as usual, but tonight was OK as we had early entry as part of the VIP package which allowed us in an hour before the regular “door open” time and we were able to meet some of the other fans over drinks and hors d’oeuvres. We had a great time with a lot of good conversation. We got to our seats about 20 minutes before the show started to get settled and for me to get my camera properly set-up.
Opening up the performance, Stevie was led out on stage by India Arie. Both were fabulously dressed, Stevie in an emerald green, sequined suit and India in very beautiful, bright yellow outfit. Stevie started the show off with Love’s in Need of Love Today and a duet with India of Have a Talk With God. The show was packed with great old song which included very lengthy jam sessions during one of them he even brought someone from the audience up on stage to do a little vocal jam and of course mixed in a lot of audience participation. The atmosphere in the arena was electric with just a ton of positive vibe being generated through his music and his personality. The background band for the show consisted of more than 30 other performers (hard to actually count), with 2 drum sets, 2 percussion stations, a horn section, string section, 2 guitarists, 3 other keyboardist and of course bassist Nathan Watts who has been with Stevie since the 70’s. There was a short intermission between the first and second set, with set two opening with Isn’t She Lovely which is a song inspired by his daughter Aisha Morris who is one of his background singers.
The night went well past the normal time shows usually end, not having the last song of the night (Superstition) until nearly midnight.. We unfortunately had to leave during My Cherie Amour which was the third to the last song of the night and were not able to see Superstition. This portion of the show was a real cool set of classics with Stevie putting on a persona of DJ Tick Tick Boom, as he walked the audience through snippets of all of these great hits and adding a ton of personality and humor to the show.
An absolutely delightful show.
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