Aug
29
Stevie Wonder plays the Santa Barbara Bowl
August 29, 2007 |
It started our rather subdued, grew into a electric fueled love fest and finished high on the mountain of sentimentality. Stevie Wonder’s visit last night to the Santa Barbara Bowl was fun albeit a little dull. His band took a few songs to get their groove as the impromptu tour became apparent while they worked out the cobwebs and grooves. Hitting a few bad notes and missing their groove the 11 piece band warmed up as the night came alive and by the end of the warm Summer night, as the full moon lit up the crowd the band and the sound were spectacular.
Stevie started the evening walking in hand with his daughter and speaking for a few minutes on why he decided to tour after so many years. His Mother was the reason. Among her last words were a message to Stevie to take his music back to the people. And back to the people he went. The demand for tickets was apparent as crowed of middle aged folks hung around the entrance asking politely “any one have an extra?”…People were paying outrageous amounts of money for tickets. But why not? It was Stevie Wonder at the Bowl!
The show worked through a plethora of classics, Master Blaster, Part-Time Lover, Living for the City, Superstition, My Cherie Amore, I Just Called, and all the rest. He sounded great, unlike most of his contemporaries Stevie seems to have kept his tremendous range. Engaging the crowd with his spit fire wit and slight political rants “Let the next President realize that this is the United States of the People of America” and a few other anti Bushisms - which of course are well received and deserved - . His hearing was spectacular, several times responding to a yell from high in the stands or chiding the lackluster performance of the “Fellas” during the crowd participation song. But was most spectacular was his presence. A true legend, a musical genius Stevie Wonder is the type of artist that you are proud to tell your children you once saw play. The type of artist that transcends generations (as was evident last night) Stevie is a Wonder and by no means is he even close to “little” in fact he is “Enormous Stevie Wonder” to me.
It was a classic show, filled with joy and nostalgia. Taking many of the fans back a few years and filling the night with love an joy. I think Stevie was happy with the results. I know I was.
(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
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