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DETROIT – He definitely seemed overjoyed to be back home. Stevie Wonder just performed his first hometown concert in nearly a decade.
The Motown living legend played to a sold out Little Caesars Arena crowd on Tuesday, October 22. The Saginaw native, who was raised in Detroit, last performed in Motown back in 2015 at Joe Louis Arena.
The 25-time Grammy winner showed why he is one of the greatest musical talents who ever lived as he overcame three technical issues which saw the audio go completely silent on him.
With the crowd on his side, Wonder sat there each time improvising on the piano until the audio came back on, telling the crowd that “s&@# happens.”
It was part of a night which featured numerous impromptu moments right from the beginning when, after performing “Can We Fix Our Nation’s Broken Heart“ with his son and daughter by his side, Wonder broke out some Four Tops with ”Can’t Help My Self.”
When the first sound issue occurred shortly thereafter, he said to the crowd, “we can work it out” before playing part of that very song by The Beatles. Because, why not?
The night was filled with playful, spontaneous moments like this, and Wonder, who played keys and harmonica most of the night, was backed by one of the largest bands we’ve ever seen at a concert.
Get this: He had three percussionists, two guitarists, a bassist, a six-piece horn section, a 12-piece string section and six backup singers. And on top of that, he had a local choir perform with him on a few songs.
“What up doe,” Wonder told the crowd during his concert. “First of all, in giving all praise to the most high for this opportunity of being with you; us being together. This is a celebration, unbelievable.”
Wonder performed one hit after another with “Master Blaster,” “Higher Ground,” “You are the Sunshine of My Life,” “For Once in My Life,” “Signed, Sealed, Delivered,” “My Cherie Amour,” “Overjoyed,” “Sir Duke,” “I Wish,” “Isn’t She Lovely,” “I Just Called to say I Love You” and “Superstition.”
His message at this show as love over hate and he did get a little political.
Without mentioning the Presidential candidates by name, it seemed clear who he was throwing his support behind.
“I want to let you know, you hold the future in your hands. You‘re the ones that will determine what happens tomorrow. So, don‘t get hung up in the ways of politic playing. Lets get to what we got to get to and lets make America love again.”
“You know, I‘m not stuck on stupid. You know, because when I hear somebody says make it great again, they‘re talking about only one group of people. It’s about all of us coming together.”
Towards the end of the concert, Wonder seemed to refuse to want to stop performing as he kept telling his band what he wanted to play next. He performed “As,” “My Eyes Don’t Cry,” “Superstition,” “Do I Do,” and “Another Star” before finally parting ways around 11:15 p.m. after taking the stage around 8:40 p.m.
We don’t know if or when Wonder will perform Motown in Motown again, but on this night, he was witty and playful with the crowd and his voice sounded terrific.
Next stop for Wonder is Thursday in Milwaukee and Sunday in Minneapolis before wrapping his 10-city tour up in Grand Rapids, Michigan on Wednesday, October 30.
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