(Toronto, Ontario, Canada)

There was a lot of musical synchronicity over the past week.  I wrote about seeing Paul McCartney in concert, received a vinyl copy of McCartney’s remixed “Tug of War” album (featuring two duets with Stevie Wonder), and then went on a blitz of a road trip to see Stevie Wonder perform live in Toronto.

This wasn’t just a “greatest hits” concert:  Stevie was going to perform his entire 1976 magnum opus “Songs in the Key of Life”.  Widely considered to be one of the best albums ever made, despite an extended running length of almost two hours, it spawned both hit singles and “deep cuts” that have had a profound influence on popular music.   Almost everybody knows songs such as “Sir Duke“, “I Wish“, “Isn’t She Lovely” and “Pastime Paradise”…at least by tune, if not by name.

Stevie went onstage at 8:15 p.m. and it was clear that his voice had not suffered over the years.  He also had a huge 36-person band, including a string section, a horn section, a choir, multiple drummers and percussionists and at least 6 backing vocalists.  Songs such as “Village Ghetto Land” were improved from the album as they featured live (rather than synthesized) strings.  Special guests included April Ellington, daughter of…Duke Ellington!  This was a big, big show.

For me, the highlights came fast and furious with back-to-back performances of “Sir Duke” and “I Wish”.  “Sir Duke”, in particular, benefited hugely from the large horn section.  “I Wish”, with its prominent bass, fared slightly less well due to some low-end sound issues but was still memorable.  The low-end issues became rather distracting right before and after the 20-minute intermission but thankfully resolved before too much damage had been done.

While the point of the concert was to play the entire “Songs in the Key of Life” album in order, Stevie did embark on a few tangents. In the first set, he challenged his backing vocalists to match his singing gymnastics solo and without any accompaniment. They all passed the test with flying colours.

In the second set, Stevie played “Ngiculela-Es Una Historia-I Am Singing” with an unusual zither-like instrument called a “harpejji”.   After it was over, he started playing what sounded to me like the chords to John Lennon’s “Imagine” on the harpejji.  He then said that it was his brother’s birthday, to which the audience responded with polite applause.  But it also occurred to me, as someone who probably knows an unhealthy amount of Beatles trivia, that this precise day would have been John Lennon’s 75th birthday.

Sure enough, Stevie then said that he wanted to play “Imagine” for his brother, John Lennon.  This definitely wasn’t in the script.  He began playing the song and asked for audience help partway through the song.  It soon became clear why:  he began crying and was unable to sing an extended portion of the lyric.  He recovered somewhat, but wiped away a lot of tears (without apology) before he could continue with the next song.   A lengthy standing ovation ensued and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.

Concerts are obviously big business and Stevie is not a poor man.  But he is still a sensitive man and, 35 years after Lennon’s death, Stevie is still affected by his murder.  He urged the audience to do what they could to prevent senseless violence and intolerance.

Stevie then resumed performing the rest of his famous album with renewed vigour and finished it about 3 hours after the concert began.  He then assumed his alter-ego of “DJ Tick Tick Boom” for the encore and it is difficult to explain exactly what happened next.  To preserve the surprise, I’ll just say that he played snippets of some disco classics, abbreviated versions of a few of his other hits, and finished with a scorching version of “Superstition”  that made full use of the entire band (again with a memorable brass performance).  It was almost midnight when the concert finally ended; Stevie looked like he had thoroughly enjoyed sharing his music with us.

While there were plenty of Stevie Wonder classics that weren’t played (“Signed, Sealed, Delivered…I’m Yours” is one that I would have liked to hear), there simply would not have been enough time.   As with Paul McCartney’s 2009 concert in Halifax, we felt like we were witnessing a part of history.   We’re looking forward to reliving the experience by playing “Songs in the Key of Life” when we get home!