To say that STEVIE WONDER playing live in Cardiff on his LOVE, LIGHT AND SONG tour is a big deal is an understatement. But as it got closer to the final live event in the Blackweir series of gigs, all you could hear from the huge sold out crowd was ‘Stevie F****** Wonder is here in Cardiff‘. And that’s how it felt, a star of his magnitude was right in the heart of our capital and about to deliver something really special for the city.
We know he’s played a few shows across the UK, with the final this weekend in Hyde Park, but this gig felt unique, and it was for a few reasons.
The venue is incredible, the staging sound and atmosphere perfect and the weather was as good as you could have asked for, all making this a great start to the evening as Stevie’s special guest CORINNE BAILEY RAE played a flawless set.
But this was a coming together of lifelong fans and kids and grandchildren who had been brought up on some of the best music of multi-generations. All of that was as we expected, perfect. But last night’s show had some extra, and that extra was Wales. This was a gig for and very much about our special nation.
Stevie was escorted on stage by his daughter AISHA, the very one who features in ‘Isn’t She Lovely‘ and his eldest son KEITA who looked and sounds exactly like his Dad. Where most performers start with a couple of big hits and then a little audience interaction, Stevie turned that around and had a very long chat at the beginning, in fact thirty minutes into the show and we’d had two songs and an awful lot of Stevie talking about love, life, God and politics, without ever really preaching to us.
As you’ll see in our video, Stevie was also presented with a special honour from the Royal Welsh College of Music, all of which was done before he launched into the most incredible set of classic songs and a few album favourites…..
Once Stevie had his say on the things in our world which are troubling him, the night was all abut love and coming together in this special place. “Tonight I want us to celebrate the spirit of love,” he said. And we all felt it as he played songs which clearly mean so much to so many in the audience.
We all have our favourites, most of which were in the set, with a few exceptions. But with 23 studio albums, three soundtracks, four live albums, 11 compilations, one box set, and 91 singles. Ten US number one hits, as well as 20 R&B number one hits, 100 million records sold, 19.5 million of which are albums; there is no way you were going to cram it all into a 2 hour plus set.
Stevie took us on a musical trip as he embarked on a 28-song journey from the early days, when he was known as ‘Little Stevie Wonder‘, right through a catalogue of hits which left us dancing and singing all night long. We even spotted a certain former Welsh First Minister who was captured by the king of old Sir Duke.
Sat at his shiny, funky keyboards, wearing a crystal. encrusted jacket featuring Martin Luther King and Ghandi, Stevie sang wonderfully supported by a band which literally had your chest thumping with their incredible sound, they are next-level good.
All the hits were there, ‘Master Blaster (Jammin’)‘ ‘Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I’m Yours‘, ‘Overjoyed, I Just Called To Say I Love You‘, and the aforementioned ‘Sir Duke‘.
Stevie is also incredibly funny in a ‘you have to be there’ moment to get the jokes. With his jolly good try at a British accent and when he had us singing along to the 1939 old time favourite ‘You Are My Sunshine‘ before seamlessly taking into ‘You Are The Sunshine of my Life‘. You began to realise why he called this tour ‘Love, Light and Song’.
At 75 years old Stevie Wonder was a sharp as a tac and sounded like he’s always sounded, maybe even a little better. With his message to our world leaders to “get their s*** together” ringing in our ears, we left Blackweir Fields knowing we’d seen a show, the likes of which we may never see again in Cardiff, but let’s hope so.
This was a magical moment we’ll never forget and to quote his 1980 album, it was definitely a show ‘Hotter Than July‘. Steveland Hardaway Morris – please come back soon.
