Hidden Track

For once in my life, I didn’t get exactly what I wanted at a concert and still walked out elated. In lieu of my desired throwback to nonstop ’70s funk from start to finish, Stevie Wonder instead turned in one of those legendary, well-rounded shows we’ll be talking about for decades. Saturday was mastery incarnate.

Photos by JanesAddiction

Take away the awe-inspiring Tony Bennett sit-in on For Once In My Life. Strip out Prince’s cool-as-fuck raunchy rhythm guitar cameo during Superstition. Stevie’s return to Madison Square Garden as a headliner for the first time in 11 years needed no celebrity frills — along with an eight-piece, three-singer band, Wonder played a monster two-and-a-half hour set filled with every possible hit.

The show was a bit more mellow, somber and emotional than I’d have preferred, but one thing is certain: That motherfucker can still play and sing as well as any time in his musical history. Close your eyes during Golden Lady or Too High and you’d think it’s 1974 and he’s touring behind Innervisions. His voice is still as powerful as ever, his personality as sharp as ever, his music downright timeless.

Sure I thought the show started out slow and that his backup band was the type you’d see at a reception celebrating a boy from the Goldstein or Schwartz clans becoming a man, but 150 straight minutes of Stevie fucking Wonder begets a huge smile from this jerk on his way out of the venue. Also, I now know that “God is Good” (as seen here during Saturday’s Master Blaster), and you can’t put a price on that. In lieu of continuing with one of them there proper reviews, I thought I’d turn to some non-pertinent news and notes for youse:

1. Every time the house lights go down and a band takes the stage, I generally hope the show begins with a balls-out rocker, a top-drawer opener eager to fuck me right in the ear. Stevie on this night didn’t disappoint, treating the crowd to a solemn speech that started with a moment of silence for 9/11 and an emotional anecdote about the loss of his mother. In a word, rager. Fucking rager.

2. I keed, I keed. It was moving. But said speech did contain a moment of “Oh na she di’int” hilarity. Stevie mentioned the date “May 31, 2006″ and received a loud, female “WOOO!” that reverberated throughout the self-proclaimed world’s most famous arena, a scream similar to the one produced when an artist says he just came from “Cleveland” and an Ohioan perks up. Only Stevie immediately followed that noise with the words “That was the day I lost my mother,” which drew an audible “Ooooh” from the capacity crowd at this girl’s faux pas.

3. I rarely catch political acts of any kind, and whenever an artist makes a political statement or preaches (to the choir or otherwise), I generally take that moment to take a bat hit and tune out. Stevie took the opportunity in the third song of the night, Visions, to belt out a sermon, highlighted by the repeated phrases “I can’t believe it” and “That’s unacceptable.” He touched on hate and war and the obvious things that are unacceptable, though he lost me when he said something like “Everyone should have the right… pause … to insurance.” To car insurance? Life insurance? Workman’s comp? His mouth just moved faster than his brain on that one, methinks. And that’s unacceptable. Read on for more nonsense…

4. Stevie took to the talkbox following the preachy Visions, jamming a tube down his throat Schiavo-style for a throwback medley that included New York, New York, What’s Goin’ On, and a We Want the Funk chant > Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now > We Are Family (as seen on video here). I guess it was pretty sweet, but I couldn’t help but think how unnecessary the talkbox is as an instrument. I could barely understand a word he said. Frampton got lucky.

5. One of the standout moments came during a Ribbon in the Sky, when Stevie had the crowd sing along to two separate lines, first all females, then all males. Eventually he put it all together and the segregated-by-sex crowd sang its lines without even the band’s beat. I remarked at the time and I think it’s more true today, but that must be cool as hell for a blind performer, to have a crowd of at least 15,000 all singing along to your song without the accompaniment of music. He especially must really get off on that. Goose pimples. And I loved the “Don’t go in there” movie theater-type girl who yelled out “My baby got it” when her man successfully repeated Stevie’s line directive.

6. While we’re at it, you think there’s any chance that Ribbon in the Sky is an especially literal song about a pair of rhythmic gymnasts in heaven? Or is it possible that God himself is the rhythmic gymnast in question? Or both. Or neither. Also, I think “Sky Ribbons” would just be an overall catchier title for the song. Shorter, too. From now on, that song is called Sky Ribbons.

7. An apparent 25-year-old sitting two rows in front of me went absolutely batshit bonkers when Tony Bennett came out on stage. I have nothing here, other than a simple question: What is it about Tony Bennett that would drive a 25-year-old male to pump his clenched fists high, clap loudly above his head and yell out “Tony Fucking Bennett, yeaaaaahhhhhh!” as if his sports team just won the championship? I kinda want to know. Are you him? E-mail me, if so. Is it the great head of hair?

8. Prince got a welcoming ovation I’ve almost never heard before…ever. In fact, this is the only ovation at MSG I’ve ever heard that beat it. Not even Stevie received an ovation as loud as Prince’s. And even though he didn’t play much, and you could barely hear him in the mix aside from when they broke it down to just Prince, Stevie and the drummer, I thought Prince just exuded coolness. His strut, his outfit, his look — he could sue me just for listening to him (and he might!) and I’d still be okay with it. With Stevie crossed off the list, Prince is my new #1 must-see. I’ve gotta catch that guy soon.

9. Prince and Tony Bennett will grab most of the sit-in headlines, but Frederic Yonnet dueled with Stevie on harmonicas and wowed the crowd (I forget which song). I don’t know anything about this guy, but he was pretty damn good. At one point he and Stevie locked opposing hands as they played their respective harmonicas, as if to start a thumb war on stage. And I just gotta say, thumb wars are unacceptable. I can’t believe it!

10. Finally, there was no encore. This may have had to do more with the fact that Stevie and the band played two-and-a-half straight hours, but part of me thinks it’s just a huge hassle. I mean, it just seems like a lot of work to get Stevie on and off the MSG stage, so once he’s down, maybe he’s just down.

Incomplete setlist: Loves In Need of Love Today, Too High, Visions, Livin’ For The City, Masterblaster (Jammin’), Higher Ground, Golden Lady, Ribbon In The Sky, Overjoyed, You and I, Lately, If Its Magic How Will I Know, Don’t You Worry Bout a Thing, Signed Sealed Delivered (I’m Yours)> reprise of SS&D played as a country song, My Cherie Amour, Boogie on Reggae Woman, For Once in My Life, Sir Duke, I Wish, You are The Sunshine of My Life, Superstition, As

That last bloc from Don’t You Worry Bout a Thing through As was worth every single penny of my $95 tickets. Man, that’s just how you put on a show.

UPDATE: Apparently I have seen Prince…my mother weighs in on this review: “thanks for sharing and you know this is so up my alley. stevie is definitely in my top 10. you did see prince when you were about five or six. there was so much pot there we felt like we were going to get arrested for child abuse. we all loved it though.” My mom rocks.