The Wonder of Stevie

08 October 2008

SURELY Stevie Wonder gets enough stick as it is?

For years it has almost seemed acceptable to ridicule his blindness, and now he's been getting one bad review after another for his shows at the O2.

The word "boring" has even been mentioned in some quarters.

After his first stint at the start of September, he was back last week for another four shows, so I decided it was time to see what all the fuss was about.

The guy has made so many great records - surely he can't be that bad? But he's also made some truly awful ones - in particular, of course, I Just Called To Say I Love You, with Ebony and Ivory and Happy Birthday not far behind it.

And I still haven't forgiven him for collaborating with boy band Blue recently on a remake of Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I'm Yours) - a case of the blind leading the blind, if you'll excuse the poor joke!

But whatever the case, a Stevie Wonder concert is definitely one of those ones, when you want to able to say you've seen him.

As If You Read My Mind has always been a particular favourite of mine, and after being walked on to the stage by daughter Alisha Morris (the inspiration for Isn't She Lovely when she was a baby), it was his opening track.

My other personal faves, All I Do and Master Blaster (Jammin') - also from the excellent Hotter Than July album - were quickly dispatched, as were Don't You Worry About A Thing, Living In The City and Part Time Lover.

The good tracks were getting crossed off, though, and I Just Called... was looming - you just didn't know when.

When it finally did happen, it wasn't actually bad. Well, what I heard from the comfort of the toilet, anyway! And fortunately, the excellent As and Superstition both quickly cancelled it out, and concluded the proceedings.

Once again the O2 sound system excelled and as the show developed we started to see the sheer power of Stevie's amazing and unmistakable voice.

Sitting in front of a huge backing band, and with daughter Alisha one of the backing singers to his left, the Motown legend's smile got bigger and bigger as the show went on, and despite the slushy ballards and the random jazz-funk jams, which did drone on a bit, Stevie generally did good.

One plug for US presidential hopeful Barack Obama would have been enough, but I think we can forgive him that!

- MATT TROLLOPE