To say I am a Stevie Wonder fan is to declare I sometimes like to breathe. Or cry at Jets games. True story. As a young man living in London I once pretended to be Paul Simon’s manager on a phone call to the Hammersmith Odeon box office and managed to finesse four free tickets to Stevie’s talk-of-the-town, top-of-the-pops, sold-out concert. I’m hoping to take a more traditional approach to gain entrance to the Pru Center on October 14th. Yes, he’s back. From “Fingertips” to “Sir Duke” and everything in between, this master blaster returns after a blowout appearance just six months ago. New Jersey was thankfully added to the pop legend’s latest tour, which centers on his transcendent 1976 double album, “Songs in the Key of Life.” The show in April was among the best of the year so far, and ran for nearly four hours as the iconic songwriter performed all of “Key Of Life,” additional hits and a few covers, backed by a huge band. As many as 30 musicians and singers joined him on some songs, as well as soulful guest vocalist India.Arie. Queen Latifah made also made an appearance during the encore.
If this show is anything like what we experienced in April, here are a few songs you can expect to hear from the iconic 1976 album, “Songs in the Key of Life:”
1. Love’s in Need of Love Today
2. Village Ghetto Land
3. Sir Duke
4. I Wish
5. Knocks Me Off My Feet
6. Pastime Paradise
7. Summer Soft
8. Ordinary Pain
9. Isn’t She Lovely
You get the idea, basically the entire album. Expect covers of classics as well as his popular and obscure hits. Speculating on who might join him onstage could drive a fan mad so don’t even try. Just be pleasantly surprised when somebody totally awesome walks out of the wings and melts the microphone. His orchestra is second to none and some of the instrumental jams are reminiscent of the concerts of days gone by when the corporate structures of the arenas didn’t dictate the performance schedules and content. Stevie can get his rant on occasionally and the ever-socially-conscious artist will no doubt regale the crowd with tender and emotional tales of real life heroes and heroines. His concerts have a rhythm, an ebb and flow between the artist and audience that tends to leave the listener drained by the end of the night. I will be there. I’ll be smiling, dancing and singing along (but not too loud. I hate it when I pay good money to hear a singer and then I have to listen to Benny from Rahway mangle “My Cherie Amour”).
Pru Center, Newark
October 14
www.prucenter.com
