Stevie Wonder, Hyde Park, review: Motown virtuoso is taking a break - but is it time to retire?
"I’m going to do three more shows," said Stevie Wonder, “then I’m going to take a break..." The Motown superstar, who was 69 in May, confirmed reports that he has been managing a serious health issue by breaking the news to a crowd of 65,000 in Hyde Park that he is to have a kidney transplant in September. "You don't have to hear any rumours," he explained, "I told you what's up." A donor has already been lined up, he added, insisting, "I'm good."
It was a surprise coda to a gig that had begun in sunshine but ended in rain, as Wonder closed with a storming version of his classic Superstition from 1972. Musically, though, the clouds had all been in the first half. Wonder walked on to Earth, Wind & Fire's September – a subtle clue to his later announcement? – in black bandana and a jacket with brightly coloured musical notes on it. But from the opening number, As If You Read My Mind (from 1980 album Hotter Than July), his voice, as best as you could hear it beneath an avalanche of instruments, sounded pained.
Don't You Worry About a Thing suggested that its lovely warm flow might still be intact, but as the song ascends to its joyful heights, his upper register sounded shot. I found myself wondering if it was time for this former child prodigy, who has been making and recording music almost his whole life, to call it a day.
The show, billed as The Stevie Wonder Song Party, seemed misconceived, too. Its mid-section included a DJ playing records by departed artists from Michael Jackson to Amy Winehouse to David Bowie. What a treat it would have been to see Wonder cover Marvin Gaye's What's Going On? in its entirety. Instead, we were treated to the sight of one of the great pop soul artists of the 20th century sitting at his keyboards as other people's records played.
Maybe he was just taking a breather, but something about this indignity seemed to galvanise Wonder, who emerged from it like an ageing heavyweight boxer who suddenly remembers halfway through round seven how to dance and move and let fly with combinations. He came out fighting with a stirring Sir Duke, and as Wonder relaxed into the song, so too did the band finally lock into a groove, which they held into I Wish from Songs in the Key of Life. Confidence renewed, Wonder slammed straight into Living for the City. Note to Stevie: when you've got a back catalogue as strong as this, all you have to do is play it well, and the party will look after itself.
It was good to be reminded, too, of Wonder’s virtuosity, as he played a 16-stringed instrument called a harpejji – a cross between a guitar and a keyboard. I could have done without the cover of John Lennon's Imagine, although it was clear that many loved it, ditto the inevitable I Just Called to Say I Love You.
The groove was reinstated for Do I Do, though, before Superstition brought an outbreak of boogieing from the hardy who had braved the rain. Then there was just that shock announcement to come. Good luck Stevie, get well soon.
