--- “Sir Duke” starts up, and the crowd can feel it all over!
--- “I Wish” I could get everyone grooving like Stevie does. The band deserves credit too. By my count, 26 performers are up on stage with him: trumpets, trombones, drummers, backups -- the works! “Are y'all with me? Are y'all with us?” YES.
--- “Knocks Me Off Me Off My Feet” doesn't. The slowdown and miscue at the end is endearing though.
--- Hilarious back-and-forth with a backup singer during an acapella sing-off:
“Is this a memory for you?"
[Lackluster] “Well yeah.”
“You know this is a job you can get fired from?”
[He was kidding, but HA.]
--- Mini “Summertime,” like Fantasia!
--- The Latino girl is the clear acapella winner. The sensual Spanish language may have given her an unfair advantage, but she nailed it. She was also less screechy and more subtle than others.
--- The violin jam became a bit indulgent.
--- “We've got the funkiest, nastiest horn players on the whole planet. Y'all don't believe me? Y'all don't believe me?" Heh, not fully, but it's an improvement.
--- Oooh, he gets up from the piano. Hahaha, apparently he's covering Coolio's “Gangster aradise.” Or is Weird Al's “Amish Paradise”? I soon find out his song, “Pastime Paradise,” was the original, that they covered! Who knew? (Probably any decent Stevie fan -- but not me.) Listening to the lyrics, they seem perfect for a team-wide civil right lesson on Monday -- sweet.
--- Some midtempo calypso snooze.
[next song] Make that two...
[next song] Three.
[next song] Four. Okay, being fair, the last one was more uptempo, but no one around me was into it.
--- Intermission. Gah, just found out this is a straight album show, for Songs in the Key of Life. I usually love album shows, but I didn't prepare for that element! At least this explains the recent lulls...
--- Whoa, the guy who just directed an Emmy-winning Stevie special directed his first Stevie show on the National Mall 40 years ago. It was during Human Kindness Day, a day combating addiction. Tomorrow he'll be participating in Human Kindness Day on the National Mall 40 years later!
--- “Isn't She Lovely?” She is -- that's more like it! The harmonica's so smooth.
--- A post-intermission "intermission" song. Sigh.
--- “The Joy Inside My Tears” is solid.
--- Another one? Geezzzzz.
--- “Black Man”!!! If I hadn't been reading the lyrics, it might not have stood out. I was reading the lyrics, though, and multicolor/multiculture vision for America was awesome -- perfect for the team-wide civil rights lesson on Monday!
--- Apparently I’m a sucker for the harmonica. Oooh, there's a second harmonica and a sax. Wheeee.
--- HA, “Teq” makes its way into a complication riff. Shoutout to Howard T Herber Middle School jazz band, where we somehow played it in 7th grade?!
--- More indulgent filler... That said, the guy in front of me scatting and jamming throughout the song is hilarious.
--- “If It's Magic.” Aww, he pays tribute to a backup singer who died before the album was released by playing her vocal during the song. Tender.
--- “As.” Oooh, I know this one. Not sure from where, but I like it! “Alwayyyyys.”
--- “Another Star” sounds strangely like Latin. Oh well -- it sounds good.
--- Last song: "I'm longer Stevie Wonder. I'm DJ Tick Tick Boom. If you want it to play, you've got to PLAY.” Lol, he keeps stopping the song and bashing the audience. A brilliant way to give them a taste of a lot of songs. “Superstition ain't the wayyyyyyy!!!” Great medley finale.
Grade: B+
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