Stevie Wonder Wows Madison Square Garden With Hours of Hits, Gentle Politics

Before singing “Can We Fix Our Nation’s Broken Heart,” the first song during a powerhouse, two-and-a-half–hour concert at New York’s Madison Square Garden on Thursday night, Stevie Wonder had a few things he needed to get off his chest. “Tonight I want us to celebrate the spirit of love,” he said. “When I wrote this song five years ago … I could feel the hearts being broken by negativity, by hatred, by racism, by bullshit, by absurdities, by things that were not true.”

Then he refocused on the present and a particular former president: “I want you to show me a picture of people eating dogs and cats,” he said, with slow applause building to a massive cheer as what he was saying sunk in. “To have been given the gift of being a leader means that the Most High has given you the responsibility of living in the light of truth. … I believe that America is great only because we of all various ethnicities, everyone has made it so.” And then he was ready to sing. “I’m not here to preach,” he said. “I’m only here to teach what the spirit is telling me.”

Once seated, he began the soulful light-rock song. “Poverty and homelessness/Can we do away with this?” goes the bridge. “All we need is to be giving.”

The lyrics are a variation on the same themes that Wonder, 74, has been singing about religiously for the 60-plus years since he broke out as Motown’s teen prodigy: love, empathy, altruism, patience, appreciation, redemption, and perseverance. The song features words of hope from a man who was instrumental in making Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday a national holiday, as well as throwing his weight behind charities to fight AIDS, apartheid, and racism, among other causes. But on this tour, officially titled “Sing Your Song! As We Fix Our Nation’s Broken Heart,” he applies his messages broadly.

On Thursday, he never endorsed a specific presidential candidate (and hey, he didn’t need to). Instead, he asked the people in the crowd to look out for one another while playing hit after hit, infusing his messages in every enduring song. Wonder, whose voice remains in phenomenal shape, sang about rising above adversity (“Higher Ground,” “Living for the City”), putting yourself in the shoes of others (a gorgeous rendition of “Village Ghetto Land” accompanied only by strings), appreciating what you have (“You Are the Sunshine of My Life,” “Isn’t She Lovely”), and joy for the sake of joy (“Do I Do,” “Overjoyed.”) None of it was overly serious or didactic — though there are probably a few grumps out there who could stand to learn a thing or two about having fun from listening to “Sir Duke.”

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As the concert unwound after a somber start, a sort of freeform delight took over. Never one to stick to a standard set list, Wonder hints at songs in his intros and his band has to pay attention. The two dozen or so musicians backing up Wonder included horns, strings, backup vocalists, a traditional guitar-bass-drums pop ensemble, and percussion, all taking up roughly the amount of square footage onstage equivalent to $10,000 a month at Manhattan prices. And all of them had to perk their ears for cues like Wonder’s Tony Bennett impression before “For Once in My Life,” as he retold how he covered one of the crooner’s biggest hits or the way he “tuned” his keyboard to the tinny sounds of “Superstition.”

And then halfway through “Superstition,” they had to adapt quickly to Wonder’s heel-turn to Songs in the Key of Life’s “As.” Several of the backup singers, who’d joined Wonder at the front of the stage, just looked at each other, shrugged, and went back to their positions behind Wonder. They also had to go with the flow after he said goodnight but then scooted over to the piano for the real final song of the night, “Another Star.” Luckily, they were well-rehearsed and ready.

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Also well-rehearsed were the thousands of concertgoers who traded verses with Wonder throughout the night, lustily singing swaths of “Do I Do” and covers of “Chapel of Love” (dedicated to a friend who was getting married and, Wonder joked, paid him $100,000 for the song request) and “Just the Way You Are.” The crowd didn’t even mind when Wonder stopped that last song, by the Tristate Area’s Living Patron Saint Billy Joel, midway through to take it to the bridge. Instead it was a scene of bonhomie.

The only real speed bump in the set was when Wonder took a break about a third of the way through the set and his special guest, soul singer Sheléa, took over for three songs. She sang Aretha Franklin’s “Until You Come Back to Me (That’s What I’m Gonna Do),” which Wonder co-wrote, and a song of her own, “Something’s Coming” — and she sang them beautifully, with brio, never losing the audience (some people even shouted her name). Still, something about the tradeoff felt like seeing an opening act in the middle of the set. And after some duets, when Wonder’s caprice guided him to add “All I Do” to the set, she didn’t know what to do and asked if she should leave. He asked her to bring him a drink and played her off with a little bit of Rufus’ “Tell Me Something Good.”

Largely, though, the concert was a triumph, a celebration of humanity in its purest, most optimistic state. With a consequential election mere weeks away, Wonder obviously timed the tour to remind people of the values we hold — the positive capability inside every once of us — as we cast the die and our votes. The concert was a welcome reminder of the things that keep us together instead of tearing us apart.

And it was inspiring, too. Hearing Wonder question how we as a society could end homelessness before “Village Ghetto Land” was incredibly moving, as was the glee with which he proclaimed, “It feels good to do good” during “Another Star” at the end of the night. Even his rendition of the Impressions’ “It’s All Right,” and its message that “It’s all right to have a good time,” felt moderately profound in the context of everything else he spoke about.

“You know what? It’s all right to love one another, come together as a united people of these United States, it’s really all right,” he said. “I’m telling you, politics, all that bullshit — but it’s really all right. … I ain’t scurred. Get beyond what has happened by confronting it for what it was. Fix it, and move forward, and build on it. … You can’t talk about God and then talk about killing somebody. It just don’t work. You’ve got to come together for the good of all. I believe in you — I believe in all of you.”

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In the beginning of the night, he told the audience, “When you leave here, do your part in fixing our nation’s broken heart.” Now it comes down to figuring out the best way to do so effectively. As Wonder knows, what helps is a good soundtrack.

Set list:
“Can We Fix Our Nation’s Broken Heart”
“As If You Read My Mind”
“Master Blaster (Jammin’)”
“Higher Ground”
“You Are the Sunshine of My Life”
“For Once in My Life”
“Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I’m Yours)”
“My Cherie Amour”
“Chapel of Love”
“Overjoyed”
“Until You Come Back to Me (That’s What I’m Gonna Do)” (Sheléa solo)
“Somethings Coming” (Sheléa solo)
“Contusion”
“It’s All Right” (with Sheléa)
“Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing” (with Sheléa)
“All I Do”
“Village Ghetto Land”
“Living for the City”
“Sir Duke”
“I Wish”
“Isn’t She Lovely”
“Just the Way You Are”
“Send One Your Love”
“Do I Do”
“I Just Called to Say I Love You”
“Superstition”
“As”
“Another Star”