It’s not often Lytham Festival starts it summer run with a legend, but with Southern American rockers Kings of Leon out due to an injury, Motown phenomenon Stevie Wonder opens the week with his refined mix of funk, RnB and soul.
With capacity at now 25,000, up from 20,000 just a couple of years ago, the organisers do not anticipate the surge in crowds and it takes over half an hour just to get into the arena. Wonder’s set has to be pushed back – but no one’s spirits have been dampened. After all, it isn’t raining…
Wonder walks onto the stage hand in hand with his son and daughter, and takes a moment to address world events, which is welcomed from the crowd with whooping and hollering.
He starts his set with Love’s in Need of Love Today – an interesting choice, in keeping with his previous speech, but it doesn’t exactly get the audience going. The opening song also doesn’t have the right audio mix, the bass is too prominent and guitars are drowned out. It has to be acknowledged though, that the sound engineers have multiple percussionists, keyboardists and backing vocalists to deal with. At a minimum there were 14 performers on stage!
By the third song, Master Blaster (Jammin’), the mix is now at a sweet spot and the recognisable guitar lick is greeted with a roar – now people are dancing and continue to bop as Wonder races though his hits – Higher Ground, You Are the Sunshine of My Life and Signed, Sealed, Delivered to name but a few. He also brings on support act Corinne Bailey Rae to help him cover Sly & the Family Stone’s Everybody is a Star in tribute to Sly Stone who passed away back in June.
For a man of 74, Wonder has still got it. His vocals remain strong and distinct, perhaps a bit breathy in certain parts and he understandably takes a break half way his set and lets the backing vocalists shine. But when he belts out the high notes, you realise why he has been performing for over 60 years. His patter in between songs isn’t up to scratch, often waffling, but his ability to goof around on stage and get the crowd to sing along, especially to a cover of the Beatles Love Me Do, shows why he belongs and remains in front of thousands of people.
Wonder winds down his set with a few touching moments, bringing on another son, Mandla Morris to help sing I Can Only Be Me which hadn’t been performed since 1987. He also gets the crowd to sing along to I Just Called To Say I Love You with just himself and a piano.
Closing with favourite Superstition and another Sly cover, Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin), the crowd have been treated to 2 hour and 20 minutes of non-stop hits from a man who switches between two keyboards and a harmonica whilst appreciating not only his love for music, but his ability to still be performing for everyone. Wonder certainly sets the bar high for the rest of the week’s acts.
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