There was a time I was the most hated singer in Melbourne, if not all of Australia. It was June 1997 and I was about to begin 5 nights opening for Stevie Wonder with his band and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra at Crown Palladium. Everyone wanted that gig and there were not a few who thought (perhaps with some justification) that the gig should have been theirs. Be that as it may, it was mine and I was over the Moon. I was supporting all the big name acts Crown was bringing exclusively downunder as part of Lloyd Williams' vision for a Vegas style entertainment venue, not just a gambling den.
My band was Lisa Edwards - vocal, John McAll - piano, Chris Becker - Bass and Sean McLeod - Drums. They didn't hate me, in fact they thought I was the best singer in the World!
This was a rare gig as Stevie was playing to only around 3000 people, with 5 shows bringing the numbers up to about the 15,000 that would fill Rod Laver Arena for one night. For someone of his stature this is positively intimate.
We did a 45 minute "dinner set" and then had "access all areas pass" for the rest of the night.
I'd resolved to watch the first night and the last (in order to slide into the afterparty).
I had seen him at Festival Hall over 10 years earlier and he was masterful, promoting the "Hotter than July" album.
This time he hadn't released any new material, but had a greatest hits collection available.
He was singing better than ever and I remember thinking he should be recording again. He did just this, releasing "A time 2 Love" about 3 years later, in my humble opinion a modern day "Talking Book".
My plan to attend just 2 shows was blown away when a friend asked if I could get her in for the 2nd night. I did and was astonished that it was an almost totally different set. Amazingly Stevie was just calling tunes! He would say something to his right hand man, Bassist ??? Who would signal Stevie's band, then in turn inform Stevie's conductor (of the MSO) and charts would be flying all over the place!
I had several mates in the MSO and know they would've been very irate at this, but it was Stevie Wonder, what're you gonna do?!?
So I resolved to watch every show and, boy am I glad I did. They were all different. I even witnessed Stevie having a bad night! It was the 3rd night and he was having a problem with his in-ear monitor mix. No one else would've noticed but I'd watched him for 2 nights and am also very familiar with how a detail like this can affect your performance. It was a bit like watching Tiger Woods knock a ball into the trees - you think, ah Stevie's human too :)
His monitoring system led to another great moment.
Because he can't see his audience, he relies on shotgun mics spread across the stage pointing at the people to provide him with his live feedback (this was actually the source of the problem he had on night 3). On night 4 there was a young guy sitting at a table directly in front of one of the "crowd" mics.. Stevie finished a song and, pointing directly at the kid, said, "someone out there knows these songs better than me - come on up here". The kid got up and did a " fair" job of singing the next song WITH STEVIE WONDER - I wasn't jealous... ...much (more on that later). One very excited guy returned to his seat to rapturous applause.
Over the 5 nights I had the rare experience of seeing 5 different shows by one of the best. It was an education and a celebration. When "A time 2 love" eventually came out, it was exactly how I imagined his next album would be after hearing his soaring vocals and impassioned performances over these nights. The album was also the catalyst for getting me into Community, but that's probably a whole nether BLOG
Watch for Part 2 - Stevie with Farnham, Tina Arena and me... ...almost.