The concert was titled after his venerated 1976 album, Songs in the Key of Life. But Thursday's Stevie Wonder concert at Verizon Arena could easily have been themed "The Soundtrack of Our Lives ... and Then Some."
Speaking of life, people from all walks of it packed the area 7,856 strong to hear Wonder sing the songs many of them grew up with, grew old with, and never forgot.
Escorted onstage by a backup singer, Wonder made his appearance at about 8:18 p.m., outfitted in a black suit complete with glittery, unconstructed black jacket, and aviator sunglasses. The audience greeted him with a standing ovation. "I wasn't born in Little Rock [as the lyrics indicate in his hit "I Was Made to Love Her], but I truly have love for your state," he told the appreciative crowd. "I'm very happy to be here."
Wonder's tenor voice was clear and dexterous as ever. In addition to six backup singers, his performance was supported by a prolific band featuring Arkansas musicians ... 10 violinists; and, on a couple of selections, a 10-member choir.
The performance took on several personalities as dictated by the various old hits, some of which bore extended endings. Peppered throughout were selections from the backup singers — a couple of whom did duos with the musical legend — as well as Wonder's considerable skill with the harmonica.
He started off the evening singing "Love's in Need of Love Today," scatting and ad-libbing through the song's ending. He then got with his singers to deliver a short and sweet "Have a Talk with God;" delved into "Village Ghetto Land," with its ironic classical sound; then segued into the frenetic "Contusion." The strains of "Sir Duke" got the audience cheering and back on its feet.
Other inevitable highlights included the memories-laden "I Wish"; "Knocks Me Off My Feet"; "Pastime Paradise," "Isn't She Lovely" (complete with the baby gurgling noises); "Black Man" (complete with a soundtrack of the chanted black-history questions and answers at the end), and a pure-ear-candy performance that included two harmonicas and a saxophone. Wonder also impressed with his weaving of the American national anthem with "Lift Every Voice and Sing," considered to be the Black American National Anthem.