Saw him for the first time two years ago at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto in the fall of 2007, an amazing show, classic after classic after classic sung by the man who made them famous. Since I was a teenager, I've always had huge love for the old blues and r & b acts from the 50's and 60's and I saw as many of them as I could live. The thing was, though, that when you saw these guys live you were never sure what kind of show you were going to get. Typically they'd either be amazing, real road veterans who knew how to put on a great concert, or they'd be seriously showing their age. Now Stevie ain't quite that old, and his music is a lot more contemporary-sounding than say Sly Stone or Otis Redding (two huge favourites of mine), but he's not exactly a pup either AND he doesn't tour very much, which is why it took me 20 years to see the man and why I was a tiny bit concerned about the show. But from the first note he sung, well, it sounds dumb to say it, but he sounded exactly like Stevie Wonder! His voice is incredibly well-preserved, and not only that, but with every song you could hear the overwhelming influence he's had on so many singers who've followed him. So That Voice plus his huge catalogue of stone cold classic hits added up to one of the best r & b shows I've ever seen.
And tonight's show in Montreal, post Michael Jackson, has the potential to be a once-in-a-lifetime concert. At his Toronto show two years ago, he spoke very eloquently about his recently deceased mother and people were in tears then. So if he cooks up some tribute to Michael - his Motown contemporary, another childhood star like him - tonight, that place is gonna be a giant puddle by the time he's done.
So if you're in Montreal, what the hell are doing reading this? Go! GO NOW!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment