Legendary musician Stevie Wonder celebrated the 50th anniversary of his cult album “Songs in The Key of Life” on Wednesday evening with a nearly three-hour Parisian show punctuated by the surprise arrival of Lenny Kravitz.
In front of an incandescent Accor Arena in Bercy, the two stars closed the concert with an XXL version of “Superstition”, one of Stevie Wonder’s countless hits who had not performed in the French capital for almost 20 years.
At the age of 76, the American pianist, composer and singer of genius, began a tour in Europe celebrating the half-century of “Songs in The Key of Life”, the double album which installed him in the Music Pantheon and contains some of his biggest hits (“Pastime Paradise”, “As”, “Another Star”, “Sir Duke”, “I Wish”…).
Surrounded by around thirty musicians, including a string section, and backing singers, Stevie Wonder revisited this opus which navigates between funk, soul, jazz-rock and pop and has inspired generations of artists.
“I’m trying to compete with (…) ‘Songs in The Key Of Life’, it seems musically blasphemous to say something like that but why not take that as a model?” declared rapper Kanye West in 2005.
On the Accor Arena stage, in a duo with a harpist or in the middle of his armada of brass and keyboards, Stevie Wonder showed that his voice had survived the ravages of time and allowed himself a little political outing before singing “Isn’t She Lovely”, composed after the birth of his daughter Aisha in 1975.
“We are going to celebrate the children of the world. This is why we would like to tell the leaders of different nations to stop their bullshit,” he said, adding: “I don’t need to name names, you know who I’m talking about.” “If they want to sit down and discuss how a nation should be run, let them talk to Stevie!” he then joked.
After Paris, Stevie Wonder will perform notably in Germany and the United Kingdom before dates in the United States from mid-November.
