Although many of Stevie’s recent gigs have been full of his lesser-known material, combined with jazz free-styling, he pulled out the classic hits for his Yas Arena show on Friday night. Arriving by strolling on stage tapping away on a keytar (pictured) to the tune ‘My Eyes Don’t Cry No More’, he launched into a two-hour set that contained all his best known songs: ‘Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I’m Yours’, ‘Superstition’, ‘For Once in my Life’ and ‘Living for the City’ to name just a few.
Despite turning 60 last year, he’s still a consummate showman, as proven when during one song when he picked up his keytar and writhed around on the floor like a slightly rotund Chuck Berry. Also, during the encore, he left his grand piano/ keyboard centre stage set up and sat down behind a drum kit to show off his mastery of the instrument with some Keith Moon-esque skills.
Stevie, who as a United Nations peace ambassador is renowned for his humanitarian work, also devoted his show to the disaster-ravaged people of Japan, and dedicated his performance of his song ‘Visions’ to world peace. But overall, he proved that he is one of the most naturally gifted performers alive who has a true knack at working a large audience. And by the time he finished the encore with an extended version of ‘Another Star’, the main disappointment among the thousands strong Yas Arena crowd was that the gig had to end.
See Time Out‘s Stevie Wonder pictures here.
