Review: Stevie Wonder at BST Hyde Park
Following headline performances from Olivia Rodrigo, Zach Bryan, Noah Kahan, Sabrina Carpenter and Neil Young, it was the turn of legendary singer-songwriter Stevie Wonder to triumphantly close out a special year of BST Hyde Park. And man, did he sign, seal and deliver!
The word icon gets banded around a lot, but one musician that truly deserves that title is Stevie Wonder. After 60 years in the industry, the Motown legend has 10 No.1 hits in the US, sold over 100,000 million records and still has the gravitas and popularity to headline festivals across the globe.
Stevie Wonder brought his aptly named ‘Love, Light & Song’ tour to the UK, stopping off in London’s Hyde Park. The show tour was a celebration of the transformative power of music, as it helps bring people together in these divisive times.
Usually, when artists make their grand entrance on stage, they go straight into song to get the crowd engaged from the get-go. However, Stevie Wonder took a different approach and spoke to the crowd for a few minutes before the show.
It was incredible to see as the crowd were totally silent – it’s difficult to keep large crowds engaged and focused at the best of times, especially in Hyde Park – but this shows the respect and admiration that the 65,000 in attendance have for the singer.
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The show opened with ‘Love’s in Need of Love Today’ and ‘Imagine’ – his rendition of John Lennon’s classic was a beautiful moment as everybody in the crowd joined along with the chorus and Hyde Park sounded like a choir.
“Now that I’ve made my point, let’s get to the point,” declared Stevie Wonder as he launched into hits such as ‘Master Blaster (Jammin’)’, ‘Higher Ground’ and ‘You Are the Sunshine of My Life.’ There was instantly a different energy and it became a party atmosphere with the sun shining, people dancing and great music playing; this is truly what BST Hyde Park is all about.
The crowd’s energy was perfect and it was time for some of the big hits as Stevie launched into ‘Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours’, ‘Don’t You Worry ’bout a Thing’ and ‘My Cherie Amour.’
As Stevie Wonder went off stage to have a quick 15-minute break, backup singer KJ McNeill performed an incredible rendition of ‘Stranger on the Shore of Love’ – it was uncanny how much he sounded like a younger Stevie. There were also performances of Aretha Franklin’s ‘Until You Come Back to Me (That’s What I’m Gonna Do)’ by Janis Watts) and Anita Baker’s ‘Sweet Love’ by Zuri Harris.
Towards the end of the show, Stevie Wonder performed ‘I Just Called to Say I Love You,’ ‘Living for the City,’ ‘Sir Duke’ and ‘I Wish.’ There was never any doubt about this but just watching him perform back-to-back-to-back hits, it really puts into focus how many great songs he has produced over his 60-year career that stand the test of time.
“I can’t leave without playing this one,” said Stevie Wonder as he teased the crowd before performing ‘Superstition.’ At this point, Hyde Park pretty much turned into a disco with everyone dancing along to the all-time classic hit.
News had broken earlier in the day that Jeff Lynne’s ELO had to cancel BST Hyde Park due to medical reasons. Despite the disappointment of the final day being cancelled, BST proved once again why it is one of the best annual events in the UK and across the world as it brings the biggest artists in the world to London for huge shows in an iconic venue.
