How Long Is Stevie Wonder Concert?
Stevie Wonder is undoubtedly one of the most cherished and revered artists in the annals of popular music. This man has been singing for more than 60 years, and he has created such an impressive list of timeless songs that are cherished by many and copied by many more. Live performances are common with Wonder, and he has shown he is a versatile artist, a singer, a songwriter, a musician, and even a performer. To this date, at the age of 71, he performs tours and concerts for his fans across the globe. Well, the question that may be at the back of every fan’s mind is: just how long is a Stevie Wonder concert going to be?
Stevie Wonder’s concerts usually last for 120 minutes, with a 15-20-minute break in between. However, Wonder is famous for going beyond the scheduled time and can take, on average, two and a half to three hours on stage every night. He does not follow scripts or a planned set of songs for his concerts but rather observes the audience, and based on their reaction, his extensive library of hits decides the path that he will take for the particular concert. This, coupled with the fact that Wonder aims to give his audience their best, keeps the concert going even past the expected time.
When Wonder got older, some people had questions about whether their concert would be shorter to accommodate him. But the legendary artist has not shown any signs of retiring in his old age, as everyone would expect. In recent concerts marking 40 years of his Songs in the Key of Life record, Wonder entertained fans for three hours non-stop, singing nearly 30 songs a night. In some festivals where artists are restricted on their time, he has been found to overrun his set time by 20–30 minutes just to satisfy himself and the audience. Yes, he does take a seat during certain segments of the broadcast nowadays to save his energy. But once he is seated behind the array of keyboards with his harmonica around his neck, Wonder goes on to perform the hit songs one after the other.
One of the ways in which Stevie Wonder’s concerts are able to run for a long time is through the use of what he terms ‘diversions,’ which he performs in the middle of his songs. There are no two similar Stevie Wonder concerts because of his freestyle attitude towards his shows. A good number of Wonder’s Billboard chart-toppers are songs with several parts; the singer often improvises a keyboard solo or guitar riff for several minutes before going back to the song’s main melody. Such diversions enable him to explore his jazz orientation in terms of music and create opportunities for the band members to demonstrate their solos as well. From cool bass solos to concerto-like calls and answers between Wonder and his harmonica, the audience is given loose ends and unexpected twists that make the show lively.
The only way to reliably tell the exact number of minutes that a Stevie Wonder concert will take is by observing the legitimacy of the current set of concerts by the musician. But the audience can be sure that a two-hour show is only the starting point of a night spent with one of the giants of the live music industry. Between the sheer volume of his success, his virtuosic abilities as a musician, and his enthusiasm for seeing the world as an opportunity to make music with people, Stevie Wonder does all he can to deliver the utmost bang for the buck. Most shows will run for more than three hours since he has proven to be excellent at this, except in cases where festivals or venues with strict curtailment times have to make him cut short his performance. But even then, one or two encores are practically mandatory, especially when the crowd is really into it. Whenever Stevie Wonder performs, his goal is to give a musical message to each and every person in the room. And after more than fifty years of doing just that, Wonder demonstrates no inclination to pander to anything other than his artistic freedom when it comes to concert time. Get ready for a long, fulfilling trip.
