Stevie Wonder opened his 50th anniversary tour celebrating Songs in the Key of Life at Utilita Arena in Birmingham on what the Guardian describes as an opening night that "leaves jaws on the floor." The artist performed the double album in full, a longstanding ambition he addressed from his seat at a bank of keyboards.
Wonder previously fulfilled this goal a decade ago during North American arena dates in 2014 and 2015. The current tour takes its cue from those shows and adds Superstition as an encore.
The scale of the live production underscores Wonder's point about the challenge of staging the album. The stage features three percussionists, a string section, five brass players, six backing vocalists, two guitarists and three keyboard players. Wonder himself plays vintage and modern synthesisers, grand piano, upright tack piano and, on the track Ngiculela/Es Una Historia/I Am Singing, a harpejji, a stringed instrument that did not exist when the album was originally recorded.
The original 1976 album Sessions involved 108 musicians. The Guardian notes that eight people received credit for handclaps alone on the recording. The live arrangement represents a scaled-down version of that original production, though still a substantial ensemble operation.
The Guardian's reviewer highlights that the album's tracks carry "still-urgent messages" in the performance. Songs in the Key of Life stands as Wonder's most celebrated album, and the tour marks half a century since its release.