Sunday, July 6, 2008

WE WITNESSED GREATNESS: STEVIE WONDER CONCERT RECAP

In our lives, it is always full of chaos. Full of moments of stress, work, and constant struggle. A lot of times, people just get so caught up in all of the madness that they forget to live and appreciate what life has to offer. They forget the simplicity of life. The happiness and appreciation for being in this world. Taking the time out to enjoy life. Spending it with your loved ones and good friends. Doing things you'd never dream of doing. Appreciating the little subtleties in life such as good company, music and history. Well Saturday night, two friends who appreciate music witnessed greatness and were caught up in his rich history. Me and MACTINO have always been the greatest Stevie Wonder fans out there. So during the spring when we were planning our summer, we both contemplated the idea of going to a bunch of concerts of artists we appreciated. This was our first stop, and to be quite honest it will be hard to top this. This pretty much is our recap of this concert. We didn't buy front row seats. We were in the depths of the lawn area of the Amphitheatre, but as fans of music and history, just being in the building listening to him was good enough. This was a video diary of the entire day.

It all started in the car. I made a playlist of his greatest hits and me and the MAC decided to sing one of his classics. Horribly, but we didn't care...



Who tailgates at a concert? We do!!! We had chips, beer, an iPod and floor mats to sit on. That's all we needed.



Ever since fellow NATION member Brandon told us about how delicious Coronas are with Bacardi Limon, a certain NCV member has yet to stop saying "LIMON." I'm surprised I didn't hit him.



This is us finally getting to our spot on the lawn. A little buzzed but ready to witness greatness!



The Greatest Of All Time Comes Out!



He starts of with a couple of newer tracks, but it was still music to our ears, but as the sun sets and nightfall hits, he brings out the heat from his collection...
(We apologize for the bad singing by us, but as fans you just don't care sometimes)

1. ISN'T SHE LOVELY: Song made about the birth of Stevie's daughter Aiesha (who is a backup singer). It makes it more special with her sitting next to him as he belts it!



2. RIBBON IN THE SKY: Such a beautiful slow jam. Before singing this he made jokes about how many people have made love to his songs? And that he wanted some sort of monetary gift in return. But no amount of money can top how beautiful this song is.



3. OVERJOYED: Shanezoola's favorite song. Not Stevie Wonder song. Favorite song ever! Do you know how exhilirating it is to hear your favorite song sung by your favorite artist LIVE? I just couldn't help but sing along.



4. MY CHERIE AMOUR: Probably one of the highlights of the evening as Stevie wanted the crowd to sing the first verse. Me and Tino just couldn't help ourselves.



5. UPTIGHT (EVERYTHING'S ALRIGHT): A song that just simplifies life. Just a happy tune.



6. I JUST CALLED TO SAY I LOVE YOU: Music nowadays have become so complex that artists forget to just simpify matters and make things a little more complicating for the average fan. Now take this song, it is just a simple ballad about your feelings about a girl. Now take an extraordinary artist to sing it and it equals= Brilliance!



Those were just the ones we got on video, we could not forget DO I DO, HIGHER GROUND, THAT GIRL, SIR DUKE and SUPERSTITION. But when he played Superstition in the end, we just can't help stand up and take it all in.

Overall, it is safe for us to say that Stevie Wonder (to us) is the greatest musician of all time. I know that's probably a BOLD statement, but it is strictly how we feel. Imagine a person making such brilliant music and doing it with one less sense than all others? Its not only a story of perserverance, but he continues to produce hit after hit, one equally or even better than another. You know at most concerts, they always end the night with their most popular track and most well known track? Well for Stevie's case, we were debating probably fifteen songs on that list. Many more probably unaccounted for.

Like stated above, sometimes in life we have to appreciate the little things in life. This was one of them. At the end of the day, it turned out to be a pretty good day. I got to go to a concert with my best friend. Witnessed greatness and history, and shared some unbelievable tunes and constant laughs. We're not saying our next concert (Hall and Oates) is going to be better, but as long as there is a consistent trend, everything's going to be alright.