The two-hour set featured a rendition of Superstition with backing vocals provided by Donald Glover, Kelly Rowland and more.
A Celebration of life, love and music. The aforementioned served as the theme for a party held and set performed by Stevie Wonder at LA’s Peppermint Club on Wednesday evening in the run-up to the acclaimed soul musician’s 68th birthday.
Elaborating on the intended purpose of the occasion, Wonder said the following to those in attendance on the night,
“I want to give you a sense as to why I wanted you all to come. We’re living in a time where there’s so much is going on in the world, so much bullshit. But the one thing that we know for sure that we can celebrate is life, love and music. I’m very thankful that you all have been so wonderful to me, giving me your life and allowing me to share my music with you since I was 11 years old, which was just a little ago. So we’re just going to play and have fun.”
Over the course of two hours, Wonder ran through a string of hits from his discography including ‘Higher Ground’, ‘Master Blaster (Jammin’)’, ‘My Cherie Amour’, ‘I Wish’, ‘As’, ‘Living For The City’ and finally a rendition of ‘Superstition’ in which he summoned to the stage some recognisable faces in R&B singer and Destiny’s Child member Kelly Rowland and actor/musician Donald Glover.
Also among those present at the Beverly Hills club were Luke Wilson, Craig Robinson, Angela Bassett, T.I., Nick Cannon and Motown founder/head honcho Berry Gordy Jr.
Elsewhere in the evening, Stevie informally told guests of his intentions to tour nationally and release a new album entitled Through the Eyes of Wonder in the near future, though no specific dates were confirmed.
For Glover, who has been a cultural flashpoint in the days following his hosting duties on NBC’s Saturday Night Live and the unveiling of new music as Childish Gambino over the previous weekend, the highs didn’t end at an invitation to perform on-stage alongside one of the greats. Prior to their rendition of the Talking Book cut, Wonder called out, “This is America… Donald, I saw your last video. So I have this idea for my next project that I think would be great for us to collaborate on in terms of visuals. We’ll talk.”
The video in question refers to the accompanying visual for Glover’s new single ‘This Is America’ which has inspired an international conversation regarding its chilling examination of the gun violence epidemic in America. The music video is rife with symbolism throughout, touching base on terrorism, capitalist consumption, the country’s ignorance and/or coping mechanisms for violence and more whilst Glover dances and expresses gestures that internet users have likened to the mannerisms of the racist Jim Crow persona.
Revisit one of the biggest talking points in the world below.
Words by Sam Wilkinson.
Fruit and Grooves Collective 