Stevie Wonder called London to say he loves us last night – and the feeling is mutual

It was a very, very warm night in July, and music legend Stevie Wonder dropped by BST Hyde Park last night to tell 65,000 people he loved them. 

Well we certainly loved him back.

At 75 years old, the music icon has not lost a single bit of his vocal power. He can still nail the high notes, still deliver his most famous lyrics with charm and charisma, but all the while even after six-decades of singing his voice sounds amazing.

But then again he has sold over 100,000,000 records, so why do I sound surprised.

On what would turn out to be the final gig of British Summer Time – after Jeff Lynne pulled out tonight – Stevie put on a show that had us boogying long into the night and at times felt like it could quite easily have been a headline set on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury.

Somewhere he was rumoured to be this year – but it never quite came through.

Speaking of surprise guests, Stevie wasn’t the only music legend in Hyde Park last night as I spotted Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood watching on from a music tower. As they say, game recognises game, just as much as icons recognise icons.

Stevie actually contributed to the Stones last album in 2023, but it just shows how irresistible the charm to see Stevie live in person really is.

Making his return to Hyde Park for the first time since 2019, Stevie was brought on stage in the blistering sun by his daughter and son, who would both join him again throughout the night, completing the family affair feel of the evening.

The crowd of mums, dads, grandmas, and grandads, dads and their daughters, boyfriends and girlfriends, all just showed how eclectic Stevie’s music is, and how we all can’t get enough of it.

Wearing a white jacket with the faces of John Lennon and Marvin Gaye, he welcomed Hyde Park with his very own funny, fake English-accented ‘hello’.

He told the crowd just how much he loved playing in London and made what felt like a poignant message to everyone there, thanking the forefathers of technology for creating what allows blind people to see.

He said ‘every single person who is blind should be able to see in their own way’ and told anyone who didn’t agree with him, ‘if you don’t believe me, let’s meet in the dark and let’s see what happens.’

With the sun still beaming down and the third heatwave of the summer coming to an end, Stevie started the last night of his Love, Light and Song UK tour with Love’s In Need of Love Today, followed by an emotional tribute to John Lennon’s Imagine – maybe the one cover we didn’t see coming.

After soloing on the harmonica, Wonder launched into Master Blaster (Jammin’) and Higher Ground, before You Are My Sunshine got the crowd swooning.

Another of his big-hitters got the crowd jigging and jiving in the park, as he got the men to sing one half, and the women in the audience the other half, of the chorus to Signed, Sealed, Delivered.

The crowd (myself included) allowed themselves to get wrapped up in the emotion of the evening, with some of us worried that these might be some of Stevie’s final shows.

There was a family in front of me, and the dad (who looked like he was in his 70s) was recording almost every blink of the show on his phone.

He was a sweet-looking man, but it was the point where his son started to poke fun at him about recording too much, his wife then stepped in and basically told him to enjoy it and not on his phone.

I think that was the feeling, that again these are the nights that we should enjoy, London in the sun, singing to Stevie Wonder.

I’m not sure it gets any better than that, and we don’t know how many more times we will get to share these Stevie moments together.

His soul-filled setlist lit up the baking Hyde Park, and everyone sang along to ‘Isn’t She Lovely’ and swayed in the heat.

While a picturesque sunset lit up the sky, Stevie brought his daughter, Sophia, on stage, telling everyone it was her birthday today (July 13) and dedicated Happy Birthday to her.

Surely, having Stevie sing Happy Birthday to you must never get old, and even after all these years, having thousands of people sing it back to you must also still be the best thing in the world.

The real hip-swingers Stevie saved till last, as he closed the night, telling the crowd, ‘I know we’ve got to go, but we’re gonna keep this party going’ and so he did.

The mammoth three-hour set was closed with the funky riff that everyone knows, as he kicked off Superstition with whoops when the instantly recognisable doop, doop, doop hit the air.

This was truly the highlight of the evening for me, a song that I have sung and danced at wedding after wedding to, and now to hear it front and centre and watch a true musical genius blast it out loud felt like a privilege.

Before signing off himself, the living legend’s last comment before leaving the stage was: ‘I love you with my deepest heart and there’s nothing you can do about it.’

I think this was the point where we all had a little tear in our eyes

Stevie has an incredible back catalogue spanning generation after generation, but he’s not getting any younger, just like the rest of us, so how many more times will we get to see him perform like this?

I think I counted at least eight times Stevie shouted back to cries of ‘I love you’, and ‘I love you Stevie’. Each of these cries he clearly loved, and you could see he took them all in his stride.

He said before the show started how much he loved London, and attempt after attempt, he just couldn’t resist giving his British accent a whirl, which gave the crowd a giggle every time he did.

But more than anything, it just showed how much he truly loves playing in the capital and that it was the signed, sealed, delivered love letter to us all that he called in to let us know.

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