Saw Stevie and his band tonight at the Obama Fundraiser. I cannot get over how great his voice still sounds! Played for about 45 minutes...

Jennifer Hudson, Obi-Wan Bon Jovie, Earth Wind and Fire, and Katy Perry also performed.... And our president was there as well. Pretty cool evening of music!

By the way, Stevie played his usual Hohner Clavinet D6, Motif XS8, Grand Piano, and a new instrument called a Harpejii. It had a cool touch surface and sounded like a cross between a guitar and a harp. Stevie played it for the first time live and, of course... played it masterfully.

I think that is no the first time Stevie played for Obama. Either Obama loves Stevie, or Stevie loves Obama

While being careful not to dip a toe into the political tarpit, I will say that Obama has excellent taste in music!

Who doesn't love Stevie.

...Wonder is one of the remaining performers I'd like to see that I haven't yet seen.

Perhaps someday.

It's definitely on my "bucket list". I just hope he keeps playing and touring long enough to make it happen. Seriously, I hope he outlives me, because it will be a sad day when he's gone.

This was the third time I saw Stevie live in the past six years. My wonderful wife (who is a bigger fan than I), scored two tickets for a special live concert at The House Of Blues in L.A. about six years ago. There were only about 700 people in the packed club and he put on an amazing show that lasted over 2 hours. Talk about musicianship!

We then saw him at The Hollywood Bowl a few years back. A less intense concert' probably because of the huge venue (I am not a fan of the Bowl as it is just too large). Plus after seeing him up close at the HOB it was such a let down.

To be honest, I was not expecting too much yesterday as it was in another large venue with over 7000 people there... But it turned out to be an incredible performance. I was especially struck by the quality of his voice. God bless him.

I hope he's working on some new material as well. I enjoy his "A Time 2 Love" CD. It sounded like he was returning to the lively funkiness of some of his '70s material, but with the timeless melodies that have made him so legendary, and of course modern production tricks. (But no Autotune! )

I was at NAMM 3 or 4 years ago and early on a Sunday morning Stevie showed up at the new Rhodes booth. I was standing in the area where the Hammond organs were so I made a beeline over there and grabbed a chair before a crowd of people gathered to hear him.

So I got to sit very close ( behind him) and listen to him play the new Rhodes. He spent quite a bit of time there and seemed to be enjoying the instrument immensely. Every once in a while he would stop and make a favorable comment and he was touching the instrument a lot, to feel its construction.

I haven't seen that much from the new Rhodes in the real world but I was glad I got to hear Stevie play it.... the only "concert" I have ever witnessed from him.

Wow! Great story.

Stevie, along with Lennon, McCartney, Joel, and John are the pop composer geniuses of our time. (IMHO)...

(Damn! Three dots again! Have to stop doing that ... Damn! Did it again!)

He performed a new song last night on the Harpejii... Beautiful song.

When I lived in Las Vegas, I understood there was a Mom & Pop music store that Stevie would secretly pop in on when he was in town. They would then lock the doors and just let Stevie have the store to himself while the staff enjoyed. Some guys have all the luck!


Agreed. I just hope they don't wait until he's gone to acknowledge this.

Depends on whether he's actually singing the melody or in full on melismasturbation for me.... (I do it too Dave....)

Two things:

1) Stevie is the man.

2) It's amazing how good that video sounded considering it was recorded on a phone (I assume probably an iPhone) and that it was a "rock" concert in a 7100 seat venue. FOH systems have come a long way in just the past 10 years, not to mention 50 years.

Yeah, his vocal stylings can be polarizing for a lot of people. IMO he does it because he can, and to remind his legions of imitators who they're imitating.

I can't imagine anyone doubting his legend status as a songwriter, though. Or even as a keyboardist. "Superstition" and "Higher Ground" are textbook tutorials on how to play the Clavinet, IMO. (And it's cool that he's returned to a real Clavinet recently . ) "Boogie On Reggae Woman" IMO has the coolest synth bass I 've ever heard on a pop song. I could go on for days...Ooops...

OT - It's kind of cool for me that I'm spending my 1,000th post discussing one of the artists who originally got me interested in playing keyboards and synths in the first place!

Saw him last summer in the Secial Olympics ceremony with his group and he was fantastic. 25 meters from where I was no less! He had a grand and two keyboardists (a man and a lady) playin the exact same setup-there were Motifs involved if I'm not mistaken and some other keyboards. He also had a real clavinet. A blast!

Yeah, I'd like to see him live too. Too bad he isn't performing in this part of the world.

In the meantime I'm enjoying his "Live at Last" DVD (bluray actually). Awesome concert.

Yeah,

I still can't play superstition. I saw him at Taste of Chicago a few years back. Probably 50,000 people in Grant Park SRO terrific dude...
M

Yeah, I almost wonder if he just does it because people expect it of him at this point, sort of like stars of legendary sitcoms are asked to to "the voice" years after the show is off the air. But if you go back to his classic period in the 70s, there was little to none of that. Even up through his last album in the mid-2000s, that stuff is rare (with quite a few exceptions in his 80's work). But I guess as long as stadiums of thousands of people respond to it, he'll continue to do it at his live shows. I'm the biggest Stevie fan I know, but it does make me cringe at times. With that said, the range of his voice, considering the miles he's put on it, is astounding. It was astounding back then, and he's still doing all his stuff in the same keys as the originals, some 40 years later!

Stevie's voice has lost nothing over the years. Hear him nail the Db's in full voice at 2 33 on this clip.

Jeez...

I have never seen him NOT play a real Clavinet...

He has been using Motifs exclusively for many years now... He plays a XS8 and his second keyboardist played an XF.

And B3er... The PA sounded amazing!

And Kanker... Seems like you use four dots... Not three.

Well, four denotes the trailing that happens at the end of a sentence. Three is used to connect thoughts...more or less....

LOL -- looks like you just made up a new grammatical rule there...

Not really

http://homeworktips.about.com/od/mlastyle/a/Using-The-Ellipsis.htm

K, I won't argue but let's just say there's a misinterpretation (and it would be hijacking so I'll end here)...

In the late '90s he released a live CD set called "Natural Wonder". This was pre-Motif when he was playing Kurzweil, presumably the K2500. There was a recording of Superstition that used what was clearly a synthetic clav. I suppose that was the best sim available to him at the time (or at least the sim he liked best), but that might also explain why he returned to playing the real thing. He's one of few keyboardists who are proficient enough on Clavinet that nothing else will do!

I also bet that he prefers the action of the Clav for Clav playing... For those who have played the real thing, there is a huge difference.

Yeah, once you've played a real Clav, there's just no comparison. The action is everything.