Review: Stevie Wonder delivers fulfilling Minneapolis concert for his favorite candidate

Some of the biggest names in American music have hit the campaign trail days before the presidential election.

Bruce Springsteen grabbed his guitar and sang at a rally for the Democratic nominee in Atlanta. Beyoncé spoke and Willie Nelson warbled at a rally for the Democratic contender in Houston. On Sunday night at Target Center in Minneapolis, Stevie Wonder stumped for the candidate he’s been endorsing since the 1960s — love.

“Saying how much you love takes all the negative out of your life,” he urged before singing “I Just Called To Say I Love You.”

In Minneapolis, Wonder never endorsed anyone running for office. Well, actually, he made his White House preference known when he said, “I guess I’ll be drivin’ no Tesla” and “for our next president, I hope she says the nation should put art back in schools.”

And, at one point, he pointed out: “They’re taking rights from women and hiding the truth; we’re far better than that. Even a blind man can see that.”

Ushered onstage by his son Kailand and daughter Aisha (the one who inspired the song “Isn’t She Lovely”), the 25-time Grammy winner delivered more than two dozen songs, several stories and mini pep talks over 2½ hours as part of his get-out-the-vote trek dubbed the Sing Your Song! As We Fix Our Nation’s Broken Heart tour.

Announced on Sept. 19, the 11-city tour started three weeks later in Pittsburgh and ends Saturday in Chicago, after visits to such battleground states as Wisconsin, Georgia and North Carolina. Wonder declared the barnstorming “a call for joy over anger, kindness over recrimination, peace over war.”

On Sunday, the longtime activist — who has sung about AIDS and apartheid, among other causes, and advocated for a Martin Luther King holiday — told the assembled: “The future is in your hands. Please vote for bringing unity to this nation.”

He opened the concert with his new single, “Can We Fix Our Nation’s Broken Heart,” a well-intentioned if prosaic piece in the vibe of the 1985 charity sensation “We Are the World.”

“We’ve come together with purpose far bigger than you and me,” Wonder sang. “Don’t have no time for hatred and negativity, it’s you and me. We hold the key, so tell me please. Can we fix our nation’s broken heart?”

Then the 74-year-old Rock & Roll Hall of Famer took 12,000 concertgoers on a journey through his 62-year-old catalog, emphasizing ′60s and ′70s favorites plus a taste of deeper tracks like the jazzy “As If You Read My Mind.”

As he is wont to do in concert, he took liberties with vocal runs (his voice was still impressively elastic), melodies and arrangements, bringing a formidable brassiness to almost every selection. The songs resonated with more richness and vibrancy than his terrific recordings.

Wonder enjoyed having fans sing along, often letting their voices take over for his. However, when he was teaching lyrics to “I Just Called To Say I Love You,” he caught himself and announced, “I messed up my words.”

Making only his third Twin Cities headline appearance in 36 years (the last was in 2015), the Michigan native showed a sense of place, shouting out to our hometown hero before he even played a note (“I miss Prince so very much. I’m feeling his energy with me”), having his band perform Prince’s “1999″ and dedicating “Love’s in Need of Love Today” to “the [George] Floyd family.”

Wonder was backed by an ensemble that made the stage look more crowded than a made-for-TV political rally. He was supported by 12 string musicians, five brass players, three drummers, two guitarists, two keyboardists, six backup singers (including his daughter Aisha Morris) and longtime bassist Nate Watts.

The maestro took a break in the middle of the concert, turning the stage over to his singing pal Sheléa, who did a few numbers including “Until You Come Back to Me (That’s What I’m Gonna Do),” the 1973 smash that Wonder wrote for Aretha Franklin. Many concertgoers used Wonder’s exit as an opportunity to visit the restrooms and concession stands, but hopefully they returned to witness the jazz-funk fusion instrumental “Contusion” by Wonder’s superb band.

Wonder used the break to change outfits and rest his voice before visiting “Songs in the Key of Life,” his 1976 magnum opus that filled much of the concert’s second half.

“Village Ghetto Land,” a reflective ballad about hunger and poverty, was a nice change of texture featuring just Wonder’s voice and the string section. Then came the irresistible run of “Living for the City” with its drum-driven hard-funk groove, the joyous “Sir Duke” about the joy of music with its festive horn flourish and “I Wish” with its liquid bass line and extended jam.

Wonder ended with “Another Star,” with its surging Latin beat and the promise of a sparkling future. It was a fitting finale to a fulfilling evening of feel-good idealism — as hopeful as it was simplistic, as uplifting as it was exhausting, as necessary as it was nostalgic.