"What's your favorite Stevie Wonder's song? " "Oh, the thing is broke!" "not sure if I know this one" "you should totally listen to that song, it's a masterpiece!"
As a sound engineer my self I feel horrible about the technical glitch but I feel so thankful that Steve decided to turn an unexpected situation into a memory that we are all going to remember and appreciate it. This man is not just and incredible musician but a great person and that is why we love him!!!.
Professional performers-whether you’re getting paid $500 or $5M-ACT professional when on stage. A HUGE part of that means establishing reliable lines of communication with the stage production and sound engineering crew BEFORE you’re scheduled to perform. Especially if it’s not your regular gigging or touring crew. Ideally, you want this communication established as far ahead of time as possible. If you’re not needed on stage for soundcheck, you should be spending time with the stage and audio crew while they are checking the for everyone else. This is done both as a personal, respectful courtesy but also as a professional, preemptive investigation. You need to be asking the crew about any sort of weirdness that might occur during a performance and what sort of venue “quirks” should concern you most and which ones should concern you the least. This is all goes DOUBLY true if if you’re a group’s front-person, or solo performer with a backing band, and you’re not touring or gigging with your personal stage and sound crew. Because the unfortunate truth is, no matter how experienced and dedicated the performer, stage/sound crew are; no matter how many times every piece of gear has been checked and re-checked; no matter how new and state-of-the-art the gear being used is, eventually SOMETHING WILL NOT WORK RIGHT. At best, one or two small things go weird for a relatively short stretch before being resolved and the audience is largely unaware. At worst, things go wrong. Whether it’s a few big things going wrong simultaneously or a “domino effect” of too many small things going wrong, the problem cannot be hidden from audience view nor quickly remedied. Weird stuff is usually only noticeable to the performer(s), stage, and sound crew. If everyone is aware of its likelihood before showtime, and informed how to resolve it on-stage themselves, or how quickly the crew can resolve it, then all the performer(s) have to do is hold their shit together, and buy time for the sound crew to fix the glitch and continue on. In the event something goes wrong in a way none of the performer(s), stage, and sound crew could have predicted, and despite their collective due-diligence during set-up and sound-checks earlier that day, then it is 100% incumbent upon the performer(s) to remain calm and entertain the audience however they can until the problem is resolved or it is determined that the problem cannot be resolved. If the problem cannot be fixed within a timeframe workable to continue the performance, it is still 100% on the performer(s) to communicate this to the audience in a polite, gregarious, respectful manner. Even if what went wrong is genuinely the fault of a venue’s lackadaisical, careless stage and/or sound crew, the last interaction the crowd has that night will be with the performer(s) they paid to see. Most folks are willing-however begrudgingly-to accept a canceled show, provided their favorite performer puts on a “happy face” (however angry they might be-rightfully-feeling) and patiently explains that unforeseen and unfortunate technical difficulties can’t be resolved in time to continue the show. Nobody in the audience knows who’s behind the boards or techs the gear. The audience only knows and cares about the performer(s). It is from their on-stage attitude and behavior that the crowd’s energy and memory is shaped. As Stevie Wonder so effortlessly demonstrates in this video, if the on-stage behavior of the featured performer(s) is calm, collected, and chill, 9/10 the crowd will respond in kind. Even when the performer is making up a song entirely on-the-fly about one of their primary instrument malfunctioning and catching fire. Whether it’s 50 people in your hometown or 50K in a stadium on the other side of the world, when people pay for entry into a venue specifically to watch and listen to you perform, they do so because they love you and what you have created. Maybe they’re working several extra days that month because that’s what was needed to shift their schedule around in the way they needed in order to be free the night you perform. Maybe they took on extra credit card debt for plane tickets and festival passes. Maybe they had to work 1000% harder in school than they ever thought possible to bring their grades up enough so a family member would gift them tickets to your nearest tour date. Maybe they’re in a lonely, hurting place in life and happened to be in the bar/venue you’re playing one night and hearing even a truncated version of your set gave them a fleeting moment good enough that it helped them to feel a little less hurt and loneliness. “Another show” for a performer might be “the ONLY show” for a substantial amount of your audience. Regardless of how technical difficulties arise, how serious they are, or who’s at fault, a professional performer-regardless of fame or financial status-performs for a paying audience any which way they can until the issues are resolved or deemed irresolvable. At which point, you apologize, thank them for coming, exit the stage, and wait until there’s no one left in the venue but you, your group, and the venue’s stage and sound crew. Each side then selects two of its members to chain lock all venue exits. When both members return from, and have affirmatively attested to all exits being chain locked, then both groups-stage/sound crew and performers-elect a single champion to represent their respective group in Trial By Combat wherein the elected champions engage in a fight to the death. After one champion has slain the other, the fallen champion’s body must be immediately offered as ritualistic sacrificial offering to the Gods of Ones and Twos, lest all others present-stage/sound crew and performers-be cursed to forever roam an earth where every loud sound is heard as but the faintest whisper and every soft sound thunderously resonates as if it were the most explosive cacophony.
The moment the thing didn't play, he had a song title, theme and chord progression made in less than a minute and merely improvised on the fly. The band just got on the program. Superb artists. Tension released elegantly. Gentleman knows how to entertain.
In case you were wondering how they knew what he was playing, the band joins in because he's using the chords to an old standard called You've Changed which is a very well known ballad.
Given the title of that standard, it made the improv all the more appropriate, eg you've not just changed, but you done broke. eg improv on the title too.
I had the pleasure of playing with Stevie in Raleigh, North Carolina many years ago with my band The Pride of the Ghetto. On the plane ride I even got to hear the album Innnervisions before it was released. Good times they were. While we were waiting backstage to go on he said "Hey trumpet man take me to the center stage behind the curtains. (Guess he could tell who I was by my footsteps) He then said, into the mike, I can see you but you can't see me and then put his head through the middle of the curtains to roaring laughter. Funny guy he is. Thanks for the great times Stevie. Wishing we could reconnect 50 years later...
Amazing story! Thanks for sharing. What were you’re first impressions of Innervisions? And was this after Stevie was in a coma ? Please share if you’d like ! :)
Jesse Mendez were you guys from the west side of Harlem and did you have a vocalist named JJ in your band in the 70’s if so I remember seeing you guys perform in the 70’s when I was a teenager..
@@esplanade92 Actually it was right after he was in a car accident and was fully recovered by the time of the concert in Raleigh, NC. He did one incredible thing on the first day of rehearsal. Seemed his keyboard was sent to the wrong plane so he had his crew get 2 similar keyboards and he made one keyboard out of the 2 and tuned it. Amazing feat for a blind guy. He seemed in great spirits. As far as the album it was awesome and still one of my favorites.
Good grief. Just how much talent does this man have? Totally unphased he produces a song on the spot and the audience end up going home with an even better night than they expected. Hats off to Stevie.
@Ryandal Gilmore No, they were not getting paid to follow a song that was literally improvised on the stop, and Stevie didn't needed the band to follow him, he could've done a solo performance. It takes gigantic balls and skills to decide to accompany a legend of this stature in this context. One wrong chord and you lose your job on the spot.
Part of the reason you're a professional musician (and I'm talking about the band here) is that you're able to roll with it. You are excellent at following along, as the band did. The drummer would just have to provide a steady beat -- the more challenging bit would be for the bass and keys to be ready to follow wherever Stevie was going. Well done.
@@talexb Alex, as a musician myself I agree with you. These guys (or gals too, I didn't see the players) are working pros or most likely they wouldn't be up there playing a gig with Stevie Wonder to begin with. Maybe some of them have been working with him for awhile, but even if not, they know his style, and surely they have good ears and can make some safe guesses where he might be going, and all fall into a groove together. So maybe it's a little simpler for the drummer in this case but he has to think on his toes too.
its not hard if you are musician and a song writer. it comes naturally. everywhere you go and everything you see becomes a song and lyrics in your head. sure it would be hard for your average person, but its really nothing to a musician. its just a everyday thing.
It’s unfortunate that it wasn’t working but in a way, the audience got to see Steve as not just a performer but a human that has a great sense of humour and patience. Love him 🥰
As a person who listens to heavy metal and the like, I still have the utmost respect for musicians with this much talent. My respect to Mr. Stevie Wonder.
It really is brilliant and genius...and every other person on that stage knew that Stevie could pull them through the tech glitch. The band goes with it ( "Just follow Stevie. He knows what he's doing.") And then there's the part you might not notice: Stevie does the visual gag. He's blind, but he knows that others can see, so he taps at the broken keyboard to show us it isn't working. I mean it's one thing to be a musical genius, but he's doing physical comedy for sighted people at the same time.
I was thinking the same! It's a royal pain in the upper hand and wrists to play while standing up (with the hands 90º to the arm, like Stevie just did)... and he pulled it all along with the improv and that amazing smile!
If that had indeed been his shining night, if his career had depended on it, he would have ended up exactly where he is today. Legendary musical greatness. Genius. We often throw around the term genius too casually. Stevie Wonder reminds me how rare it actually is.
Stevie is of course a one-of-a-kind, but he is also a musician who has been playing a long long time. Even Weekend Warriors like me have encountered all sorts of technical difficulties on gigs. You might be surprised at the clever ways musicians of all levels have come up with to make lemonade from lemons.
@@gregguarino563 agree, no question about stevie wonders abilities, but chord progressions and lyrical fluenty come with experience (and of course talent too). Whole songs get written in 30 minutes and less sometimes.
As a musician myself, that improv is really quite easy to do, take a song you already have, and just modify the lyrics with a few rhyming words, very easy.
Ladies and Gentlemen, this is talent beyond measure. That song in that form is better than 60% of the nonsense out here now in music. Kudos to you Stevie for serving in music well.
The sound technician can breathe easy. To a certain extent, he gave us all a gift. We really got to enjoy Stevie's raw talent. He is so piercingly and undeniably brilliant.
Reminded me the story of Keith Jarrett arriving in Köln and not getting the right piano. Didn't want to play. Finally convinced, went on to produce one of the greatest piano improvisation ever.
Superb lyric writing on the spot. However, Stevie is playing chord progressions, that are 'standard' type of changes that most jazz musicians would know how to follow.Still, a great job!
This is more than professionalism, this is the work of a true genius. To expect this of professional musicians who have earned to call themselves that through years of practice and experience would be ludicrous. This man is just in a league of his own
wow listen how he played that acoustic piano gracefully with high speed and accuracy.. and how he made the problem into beautiful song.. Stevie Wonder is real Legend.
He just hasn't focused on being that kind of artist. Every now and then he'll do a song or two with this kind of acoustic flavor (Be Sure You're Sure, Secret Life of Plants, etc.) but they're never the cuts that got radio busy. He obviously has the skills to be that kind of artist but he's never approached (TMK) his music making as a "high art", which I imagine would then be marketed as something not for the "general public", which is probably why he doesn't do it. There are a couple of videos on YT where sits in with Chick Corea (playing Chick's "Spain"), just for fun, but it shows that he has appreciations outside his normal genre.
I got to see him live in concert probably something like 10 years ago now, my dad, brother and I were super far from the stage but it was incredible. Not only is he obviously crazy talented, he’s crazy charismatic live
Randomly found this on my homepage. This is so cool. I don’t listen to this guy very often, but watching this shows me he’s a cool dude who’s got a talent that is worthy of praise of all kinds.
Very good at making the best out of a bad situation. Thats what you do as a professional as the show must go on... He is so funny and animated. I met him at the Guitar Center in Hollywood a few years ago. He's a big kid....
Sometimes, you hear a brilliant singer-musician, and people say, she/he could sing the names out of a telephone directory and still make it sound beautiful... THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT STEVIE DID! Genius!
Dear Americans Please stop grabbing the first word that comes to mind and pretending it means what you want it to mean. #exactly #SaveTheEnglishLanguage
He's such a class act. he could have been upset, and rightly so because they should have done a check before. But instead, he decided to make it fun. Very classy Mr. Wonder!
I never thought this could be turned into such a funny moment. I'd never heard him on an acoustic piano before but he was impressive, especially standing up like this.
God bless acoustical instruments in general! And God bless the genius of so many great musicians of any variety on this beautiful planet. Have a great day, fellow comment reader!
I’d love to meet a person who doesn’t love Stevie Wonder. They literally have to be the rarest form of creature. It’d be an honour. Edit: Subbed in like for love
I saw Rival Sons and their guitar rig broke. The jam that followed from the "working kit" was absolutely amazing. Musicians being musicians is a spark that people will hold on to when they get to see it.
As a pianist i kinda wonder how have i been ignoring wonder for a life. That's such a classy performance beneath the laughs. Such a musically-intriguing and joyful performance, gonna dive deep into his career now
Then you've lived through times that the next generations will never get to see. A darn shame, if you ask me. Then again ... each generation will find their own Wonder. Wether it's a pianist or a youtuber. Geniuses are born every day. What bothers me : You can't appreciate the good, when you haven't seen the bad. I was brought up with a tough hand, which made me respect my elders. I never got to be rich on my bank account, but it made me rich in my values. Nowadays: They all got their iPhones and flat screen tv's, but I wonder if that's gonna bring a fulfilling life ?
I would like to believe that when you have this much natural and cultivated talent these types of situations provide one with a way of immediately, easily, and calmly tapping into that wealth as the Show Must Go On is ever present in your mind.
I wasn't gonna click this video but Im glad I did. This genuinely brought a smile to my face lol! Stevie's been a riot since he started. Boogie on Stevie, innervisions!!!
Any other musician (including me( would be out of his mind yelling and screaming at the sound guy. Not him. He takes an odd and make it into a GENIUS move. The amount of talent inside this man is off the charts in every possible way. What a lesson....
My Dad met him on a fishing pier one day back on the early 90's he took a picture with my cousins and uncles and Dad he still has that picture in the house Stevie is such a down to earth soul.
