Stevie Wonder: Europe and US tour to celebrate 50 years of “Songs In The Key Of Life”

Stevie Wonder will celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of one of his masterpieces, "Songs In The Key Of Life", with a special tour across Europe and the United States. The American musician will perform his landmark 1976 album in full over the course of 18 shows, scheduled between October and December 2026.

The tour, titled "Songs in the Key of Life Performances – 50th Anniversary Tour", will kick off on October 13 at Birmingham's Utilita Arena and will take in France, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Germany and the Netherlands, before dates in Dublin and a return to the UK. The European leg will wrap up on November 11 in Glasgow, while from November 19 the tour will continue in the United States, with shows in New York, Chicago, Washington, Detroit and Los Angeles.

Released in September 1976, "Songs In The Key Of Life" is one of the most celebrated works of Wonder's career and one of the defining albums of 1970s soul music. Originally released as a double album accompanied by the four-track EP "A Something's Extra", it includes classics such as "Sir Duke", "I Wish", "Isn't She Lovely", "As" and "Love's In Need Of Love Today". The record earned Wonder his third Grammy for Album of the Year and was later inducted into the Library of Congress's National Recording Registry.
The album contains 21 songs of sweeping, timeless beauty, in which the demiurge Wonder skillfully blended different sounds and moods to create a masterpiece that transcends genre and race: from a baby's cry evoking the joys of fatherhood, to joyous tributes to his childhood idols, to anger and dismay at the condition of Black America. Wonder brings together all his musical and cultural influences (gospel, jazz, doo-wop, soul, funk, pop) and transforms them, modernizing them and making them accessible to future generations. Every musical current, strand and style of black music of the past thirty years traces its roots back to this record. From the radio-friendly, chart-topping pop of Michael Jackson to the tormented r'n'b of Mary J. Blige, from the party-starting hip-hop of Will Smith to the gangsta sound of Coolio, everyone owes a debt of honor to this extraordinary work.

Wonder had already performed "Songs In The Key Of Life" live in full before: after a first performance in 2013 during the traditional House Full of Toys benefit concert in Los Angeles, in 2014 and 2015 he had dedicated an entire North American tour to the album. Fifty years after its release, the musician will now return to performing it start to finish in a new series of celebratory shows.

The European dates

13 ottobre – Birmingham, Utilita Arena
15 ottobre – Parigi, Accor Arena
18 ottobre – Copenaghen, Royal Arena
20 ottobre – Oslo, Unity Arena
22 ottobre – Stoccolma, 3Arena
24 ottobre – Hannover, ZAG-Arena
26 ottobre – Colonia, Lanxess Arena
28 ottobre – Amsterdam, Ziggo Dome
1 novembre – Dublino, 3Arena
3 novembre – Londra, The O2
8 novembre – Manchester, Co-op Live
11 novembre – Glasgow, OVO Hydro

The US dates

November 19 – New York, Madison Square Garden
November 21 – Chicago, United Center
November 23 – Washington D.C., Capital One Arena
December 8 – Detroit, Fox Theatre
December 9 – Detroit, Fox Theatre
December 19 – Los Angeles, Intuit Dome

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