Three weeks in, what a day. Thanks to the USA soccer team for a great run. Bob Bradley - stop starting Ricardo Clark and Robbie Findley. Clark can't keep up with the game on the international level mentally and Findley stunts the offensive speed.
But enough about Soccer. This morning, Brandon and I woke up, got lunch at the refectory, packed ourselves dinner (sandwich and chips) and headed over to Hyde Park for the Hard Rock Calling festival.
Micki Free American Horse Trio. Free was a headliner in a few groups over his career and was really, really excellent. He was musical and worked the crowd really well as he's a funny guy with a unique personality. The American Horse Trio is his return to his Native American roots and he represented that side at the end with a dance performance from several tribes from his local Florida.
Micki is in the black vest and jeans. In the middle, Micki introduced a guest bass player who apparently decided to join the Trio at the last minute as a "wonderful surprise" for Micki. He warned he might pee himself in excitement and nervousness as he introduced Rolling Stones bass player, Bill Wyman. Wyman is 78 years old... and it shows. He can still play the bass pretty well, but he literally showed no emotion on stage at all. But kudos to the man who is almost as old as my grandparents and it was great to see a Rolling Stone or a "Rolling alone stone" as Free called him.
Next up was a vocally impressive but relatively generic female gospel duo called Mary Mary. Apparently they've won 3 grammys so this goes to show you that I know nothing about music awards.
Following the duo was Corinne Bailey Rae who I didn't know very well by name, but I instantly knew her songs when she started. Her voice is amazing - so pure, soothing and honest.
She sang songs from her brand new album as well as her famous hits like "Put Your Records On" and and "Like a Star".
She was followed by British and Internationally known artist James Morrison who, again, I didn't know by name but was really, really glad to hear. He played with really great passion and enthusiasm and seemed grateful for the opportunity. His voice sounded excellent and I'll definitely be looking up his stuff soon.
As Morrison played, we began to appreciate just how early we got to the main stage because we had really excellent spots, just a few rows from the front (though rows disintegrated as the night wore on) and in dead center. Around and behind us the crowds just kept getting bigger and bigger.
Morrison continued to wow the crowd and got repeated ovations as he sang and then left the stage. He was followed by Jamiroquai who I knew from their song "Deeper Underground" but not much else. Jamiroquai was phenomenal. Front man Jay Kay is beloved in London and for good reason. Their songs bring back funk to the 2000s and all of the 50,000 fans were grooving to their rhythms and Jay Kay's great voice. He came on stage wearing the biggest headdress I've ever seen and a big black robe that he shed later in the hot June day.
Their music was incredibly fun and easy to groove to and enjoy. Unfortunately, for some, this led to too much grooving. Next to where we were standing was the most awkward and handsy couple I've ever seen. They were both horrific dancers who just resorted to groping each other and running into everyone around them - myself included. Thankfully they moved elsewhere after Jamiroquai finished their set. At this point, the crowd got even larger.
After a fairly long delay to get all of Stevie's band's instruments on stage (Seriously... there were 4 drum kits, 6 keyboards and a grand piano), we finally saw the living legend come on stage. We heard him first, however, singing and playing the keytar.
He flashed his trademark smile and after a massive ovation from over 50,000, Stevie got down to business on the keyboards and later the grand piano (but only after playing the keytar while lying down and the night was gone to Wondermania.
He even broke out the harmonica for "Isn't She Lovely". Over the course of the night, he played all of my favorite numbers including "Isn't She Lovely", "Signed, Sealed Delivered", "Higher Ground", and "Superstition". As an unbelievable and unexpected bonus, Whitney Houston did a duet with Stevie on their number, "We Don't Know". It was a complete surprise to everyone in the audience but they sounded really, really good.
Wonder even wowed the crowd with "Fingertips" and sounded ageless.
By night's end, Wonder brought on the full band and serenaded the crowd with a birthday song before concluding the unforgettable evening. Brandon and I then made our way through the massive crowd and walked back to Regent's from Hyde Park, amazingly not getting lost on the way. Kudos to us for that.
Paul McCartney, Crosby Stills & Nash and Elvis Costello tomorrow... can't wait!
-Simon
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