Stevie Wonder gets political at Edgefield

The Oregonian's review of Stevie Wonder's show at the Edgefield:

Wonder came out on stage with his daughter, Aisha Morris, and spoke to the crowd. "First of all, I want to say I love everyone," he began, before talking about the impetus behind his new tour, his first of the United States in more than a decade: the death of his mother. It's a sign, as well, of Wonder's generosity of spirit that the passing of a loved one could bring him back to, not anger or resentment, but spreading his own enduring joy and love.

All of which is not to say -- not for a moment! -- that he's lost the progressive awareness that's led him to be such a voice for social change over the years. "Living for the City," for example, holds up eerily well as a reminder of the plight of the urban poor. And on the anti-hate "Visions," he sang some new lyrics: "I can't believe in 2007 we're still doing the same thing... Louisiana. You know what I'm talking about."

Still, Wonder summed himself up best at the end of his show, when he stood and addressed the audience again. "You were born with a free spirit... We all are born free and forgiven," he said. How we live depends on our own individual choices. The heart that pumps our blood has an equally important task: to spread love. Then he got explicitly political: Next year when you make your decision and vote, he said, choose someone who will make us "a united people of these United States."

Bush has the Right Brothers, we've got Stevie. And as goes Stevie, so goes the nation.

[Hat tip to the Mercury for the Steve Wonder drum solo. Incredible.]