Stevie Wonder closes Glastonbury

Music legend Stevie Wonder brought the Glastonbury music festival to a close.

The US star, 60, was the final headliner on the Pyramid stage and thrilled the crowds with many of his greatest hits including Superstition, Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours, plus a cover of Human Nature, as a tribute to Michael Jackson.

The Motown favourite also celebrated the event's 40th anniversary. He was joined by festival organiser Michael Eavis for his last song Happy Birthday.

This year revellers went for bikinis and bare chests instead of the traditional raincoats and wellies. It is the first time the four-day event has been completely dry since 2002.

As well as Wonder, the show on Mr Eavis's dairy farm in Pilton, Somerset, also saw appearances from Shakira, Muse, Radiohead and Snoop Dogg. The Scissor Sisters were joined by special guest Kylie, who had to pull out of Glasto in 2005 when she was battling breast cancer.

Festival-goers were also able to see England's humiliating World Cup defeat. Around 80,000 supporters watched the action on two giant screens which were specially erected.

Stevie Wonder: Fans get no ticket and no refund

Consumers face Hyde Park concert disappointment to Stevie Wonder.

Consumers who have bought tickets for Stevie Wonder's Hyde Park concert on Saturday night through online ticket agency Hydeparkconcerts.com have been left with no tickets and no refund from the company.
Sent to one customer in an email, Hydeparkconcerts.com suggested putting in a claim to the lady's bank as the company was unable to refund the monies paid. The email read: 'Unfortunately we have been let down by our suppliers for your tickets and are unable to supply them. Because we no longer use the merchant service provider that charged you we are unable to issue a refund back to the card that was used to book.
'Please contact your card issuer and instruct them to perform a chargeback for goods not received. If you paid by credit card then your booking will be insured under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. If you paid by debit card then Visa scheme rules will allow you to retrieve the funds.'

Stevie Wonder Plays the Classics -- and Talks Politics

Stevie Wonder promised the Bonnaroo crowd "some song-travelin" Saturday night and that's exactly what they got. The legendary R&B singer's two-hour set offered a trip through four Wonder-full decades (the '90s were conspicuously skipped) with the occasional detour for politics.

"Let's keep it real," said Wonder as the 13-piece backing band played the opening notes of "Living for the City," his seminal 1973 narrative on race relations. "We can never let no one ever get us back to a place like this again. Never. No Tea Party -- I don't care. You want to be a supremacist? Then be the supreme of getting people together."

He also had some advice for anyone confronted with racist talk. "You say, 'Hey what's that smell? It smells like some bullshit!' Are we in agreement?" A resounding roar from the crowd meant the answer was "yes," though hearing the affable star swear may have helped tip the scale.

Wonder's performance was, for the most part, a constant string of feel-good moments. He initially walked onto the stage soloing on a keytar -- a signifier of the supreme funkiness to come. He dug out a trio of '80s hits to get the party started, hollering, "Saxophone!" halfway through "As If You Read My Mind," and summoning an era-appropriate solo.

Then Little Stevie came out -- voice high and bright -- as he revisited 1966 via "Uptight (Everything's Alright)" and "For Once in My Life." Each song was given a proper Motown finish, ending in stuttering big-band fanfare and, of course, harmonica for the latter.

He and the band stretched out over classics like "Higher Ground," "Sir Duke," "Superstition," and "My Cherie Amor" while tens of thousands sang along. For "Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing," Wonder split up vocal duties between the men and the women, recreating the song's trademark Latin melody. Later, he led the crowd through a series of increasingly difficult notes.

"You sounded kind of good," he said with a laugh. That was generous.

Armed with a talk box, Wonder eventually made a well-received returned to the groove, first covering Parliament's "Give Up the Funk," then playing a funked-up version of Whitfield and Strong's "I Heard It Through the Grapevine."

Wonder was spry at 60, and clearly in a good mood as he stepped up onto the piano bench to sing his upbeat 1982 hit "Do I Do." He also played the consummate bandleader, more than once commanding his players to switch key mid-song.

Hot at Bonnaroo Stevie Wonder

Stevie Wonder and Jay-Z endured sweltering temperatures to wow crowds Bonnaroo festival at the year.
Hip hop star and the soul legend headlined during the four day US festival, where over 75,000 music lovers sweated it out on a 700 acre farm in Manchester, Tennessee.
Introducing Stevie, US TV host and comic Conan O'Brien shouted to the crowd: "All the mud, all the rain, all the heat -- it's all worth it."

Stevis Wonder: Usher wants another duet with Stevie Wonder

At the year's Glastonbury Festival Usher hasn't ruled out pulling on his wellies and joining his old pal Stevie Wonder .
After performing the group became friends Higher Ground at President Barack Obama's inauguration, and now the younger star has tipped his hero to be the must see act on the pyramid stage at this month's festival.
'I don't think there's an audience that Stevie can't win over with his voice,' Usher told Sky News.
'If he can't then maybe there's something wrong with their ears! I wish him well at the show.'
Glastonbury headliners are well known for bringing on particular guests, and Usher says he'd jump at the chance of playing down on Worthy Farm even if the mud might spoil his designer clothes.
'Eventually I'll play anywhere, as long as you've got a stage and a microphone I'll do it,' he smiles.
Usher has just performed on Britain's Got Talent to promote his 6th album Raymond V Raymond, which contains his number one single OMG.
Despite some current quotes which suggested he wasn't a fan of TV reality shows, he says the stars of last week's final deserve their shot at fame, however fleeting.
'Everybody has their view of talent,' says Usher.
'I think everybody deserves a moment in the sun and this is obviously a show that's actually worked and is very popular.
'We've left the time where the star has kind of been preserved. I have no issue with it, I've seen very odd things, some of it is hilarious, some of it is intended for comedy and some of it is intended for a true career being built.'

Stevie Wonder announces one-off Manchester show and ticket details

Stevie Wonder has announced details of a one-off Manchester show. Playing the M.E.N Arena on June 29, the soul legend is also set to headline London's Hard Rock Calling festival on June 26 and Glastonbury's Pyramid Stage on June 27. Tickets for the show go on sale this Friday (April 23) at 9am (BST).

Stevie Wonder Tickets are available online on GigSport.

US veterans dominate summer festivals in year of the reunion

If dad rock reigned at last summer's pop festivals, 2010 looks set to be the year of the reunion. While Neil Young, 63, and Bruce Springsteen, 60, held court at Glastonbury last year, this year's festival season promises many bands who seemed unlikely to ever tour again.

In the vanguard are the Libertines, tortured love child of the infamously troubled Pete Doherty and his often exasperated co-frontman Carl Barat. A plethora of US rock bands, including Pearl Jam and Blink 182, are either reforming or returning from a break, for summer gigs. The latest incarnation of Guns N' Roses are also playing headline slots.

Detroit rapper Eminem, who has not played in the UK since 2003, will headline Scotland's T in the Park on a Saturday night in July, while, soul legend Stevie Wonder will close the 40th Glastonbury, playing his first ever UK festival.

Some critics argue that the number of reformed groups set to perform this summer could have a negative effect on the UK music industry. Artists such as Florence and the Machine, who had a hugely successful 2009, will feature on many stages this summer but will not headline at the biggest festivals, although Florence Welch and her band will top the bill on the first day of family-friendly Latitude.

"Reunions definitely seem to be a theme running through this summer's gigs and festivals," said James Foley, editor of music industry newsletter Record of the Day. "There seems to be an over-reliance by promoters on large US acts, particularly acts that have been on hiatus or that are reforming. Potentially that could be damaging for UK bands who are not getting the chance to see if they can step up to the mark."

For Neil Greenway, founder of efestivals.co.uk, it is the festivalgoers who will ultimately lose out. "There is a real dearth of new, exciting music out there this year," he said. "For the last five-eight years we've seen lots of the same bands on repeat, and there is a danger of overexposure for reformed bands. If it carries on like this I think people will just get fed up of going to see the same bands."

There is also a very American and male slant to this year's lineups, with only Kasabian and Muse flying the Union flag at the top of the festival bills, said Paul Stokes, associate editor of the NME. "These things are cyclical – British bands will come back. But it's true that a lot of bands from the first half of this century, contemporaries of Arctic Monkeys, didn't become the headliners they promised to be. I think the British bands that we have coming through now, like Foals and Mumford and Sons, could change that."

That many of the reformed acts do not have a album to promote is a sign of the times, he added. "It just demonstrates how lucrative live performances are now, in comparison to recorded music. It would have been very rare in the past to headline a festival in a different territory if you didn't have an album to sell."

The accusation that British bands are not getting a run for their money is denied by the svengali of festival promotion, Melvin Benn, who as managing director of Festival Republic is running Reading and Leeds, Latitude, Glastonbury and – for the first time this year – the Big Chill.

"I don't think that accusation can be levied at promoters," he said. "When the bands are there to step up, we want it, believe me." Benn pointed out that Arcade Fire, though Canadian rather than British, were topping the bill at Reading and Leeds, and Tennessee's finest, Paramore, who are relative newcomers to the UK scene, would also enjoy a slot high up on the bill.

"If the only bands getting to headline were [established or reformed acts] then, yes, that would be a concern but up-and-coming acts are being elevated at the same time," he added.

What will provide the story of the season, or this summer's "Blur moment" – they reformed to rapturous adulation at Glastonbury last year – remains to be seen. The Libertines' fleeting reunion – there are no plans yet for a more permanent rapprochement – may provide rich pickings.

Other highlights may include a sensitively programmed lineup at Latitude and the 40th anniversary Glastonbury.

"You really can't go wrong with headliners like U2, Muse and Stevie Wonder," said Foley. "I can't imagine any other festival in the world being able to command that type of lineup." Who might provide the stand-out moment of 2010? "My money is on Stevie Wonder at his 60th birthday at Hyde Park."

Stevie Wonder to headline London's Hard Rock Calling festival - ticket details

Stevie Wonder has been confirmed as the final headliner at London's Hard Rock Calling festival.
The soul legend plays the event on Saturday June 26. Jamiroquai, James Morrison and Corinne Bailey Rae have all been confirmed for the same day.
As previously announced Pearl Jam will headline the opening night (June 25) of the Hyde Park event, while Paul McCartney tops the bill on Sunday June 27.
Stevie Wonder Tickets go on sale at 9am (GMT) on Friday (March 26).

France calls to say it loves Stevie Wonder

Stevie Wonder has been granted one of France's top cultural honours, the Commander of Arts and Letters award.
The soul legend was given the award by French culture minister Fr�d�ric Mitterrand, and he dedicated it to his mother. "I receive this honour in memory of my mother and in memory of all of those who have made it possible for me to stand here today."
Wonder, said Mitterrand, was "music's familiar genius". Riffing on a Wonder song, he added: "As citizen, administrator and culture minister, I just called to say we love you."
Wonder, 59, whose mother died in 2006, said: "As I was listening to what you were saying, I had a flash in my memory, the memory of 1964, when I came to Paris, France, for the first time. I came with my mother."
Wonder's political activism is well known. He supported Barack Obama in his 2008 presidential campaign and played at his inauguration in the Capitol.
At the Paris ceremony, he did not waste the opportunity to cite France's universal health insurance and Obama's efforts to extend health coverage to millions of uninsured Americans.

Celebrate Motown's 50th; Jacksons' reality show debut to Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin

Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, the Temptations and others will be in Detroit later this month to celebrate Motown's 50th anniversary.
Event the two night will be held Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 20-21, and will benefit the Motown Historical Museum, located in the company's original Hitsville U.S.A. headquarters in Detroit's midtown section, according to Billboard.
Among the planned festivities are tributes to Michael Jackson, the Four Tops' Levi Stubbs, Motown founder Berry Gordy Jr., and the label's "First Five" -- Smokey Robinson, Brian Holland, Robert Bateman, Janie Bradford and Raynoma Singleton.
Members of the Contours and Miracles, among others, will sign autographs, and the Temptations and Franklin will headline a black-tie gala at the GM Renaissance Center hosted by actor-comedian Sinbad.
Also, Fox will air a Motown tribute during halftime of the Detroit Lions-Green Bay Packers game on Thanksgiving Day. It'll feature a medley of classic hits performed by current Motown acts including KEM, Melanie Fiona and Shontelle. The medley will be available for download on the NFL Web site, with proceeds going to the United Way.