We’re a little past the midway point for the NFL season, and both area teams are winning below expectations. For the Giants, we hoped for a playoff nod, and for the Jets, we looked for a pulse. For now, neither looks promising.
Alas, our hopes can now be shifted to the hardwood. What are the Nets and Knicks gonna do with the rock? With all due respect to the team on Atlantic Avenue, most folks only care about how one team will fare. Knicks fans have been vested in the emotional roller coaster of the team and are waiting with bated breath for that big payoff that hadn’t been seen in town since 1973. It’s that area of real estate between 33rd and 31st streets and Seventh and Eighth avenues known as Madison Square Garden.
When things are right, you’ll be hard pressed to find a venue as electric. Ask anybody who was in the place to see John Starks take the baseline and soar to the basket with two points as the objective. Feint remnants of the eruption after he cocked back his left hand and rocked the rim over Horace Grant and “His Airness,” Michael Jordan, can still be heard two decades later. Fans of the Big East basketball tournament, the New York Rangers and boxing all have similar stories and shared memories of what it’s like to have a moment at the Garden.
As a concert venue, it’s an unstated fact that acts take it up a notch when they touch that stage. For the next two days, a certified legend and one of the greatest entertainers of his generation make their bids to add to the lore of roof-raising performances hosted in the Garden’s hallowed walls. It all begins tonight, Nov. 6 at 8 p.m. with the great Stevie Wonder.
For Wonder, this is the first date of an 11-city tour, his first U.S. concert tour in five years. What makes these dates unique will be the concept. Wonder joins a growing list of veteran musicians who have built tours around beloved classic albums, including the Who, Pink Floyd and, most recently, Nas. At least the question of what songs will be omitted from the set list will not come into question. This is for the hardcore fan of not only the musician but for a particular piece of work. The album slated for this special series will be “Songs in the Key of Life.”
It’s rare when an artist can be 18 albums into his career and release what is arguably his creative apex, but that’s exactly where Wonder found himself when this album was released Sept. 28, 1976. That’s a big statement, as his previous three recordings were “Talking Book,” “Innervisions” and “Fulfillingness’ First Finale.” With “Songs in the Key of Life,” Wonder upped the ante when he won four out of seven nominations at the Grammys, taking home top honors in Album of the Year, Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, Best Male R&B Vocal Performance and Producer of the Year.
As years passed, the accolades continued, as the album was ranked No. 57 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. It was entered into the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress, deeming it “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.” For common folk though, it still serves as a go-to recording.
If you have a long drive and the radio isn’t doing it for you or you aren’t feeling the stack of new CDs that litter your passenger seat, you pop that in and within minutes there’s “As,” “Knocks Me Off My Feet” or “Love’s in Need of Love Today.” Said Wonder, “It’s not going to be exactly like the album, but it will work perfectly well for how it feels best live.”
The show is slated to start at 8 p.m. and a few tickets are still available. Check Ticketmaster.com or the Garden box office.
Tomorrow night, Nov. 7, perhaps the best overall performer in contemporary music, Usher, takes his shot. “With ‘The UR Experience,’ I want to give my fans an ever-changing live show full of surprises and special guests,” Usher said via a news release. “I am really excited to be with my fans and give them an Usher experience like they’ve never seen or heard before.”
Big words to state, but with the talent and industry friends to back it, the Garden is poised to get rocked.
I’m out. Holla next week. Til then, enjoy the nightlife.