Setlist of Stevie Wonder opening for the Stones in '72? Why did he open for them?

I imagine because he wanted to expand his audience somehow, but that's just a guess... I mean he was already such a big star by then (1972)... Or was it the STONES who wanted to expand theirs by taking him along?

So did Stevie feature several of his great new songs from "Talking Book"?

 

I was only in the 10th grade at the time of the 72 tour and didnt make it. The closest they played to me was Charlotte NC--I think the date was July 6, 1972. Anyway I also recall it was after this show Stevie was involved a bad car crash. Im not sure how many shows he missed due to this incident--anybody know?

 

Who wouldn't open for the Rolling Stones in 1972 if they were asked? No matter how established Stevie Wonder was, he was not as popular as the Rolling Stones. That's a win for any band.

 

Yeah, the Stones have been able to get openers who never would've opened for anyone else. Stevie probably thought it was a good way to get himself in front of a crowd who otherwise wouldn't listen to his music.

 

I know he missed a show in Dallas . . . I have a boot where Jagger apologizes for Wonder not showing, speculating that he must have "overslept."

 

1972 saw Stevie enter a new phase of his career, moving from his role as just another member of the Motown assembly line with hit singles and albums featuring the hits and filler, to LPs that conveyed concepts through quality tracks, front to back. That year, he recorded two albums with his own money and renegotiated a new contract with Motown giving him, for that label, unprecedented artistic control.
In this context, fresh off the release of Music Of My Mind (with Talking Book, featuring Superstition, ready to go), opening for the Stones offered him a unique platform to broaden his appeal.
(It worked!)

 

Saw them in Albuquerque, NM. in June of 1972. The acoustics were terrible, but Stevie was using the echo to harmonize with himself!

 

here's his set from early in the tour at winterland in s.f. on june 6 1972. at many but not all of the shows, stevie joined in on the stones' encore doing uptight > satisfaction with them. it was pretty interesting seeing jagger and stevie arm in arm jumping around the stage. i attended two shows on the tour. even though stevie was a star already he could easily expand his audience by doing a tour like this.

For Once In My Life
If You Really Love Me
Me & Mrs. Jones
Superwoman
Unknown ?
I Think I'm On The Right Track
I Was Made To Love Her
Feel It
Killing Me Softly
You Are The Sunshine Of My Life
Very Well
Blowing In The Wind
Mercy Mercy
Unknown ?
Signed Sealed & Delivered
Superstitious

 

No matter how big you are there is always a bigger fish. Cases in point - I saw both Soundgarden and Pearl Jam open for Neil Young even though both bands were riding a wave bigger than Neil's at the time. They were great but Neil smoked 'em both. Ditto The Pixies opening for U2 on the Zoo TV Tour. Stevie was big but the Stones are bigger...

 

They played Houston and Ft. Worth, but not Dallas on that tour, IIRC.

 

Holy cow. $6.50 for Stevie and The Stones...that's highway robbery.

 

How is that a "ditto"? U2 was one of the world's three biggest bands in 1992 and the Pixies were pretty much unknown beyond "indie" circles. The Pixies got a little more popular love when they reunited, but they were never a commercial success in the 1980s/90s...

 

For oodles of info on the `72 tour, check out:

http://stoneslib.homestead.com/files/tour72intro.html

As this clipping from Pittsburgh shows:

http://stoneslib6.homestead.com/files/pitt_pittsburghpress2.jpg

Wonder was merely considered 'a blind, black singer' at the time! Ouch!!

 

Ahh yes, I think the boot is called Ft. Worth Express or something like that.

 

Stevie was trying to cross-over from the Motown (which at the time was considered merely "pop" music) to the "serious" realm of the FM/Rolling Stone magazine Rock world. This tour really helped expand his audience to hipsters/progressive listeners who generally found most R&B , and especially Motown with its Copa/Ed Sullivan aspirations, to be somehat "corny" at that time

 

Little Stevie just wanted to watch Mick Taylor play every nite.

 

I saw Stevie and the Stones at RFK stadium in DC on this tour. I remember being a little surprised by Stevie opening, but my foggy memory tells me I enjoyed it - I think.

 

http://pittsburghconcerthistory.com/stories.html
another amusing anecdote about the Stones' Pittsburgh show in '72

 

FM-based rock and soul weren't always so far apart as they are today. Though I don't think Stevie was in particular need for expanding his horizons genre-wise, as he had been performing everything from jazz to commercial pop to stage standards, he was exploring rock more directly in 1972, most obviously with "Superstition" (originally written for Jeff Beck) but also the whole Talking Book LP, which seemed an early step (after Hot Buttered Soul and What's Going On) in the direction of album-oriented soul.

 

They shouldn't have let him drive.

 

I went to the Charlotte show in the old Coliseum. Both sets were outstanding.
Remember Stevie's ending with this whap-whap-whap-whap fire engine sound from the keyboard as he and the band left the stage. It was a very special evening.

 

The one tune I remember at Long Beach was Stevie singing My Cherie Amour though some wacky synthsized vocal effect. Crossover? Yeah I had tix for a couple years later but he cancelled. Another thing I remember was SW had a long strap down his back so the girl could grab him if he danced too close to the stage edge. There was no encore w/The Stones at our show, though.

$6.50? Yeah there was some squawk about prices. We'd camped for 2 days but they saved/reserved/sold most of the first 6 rows to VIPS so we had 8th row for $8.50. A night with Stevie Wonder and the Rolling Stones for the cost of a couple burgers. Those were the daze!

 

I also attended a show at MSG NY. Every seat, front row to last row was $6.50. I stashed a 3M 5" reel to reel recorder under my jacket. Great show, great tour. Must have listened to "Love in Vain" a thousand times just for Mick Taylor's solo. Stevie Wonder's set led me into an 8 year obsession with his 70's output.

 

No, it depends on what kind of music you liked more, R&B or rock. With some audiences, Stevie Wonder was more popular than the Rolling Stones.

By the time of "Talking Book", Stevie commanded the same status as the Stones with the rock audiences. Wonder got the same airplay on rock stations as the Stones.