“Awwwwight!” drawls Stevie Wonder, arms flung wide, grinning like a teenager trying on cockney charm for the first time. “Chillllllll!” he teases, milking the British banter for all it’s worth – and with that, the Hyde Park crowd is his. What follows is jubilant and generous. He shares the stage with London’s own phenomenal Ezra Collective and a demi-choir supergroup of backing singers made up of his daughters – Aisha, Sophia and Zaiah – plus Jada Spight, Janice Watts and Zuri Harris.
Bedazzled in a jacket glittering with the faces of Marvin Gaye and John Lennon (yes, that fabulous), Stevie is led onto the Great Oak Stage and launches into a rousing – if technically troubled – version of Lennon’s Imagine. The mic, clearly unready for transcendence, cuts in and out. Ever the consummate professional, Stevie isn’t fazed. With an easy shrug, he shifts gears straight into Master Blaster, followed by a funk-fuelled Higher Ground that gets the field shaking their funky groove things.
Stevie Wonder @ BST Hyde Park 2025
The setlist is surprising and unpredictable, even with the expectation of classics from the Wonder songbook. From nowhere, we’re treated to a sweet, twangy rendition of 1930s crooner Jimmie Davis’ You Are My Sunshine, which melts delightfully into the full-bodied groove of Sunshine of Your Love.
Not one to take himself too seriously, Stevie checks in with the audience, flashing that familiar smile: “Y’all gooood?” (We are.) Then – as if things aren’t already glittering enough – out strolls the UK’s own Corinne Bailey Rae for a honey-rich cover of Sly & the Family Stone’s Everybody Is A Star.
Wonder reinvigorates his catalogue, rolling through hit after hit: Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours, Don’t You Worry ’Bout A Thing and My Cherie Amour – songs far too often annihilated by wedding bands – now reclaimed with their original power. Stevie admits to wanting to bring back an In Square Circle era song to “do over”, which he does to great success with the help of KJ McNeill, whose vocals on Stranger On The Shore of Love melt into Stevie’s with silky richness.
Things take a jazzier turn with a rowdy, freewheeling keyboard odyssey courtesy of Eddie Harris (not to be confused with the long-passed saxophonist). Then Jada Spight – bringing an almost alarming level of American enthusiasm – along with Janice Watts and Zuri Harris, gives Stevie a well-deserved breather as they perform classics from Anita Baker and Aretha Franklin.
In one of the night’s most playful turns, Zuri joins Stevie at the piano – teasing, joking, and stealing hearts with shimmering soul vocals. Cue a scat call-and-response with the crowd – pure Stevie fun – before he settles alone at the piano for a moving rendition of Always.
I Just Called To Say I Love You is interrupted by the gremlin microphone, but Stevie, ever the showman, restarts with grace – and then lets Hyde Park carry the chorus. It’s a full-throated, sun-drenched moment of shared joy: couples sing to each other, mothers sing to children, friends sing! I’m alone, but I sing to the woman working at the coffee van – she sings back. The tempo rises again with a storming version of Living For The City (the crowd, by now, acting like a gospel choir on Red Bull), which spills into the full-tilt party mode of Sir Duke. Everyone is dancing: The crowd. The security team. The litter pickers.
And just when it seems things might settle, the bassline to I Wish drops. I hear a gig-goer say to their friend, “Aw, this is from Wild Wild West!” Will Smith has a lot more to answer for than that – slap!
Stevie’s family are celebrated along with him; Isn’t She Lovely features a harmonica solo so pristine it slices through the song’s potential for saccharine. His son Mandla Morris shows his range on a cover of Keith John’s I Can Only Be Me, followed comically by a dad lecture about social media disconnection. “Get your heads up,” Stevie urges, with another mic stumble for good measure. Happy Birthday becomes a perfectly timed opportunity to honour his daughter, whose birthday it is.
The inevitable encore of Superstition loses nothing for being held back. The sheer force of keys, fat horns and full-throated vocals blows everybody’s hair back. As and Another Star are a bonus to a music-loaded evening, which leaves the crowd filled with joy and optimism.
Stevie Wonder @ BST Hyde Park 2025
Live review of Stevie Wonder @ BST Hyde Park 2025 by Sarah Sievers on 12th July 2025. Photography from Isha Shah, Bethan Miller-Carey & Chloe Hashemi.
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