Stevie Wonder Announces 50th-Anniversary Tour for ‘Songs in the Key of Life’

Stevie Wonder will mark the 50th anniversary of Songs in the Key of Life with a world tour this fall, performing the 1976 double LP in its entirety at each date. The commitment is notable for an album that runs close to 90 minutes across 17 tracks — and for an artist who nearly left music before making it.

The tour opens Oct. 13 in Birmingham, England, moves through Europe, and wraps its U.K./European leg Nov. 11 in Glasgow. A U.S. run begins Nov. 19 at Madison Square Garden in New York, then includes Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Detroit, before closing Dec. 19 at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles.

Songs in the Key of Life arrived Sept. 28, 1976, after Wonder signed a new Motown contract that gave him creative control. It reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200, earned Diamond certification, and won Album of the Year at the Grammys. The tour draws on an album built around songs including “I Wish,” “Sir Duke,” “Isn’t She Lovely,” and “Pastime Paradise.” Whether the four additional tracks from the companion EP A Something’s Extra will be part of the set has not been confirmed.

Tickets for most U.S. dates go on sale Sept. 10 at 10 a.m.; Detroit tickets follow Sept. 15 at 10 a.m. local time.