Stevie Wonder Announces Songs In The Key Of Life Tour, Readies Outtakes For New Album

If you have the chance to go see Stevie Wonder, you have to go see Stevie Wonder. One night in 2013, I had the privilege of attending the now-defunct Hangout festival on the beach in Gulf Shores, Alabama, with Wonder atop the bill. My knowledge of his catalog is not the deepest, but my greatest-hits-level fandom did not stop me from having one of the most joyous live music experiences of my life. The man simply summons magic every time he steps onstage. Soon, he'll be doing it on tour.

In July, Wonder attended a tribute concert in his honor at Grand Performances in Los Angeles. Onstage at the show, he announced plans for a tour celebrating the 50th anniversary of his landmark double album Songs In The Key Of Life. Today, that tour has been officially announced.

Wonder will hit the road this fall for 18 shows. Twelve of those dates will be overseas in Europe and the UK, and then he'll be back in the US for six more gigs to close out the year. A pre-sale for the Euro/UK shows begins this Wednesday, Sept. 9, followed by a general on-sale this Friday, Sept. 11 at 10 a.m. local time. For the US shows, with the exception of the two in Detroit, a general ticket on-sale will begin this Thursday, Sept. 10 at 10 a.m. local time via Ticketmaster. The Detroit shows will go on sale Tuesday, Sept. 15 at 10 a.m. local time. There are no publicly announced pre-sales for the US dates.

Also at the tribute show in July, Wonder teased the release of a new studio album called Through The Eyes Of Wonder next year. It will be his first studio album in 22 years, and it will include "four more songs that I was working on when I did Songs In The Key Of Life," he explained. Presumably those will be new recordings of those old songs, not unreleased tracks left over from the '70s, but I suppose we'll see.

Below, check out the tour dates and footage of Wonder announcing Through The Eyes Of Wonder.

TOUR DATES:
10/13 - Birmingham, UK @ Utilita Arena
10/15 - Paris, FR @ Accor Arena
10/18 - Copenhagen, DK @ Royal Arena
10/20 - Oslo, NO @ Unity Arena
10/22 - Stockholm, SE @ 3Arena
10/24 - Hannover, DE @ ZAG-Arena
10/26 - Cologne, DE @ Lanxess Arena
10/28 - Amsterdam, NL @ Ziggo Dome
11/01 - Dublin, IE @ 3Arena
11/03 - London, UK @ The O2
11/08 - Manchester, UK @ Co-op Live
11/11 - Glasgow, UK @ OVO Hydro
11/19 - New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
11/21 - Chicago, IL @ United Center
11/23 - Washington, DC @ Capitol One Arena
12/08 - Detroit, MI @ Fox Theatre
12/09 - Detroit, MI @ Fox Theatre
12/19 - Los Angeles, CA @ Intuit Dome