We LA residents may have to get teased once in a while for our town’s supposed lack of traditional Christmas spirit, but we have one of the greatest and most veneerable traditions in the world: Stevie Wonder’s annual Christmas concert, the House Full Of Toys. Not quite every year, but many years, Stevie will get a bunch of people on the phone and recreate your kids’ Christmas Pageant at a local venue. Like those events, they tend to run late, and run long, and you may not know who is exactly is up on that stage at any moment. You won’t be home early.
But I encourage you to be patient and sing along to every up and comer who gets up there to do “Winter Wonderland” with Stevie joining in on harmonica. Because one, generosity is the real spirit of Christmas, and Stevie can be very generous with that mic. The people I have seen perform at his holiday shows for the very first time include Erykah Badu, Ja Rule and Esperanza Spalding. He’s also known to bring out stars like Tony Bennett, Janelle Monae, Pharrell and Dave Matthews in addition to local choirs and gospel luminaries. It’s a good old fashioned Christmas show of a high caliber.
Two, you can see Stevie Wonder do his thing live, which is not something many people get to see these days. And he’s great. If you haven’t, or haven’t lately, this would be a good time, he just finished a national tour, with the the theme “Sing Your Song! As We Fix Our Nation’s Broken Heart” and has a full set rehearsed and ready to go. Whether he’ll actually play a full set, do one or two of his classic albums in their entirety, or sprinkle a few of his songs in between all the guests, is an open question, and you’re not likely to find out much ahead of time. But whatever he has planned this evening, there will be many moments of pure pleasure throughout the show,
And three, these benefits are a massive toy donation program for the kids in LA who can really use a visit from Santa this year, so drop by the toy store on your way down, and bring a new, unwrapped goodie or two for the kids.
Stevie Wonder’s “Sing Your Song! As We Fix Our Nation’s Broken Heart” will take place at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Saturday. December 14, in celebration of the 25th House Full of Toys Benefit Concert. Tickets start at $68.51 all in, available at CryptoArena.com.
