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Stevie Wonder prayed for a world of "love over hate" as he made an impassioned speech at London's British Summer Time Festival on Sunday.
The soul legend closed out the Hyde Park festival with a four-hour set featuring a full performance of his classic 1976 album Songs in the Key of Life, making it the first time he has ever sung the record in its entirety in the U.K.
But even 40 years after the album's release, Wonder couldn't help but comment that the record is still culturally relevant, especially following another week of death and violence in his native America, where two black men were killed at the hands of white police officers, and five cops in Texas were shot and killed by a sniper in response to those deaths.
Stevie spoke to the thousands in London about his music, saying he wanted his songs to bring people together "in this horrible time we're living in."
"Choose love over hate," he added. "Kindness over meanness, hope over no hope at all."
He added that the same violence and tense race relations existed four decades ago when he made the album, saying, "I'm not happy that those conditions still exist in the world," admitting that it "breaks my heart" that tracks such as Love's In Need Of Love Today and Village Ghetto Land still remain relevant.
While singing Pastime Paradise, he added in the chorus to spiritual song We Shall Overcome, and also performed a bonus cover of Curtis Mayfield's peace anthem People Get Ready.
"Tell all the leaders of the world to cut the bull and fix it," he told the crowd. "We were all made in God's image. When you hate someone, you're hating that image. If I'm blind and I can see it, you can see it too."
Over 65,000 attended Stevie's concert, including stars such as Bradley Cooper, Julianne Moore and Naomi Campbell.
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