John Legend plans to play lots of Christmas songs in SC (but precious few in his own home)
It’s basically impossible to talk to John Legend about the revival of his Christmas-concert tour without talking about “The Voice.”
Asked about “A John Legend Christmas” — coming to the Peace Center Concert Hall in Greenville, S.C., on Monday, Dec. 16 — Legend starts by hinting that it will be different from his 2018 “A Legendary Christmas” tour.
“It’s definitely re-imagined,” the 45-year-old Emmy-Grammy-Oscar-Tony winner told The Charlotte Observer last week ahead of his only tour appearance in the Carolinas. “The creative (elements) around it is a bit different from the last time around. And the last time around was six years ago, which is wild to think —” and here’s where it only makes sense to mention NBC’s popular reality-singing competition series “— ’cause I’ve been doing ‘The Voice’ every December since the last time.
“I hadn’t been able to tour for Christmas ever since I started doing ‘The Voice.’ But I’m off this season, so it gave me the opportunity to do some more Christmas shows.”
Speaking to the Observer by phone last Wednesday from the lake house he shares with wife Chrissy Teigen in Como, Italy, Legend shared details about how he’s freshening up his live holiday show ; what he thinks of the current coaching staff on “The Voice”; and why he has to be judicious about singing Christmas songs to his four young children.
The conversation has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.
Q. Thanks for taking the time — on the day before Thanksgiving. What do you have planned for the holiday?
We got lots of family coming over. ... We’ve got family coming from Ohio, and some of Chrissy’s family coming. They live in different places on the West Coast, and so we’ll all converge together in California and have a really nice Thanksgiving dinner, watch some football and do the thing.
Q. Well, I’m sure you’re looking forward to a little recharge before you go on the road. In the meantime, are you also glad to get a little break from “The Voice”?
The interesting thing about “The Voice” is that nowadays we tape two seasons at once, basically. So while (coaches) Snoop (Dogg) and Michael (Bublé) and Reba (McEntire) and Gwen (Stefani) were taping Season 26 — which is airing right now — the next week, we would ... go and tape the same parallel round for Season 27. So a lot of Season 27 is already in the can and will air starting in February, then the live shows will be in May. So I feel like I haven’t really had a break from “The Voice.”
But it does give me December off, because the live shows with Season 26 are happening in December, and I’m not a part of those. So, it gave me the chance to do this tour. ...
I love doing “The Voice.” I always look forward to going back and doing it. But it also just gives me a little more flexibility to do some other things. I’m definitely not lacking for things to do!
Q. Are you watching the current season?
Yeah, I’ve been watching some of it. ... And I think Snoop has been a really great addition, especially.
Q. Getting back to the holiday tour, can you talk in a little more detail about the new show and how this compares to the previous one?
Yeah, so we’re having a four-piece rhythm section, plus me on the piano, and then three lovely ladies singing background vocals. We call ’em The Slay Belles. It’s gonna be a really fun, energetic show, but also nostalgic and embracing the tradition and the warmth of Christmas. ...
In some ways it’s similar to the 2018 tour. But we’ve made some really cool updates and re-imaginings. The staging and the art are completely different. The storytelling is different. But some of the songs are the same. So a lot of it’s from “A Legendary Christmas,” then I do a couple covers that I love that aren’t on the Christmas album.
I’m also doing a couple songs from “My Favorite Dream,” the children’s album (that was released in August). ...
And we’ll throw in some of the classics — some of the non-Christmas classics — that feel like they work in the show. ...
Q. Do you have a favorite Christmas song of the ones that you’re doing?
Oh, I love “This Christmas” by Donnie Hathaway. I love “What Christmas Means to Me” by Stevie Wonder. There’s so many. We do a really cool, jazzy, swing-y version of “Christmastime Is Here,” the old, you know, “Charlie Brown Christmas” song. We have some fun with the show, for sure. ...
I love doing the Christmas songs. I missed it. Like I said, I hadn’t been able to tour for Christmas for six years. So I was really looking forward to this opportunity. It brings back a lot of memories of past Christmases, and it’s a really fun feeling. I also think it’s just a nice time to bring people together. We just had a divisive election. There’s all these reasons why people could use something that’s more unifying and connecting.
Q. When you did the last Christmas tour you had a 2-year-old (daughter Luna) and a 6-month-old (son Miles). You’ve since added two more kids to your family (daughter Esti and son Wren, both last year). Has Christmas gotten more meaningful as you settle deeper into fatherhood?
Oh, yeah. I mean, it’s really special. It takes on a different meaning, for sure, when you’re the parent trying to give your kids that experience that they’ll remember and they’ll value forever. It’s definitely different and really special now. We love seeing their excitement and the wonder in their eyes and all that good stuff, and we know we’re creating memories for them that they’ll be telling their kids about. So, hopefully we’ll do a good job.
Q. It’s a short tour — 12 shows in 20 days — but I assume you’re not taking them on the road with you, are you?
They’ll come to the L.A. show. But they’ll be in school up through the 20th. So they won’t be with me most of the time, but then we’ll all go off together for Christmas, and that’ll be nice.
Q. Are you and the family big into decorating the house for Christmas?
Yeah! Chrissy’s really into it. She loves going big for the holidays. So, we’ll definitely be really festive. Have a big tree, have the lights out everywhere. We had the lights out actually in early November. ... They’re white lights, so they could be interpreted as Christmas lights, but they could just be lights, too. But we like that festive feeling.
We like to have traditions that the kids can do every year, and (one is) the kids create their own ornaments. We love it.
Q. Before I let you go, I don’t want to forget to ask — since we’re in Charlotte and since you’re promoting a show in South Carolina: Do you have any connections to the Carolinas at all?
I have family that lives in Durham and the Raleigh area: My dad’s sister — and then her kids and their kids — all live in the Raleigh-Durham area.
Q. Do you ever get over there?
Yeah, I was just there. I did a show for my solo tour over there in Cary, North Carolina, at Koka (Booth) Amphitheatre (on Aug. 11). ...
That was amazing, honestly. I loved it. It was one of my favorites of the tour. That was the solo storytelling tour that I was doing, and that was really beautiful. And the Christmas tour is fun because we’ve worked in a lot of storytelling into that as well, about past Christmases and family traditions, and some of my family life that led me to where I am, and really the inspiration for me making the Christmas album in the first place.
Q. I’m sure you’ve got a piano in the house. Is one of your family traditions playing Christmas songs on it for everyone?
Well, I’ll tell you about growing up. We would go to my Granny Stephens’s house — that’s my dad’s mom (Marjorie Maxine Stephens, who died at 91 in 2021) — and we would all gather around the piano and sing. If you listen to my “Get Lifted” album, my debut album, there’s a song that features the Stephens family on there called “It Don’t Have to Change,” and that was basically inspired by all those family singalongs we had at Christmastime.
That’s really the most powerful memory I have of Christmas, is singing Christmas carols with my family around the piano growing up. We would sing for, like, an hour together around the piano. So that really inspired me to want to do a Christmas album, and inspired me to want to do this tour.
Q. But so wait, do you still do that kind of thing as a family?
Well, we definitely do it with my dad’s side of the family. When I’m with my immediate family — with my kids and Chrissy — they’re not really ready to do full singalongs yet. (Laughing.) But I’ll play some Christmas songs on the piano.
Q. They don’t want an hour-long set, though?
(Laughing.) No. They don’t need that. But it’s funny because Miles’s favorite album for a while was Daddy’s Christmas music — when he was really young. He would listen to Christmas music all year round for a while.
But he’s since moved on.
See John Legend in South Carolina
When: 7:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 16.
Where: Peace Center Concert Hall, 300 S. Main St., Greenville, S.C.
Tickets: $225 and up.
Info: Performing alongside a four-piece-band, Legend will deliver holiday classics from his album, “A Legendary Christmas,” including “This Christmas,” “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” “Silver Bells,” “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” and “The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire).” Legend also will reflect on his career, his life, and the stories behind his music. Adam Blackstone will open the show.
More: www.peacecenter.org.
This story was originally published December 3, 2024 at 6:00 AM with the headline "John Legend plans to play lots of Christmas songs in SC (but precious few in his own home)."
