Stevie Wonder celebrates the healing joy of music at PPG Paints Arena

“I want you to know that it’s OK to love, it’s OK to care.”

That was the message that legend of R&B, funk and soul Stevie Wonder brought to the stage Tuesday night at PPG Paints Arena.

Kicking off his national tour — Sing Your Song! As We Fix Our Nation’s Broken Heart — in Pittsburgh, he promised that he wasn’t there to preach. He did something even better — he provided joy and healing through the power of his classic songs. Blind nearly since birth, Wonder wore a beret, a black outfit dotted with rhinestones and his signature dark sunglasses as he was escorted onstage by his daughter and son.

Now 74, Wonder has been a force in the music industry since he was grammar-school age. He hit his commercial and critical peaks in the 1970s and ’80s, especially with 1976 album “Songs in the Key of Life.” He’s the winner of 25 Grammy Awards and has influenced countless musicians.

And yet, he started Tuesday’s show with a fairly new song.

“We have a responsibility, and it’s just to simply love and care and do our best,” he said, introducing the intimate “Can We Fix Our Nation’s Broken Heart,” a song meant to convey the triumph and sorrow of current America. The tune is only about 5 years old but felt classic with the help of Wonder’s transcendent vocals.

“Can we do it? Can we fix it?” he yelled at the song’s close, leading the crowd in an impassioned call-and-response.

Joining him onstage was a full house of musicians, from strings to horns to percussion to a row of grooving backup singers. They came out in force in the soulful “As If You Read My Mind” and then the reggae “Master Blaster,” which gave the drums a particularly impressive workout.

The crowd was warmed up by then, just in time for the funky opening to “Higher Ground,” which brought everyone to their feet. He started lyrics and then dropped out, encouraging the audience to sing the second half at the top of their voices.

Taking things down a bit, he moved nimbly into “You Are The Sunshine Of My Life,” coaching the crowd to sing the opening verse. He took back over for the chorus, singing it with the kind of passion that can only come from loving a song for decades.

Speaking of songs he loves, Wonder followed it up with a cover of Billy Joel’s “Just The Way You Are.” He warned that he didn’t know the words that well, but his rendition was still beautiful — and the thousands of spectators were happy to pick up the slack where he faltered.

And what better way to follow up a pair of classic ballads than with the upbeat, universally-known “Signed, Sealed, Delvered”? So many of Wonder’s songs are like sunlight in a melody — this one included — and with the help of the backup singers and full band, he shone positivity throughout the arena.

After that, he left the stage for a 17-minute intermission. But the crowd’s patience was rewarded: When the musicians returned, Wonder led them in a singalong of “My Cherie Amour,” even though he did have to stop and start a couple of times to get his voice back on track.

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Keeping in that spirit were a few more ballads, including “Ribbon in the Sky” and “Overjoyed,” and then he brought out a guest singer, Shelea, who rocked a glittery silver pantsuit. Admittedly, it was a bit nervewracking when it became clear that she and Wonder were going to sing an Aretha Franklin duet — that’s not always a person to whom a singer would want to invite comparisons — but Shelea’s soulful belt was powerful and playful on “Until You Come Back To Me.” She performed one of her original songs and then joined Wonder once more for the party-ready “Don’t You Worry ’Bout A Thing.” The band pulled out all the stops to keep up.

The string section got their time to shine with “Village Ghetto Land,” a delicately beautiful song with much darker lyrics. Wonder then went into “Living For The City” from his 1973 album “Innervisions,” and his voice excelled here especially, as did the musicians — the bridge was a wall of drums and horns that induced goosebumps.

From there, a trio of hits with the brassy and effervescent “Sir Duke,” another song that can make anyone happy upon hearing it. Then immediately into the horn-heavy “I Wish,” which Wonder sang with wistful nostalgia and a crowd that clapped along. He had to start over “Isn’t She Lovely” from the beginning, but that was all right — the singing audience would’ve probably cheered for it five times in a row. And the iconic harmonica solo was not left out.

“So, we got a few seconds to do a couple songs,” he said toward the show’s end. He named five possible candidates for closers, and they each got such a positive response that, well, he did them all.

He wrapped up with segments of “As,” “All I Do,” “I Just Called To Say I Love You,” “Do I Do” and “Superstition,” another opportunity for his many accompanying players to jam out with an extended outro.

“Bless you, and take care of you, because you’ve got a piece of my heart inside of you, so take care of me,” he said in his farewell for the night.

Wonder may not to be able to fix the entire nation, but his voice and songs are just as powerful and inspiring as ever — maybe there’s healing to be found in these everlasting tunes after all.