“Tonight, you are in our living room,” Smokey Robinson told the sold-out Wilbur crowd not long into his performance Wednesday night. “You have come to visit.” The show was titled “Smokey Robinson: Up Close And Personal,” and the Motown legend seemed to take that billing seriously. The concert was about as intimate as a packed theatre would allow.

There was the band, for starters. It was actually reasonably stripped down; with a lineup of guitar, bass, drums, piano, and saxophone, there were no unnecessary instruments and only one of each.