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Unreleased Van Tracks On Forthcoming Chris Barber 2 CD Set

Update: Chris Barber has a 2 CD compilation coming out in the UK on 5 September, the US and Canada on 8 February and Germany on 6 May 2011. Release dates subject to change..

Memories of My Trip include three tracks that Van recorded with Barber that have never been released before:



Van With The Chris Barber Skiffle Group - How Long Blues

Van With Chris Barber's Jazz Band - Goin' Home

Van With Chris Barber And Dr. John - Didn't He Ramble
 
So far there's no information on when these tracks were recorded. Van has played and toured with Chris Barber many times over the years.

Take Me Back
Bono Interviews Dylan & Van (1984)

From Hot Press:

Conducted at the Slane Castle, Dublin, Ireland prior to Dylan's show (JULY 8, 1984). Both Bono and Van Morrison were later guests at the show, Van Morrison doing his usual It's All Over Now, Baby Blue and Bono joining Dylan on Blowin' In The Wind.

Bono: Van, what do you think of electronic music?

Morrison: I like the music Brian Eno plays.

Bono: He speaks very highly of you. He's producing our record right now.

Morrison: Say hello.

Bono: When you're working with a producer, do you give him the lee-way to challenge you?

Dylan: Yeah, if he feels like it. But usually we just go into the studio and sing a song, and play the music, and have, you know ...

Bono: Have you had somebody in the last five years who said "That's crap, Bob"?

Dylan: Oh, they say that all the time!

Bono: Mark Knopfler, did he say that?

Dylan: I don't know, they spend time getting their various songs right, but with me, I just take a song into the studio and try to rehearse it, and then record it, and then do it. It's a little harder now though to make a good record - even if you've got a good song and a good band. Even if you go in and record it live, it's not gonna sound like it used to sound, because the studios now are so modern, and overly developed, that you can take anything good and you can press it and squeeze it and squash it, and constipate it and suffocate it. You do a great performance in the studio and you listen back to it because the speakers are all so good, but, ah, no!

Bono: All technology does is - you go into a dead room with dead instruments and you use technology to give it life that it doesn't have, and then it comes out of the speakers and you believe it. What I've been trying to do is find a room that has life in itself.

Dylan: Yeah.

Bono: A 'living' room.

Dylan: The machines though, can even take the life out of that room, I've found. You can record in St Peter's Cathedral, you know, and they still make it sound like, eh, ...

Bono: Somebody's backyard.

Dylan: Yeah.

Dylan: That's a good idea. I'd love to record in a cathedral.

Dylan: You know the studios in the old days were all much better, and the equipment so much better, there's no question about it in my mind. You just walked into a studio, they were just big rooms, you just sang, you know, you just made records; and they sounded like the way they sounded there. That stopped happening in the late Sixties, for me anyway. I noticed the big change. You go into a studio now and they got rugs on the floor, settees and pinball machines and videos and sandwiches coming every ten minutes. It's a big expensive party and you're lucky if you come out with anything that sounds decent.

Bono: Yeah, records haven't got better, have they?

Dylan: No, you go in now, you got your producer, you got your engineer, you got your assistant engineer, usually your assistant producer, you got a guy carrying the tapes around. I mean, you know, there's a million people go into recording just an acoustic song on your guitar. The boys turn the machines on and it's a great undertaking.

Bono: There's a system called Effanel which Mick Fleetwood from Fleetwood Mac brought to Africa. It was built for him because he wanted to get some real African drummin', for "Tusk". We've used that system. It comes in a light suitcase, very small, no bullshit studio, and it just arrives, you can literally bring it to your living room.

Morrison: I think all the same they'll go back to 2-track eventually.

Bono: There's a guy called Conny Plank, who lives in Germany. He's a producer I think. He produced Makem and Clancy and some Irish traditional bands, also orchestral and funnily enough a lot of the new electronic groups, DAF, Ultravox, and so on. He used to record orchestras by just finding a position in the room where they were already balanced and he applies this in his thinking, in recording modern music: he finds a place in the room where it's already mixed.

Morrison: I don't know, when I started we didn't think about that! You didn't even think about recording ... (laughs)

Bono: You didn't even think!

Morrison: You didn't even know what was on the cards. One day you were in the room, they turned the tape on. After about eight hours or so, they'd say, 'OK, tea break, it's over'.

Dylan: Yeah, next song, next song!

Morrison: And that was that - it was an album.

Dylan: Yeah, you'd make an album on three days or four days and it was over - if that many! It's that long now ... it takes four days to get a drum sound.

Bono: Do you know the Monty Python team, they're comedians, British comedians, 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail'. They have a sketch that reminds me of you guys - sitting back talking of days gone by: "You tell that to the young people of today and they'd never believe you". But you can't go backwards, you must go forward. You try to bring the values that were back there, you know, the strength, and if you see something that was lost, you got to find a new way to capture that same strength. Have you any idea of how to do that? I think you've done it by the way ... I think 'Shot Of Love', that opening track has that.

Dylan: I think so too, You're one of the few people to say that to me about that record, to mention that record to me.

Bono: That has *that* feeling.

Dylan: It's a great record, it suits just about everybody.

Bono: The sound from that record makes me feel like I'm in the same room as the other musicians. I don't feel like they're over *there*. Some of our records, I feel like they're over there because we got into this cinema type sound, not bland like FM sound, but we got into this very broad sound. Now we're trying to focus more of a punch, and that's what we are after, this intimacy .... I've never interviewed anybody before, by the way. I hate being interviewed myself.

Morrison: You're doing a good job!

Bono: Is this OK?. Good! What records do you listen to?

Dylan: What records do I listen to? New records? I don't know, just the old records really. Robert Johnson. I still listen to those records that I listened to when I was growing up - they really changed my life. They still change my life. They still hold up, you know. The Louvain Brothers, Hank Williams, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Charlie Patton, I always liked to listen to him.

Bono: I just bought Woody Guthrie's 'Bound For Glory'. I'm just a beginner when it comes to America. I mean, it's changed me. When you go the US, coming from this country, it's more than a different continent ....

Morrison: It's shell shock.

Bono: Yeah, coming from troubled Ireland, it's the real shell shock! I'm just getting acquainted with American music and literature. Do you still see Allen Ginsberg?

Dylan: I run across Allen from time to time, yeah, Gregory Corsos's back now, he's doing some readings, I think he's just published a new book.

Bono: I've just been reading this book 'Howl'.

Dylan: Oh, that's very powerful. That's another book that changed me. 'Howl', 'On the Road', 'Dharma Bums'.

Morrison: (to Bono) Have you read 'On the Road'?

Bono: Yes I have, I'm just starting that. You have a reference in one of your songs to John Donne, 'Rave On John Donne'. Have you read his poetry?

Morrison: I was reading it at the time.

Dylan: (to Bono) You heard the songs - Brendan Behan's songs?

Bono: Yeah.

Dylan: 'Royal Canal', you know the 'Royal Canal'?

Morrison: His brother wrote it. His name is Dominic.

Dylan: Oh, Dominic wrote 'Royal Canal'?

Bono: You know Brendan's son hang out around here in Dublin. He's a good guy, I believe.

Dylan: I know the solo lyrics to the 'Royal Canal'. I used to sing it all the time.

Bono: How does it go?

Dylan: (sings) 'The hungry feeling came over me stealing, as the mice were squalling in my prison cell'.

Bono: That's right, yeah!

Dylan: (continues) 'That old triangle went jingle jangle, all along the banks of the Royal Canal'.

Bono: That's right, when did you read that?

Dylan: (there's no way stopping him now) 'In the female prison there's seventy women. It's all over there that I want to dwell. And that old triangle goes jingle jangle, all along the banks of the Royal Canal'.

Bono: Have you been to the Royal Canal?

Dylan: No I used to sing that song though. Every night.

Bono: Our music - as I was saying earlier - it doesn't have those roots.

Morrison: Yeah, there was a break in the lineage. I sussed that out when I went to see Thin Lizzy years ago, the first night in L.A. and I was watching at the back of the stage and I realized that the music was a complete cut in the connection between the end of the Sixties and the middle of the Seventies - a severing of the traditional lineage of groups.

Bono: I like to know more about roots music. I'm hungry for a past.

Morrison: You know you should listen to some of that stuff.

Bono: I will. I've been listening to some gospel music, you know, like the Swan Silvertones, and stuff like that.

Dylan: That's US stuff though.

Morrison: US stuff, but the British stuff you should listen to, you know, like some of the old stuff, like the Yardbirds.

Bono: Yeah, I've got some of their tapes recently, some real good tapes.

Dylan: You can still hear the McPeakes. The next generation may not be able to though. Who knows? I would hate to think that. Listen we're gonna have to get ready to play. Are you gonna stay for the show?

Bono: Certainly, that's what I'm here for actually.

Dylan: To record it, HA!

Vote For A Great Jazz Song
Moondance

NPR's A Blog Supreme is asking it's listener's to vote for The greatest Jazz songs Ever.

Soon, our Seattle-based NPR Music partners Jazz24 will create an online stream called The Jazz 100, featuring the 100 quintessential recorded jazz songs of all time. But first, Jazz24 needs to figure out what those songs are.

So they're asking for help. You can nominate your favorites for consideration at the Jazz24 website. Soon, they'll sit down and make the list using your input. And then you'll be able to hear the songs in a 24/7 streaming mix (think the All Songs Considered channel) here at NPR Music for two weeks.

Van's Moondance is a song that many fans believe is a jazz standard. Do you think so? If so, please vote at Name The 100 Greatest Jazz Songs Ever.

Tom Jones, Jeff Beck & Van 
Bring It On Home To Me 
 Trouble In Mind

From Martin Scorsese's 2003 Blues Documentaty.

40th Anniversary of Van's His Band And The Street Choir Album

Van Morison's His Band And The Street Choir was released 40 years ago today on 15 November 1970. Originally titled Virgo's Fool, Street Choir was renamed by Warner Brothers without Van's consent. Van had intended to record the album a cappella with only vocal backing by a vocal group he called the Street Choir.

Side one

"Domino"

"Crazy Face"

"Give Me a Kiss (Just One Sweet Kiss)"

"I've Been Working"

"Call Me Up in Dreamland"

"I'll Be Your Lover, Too"

Side two

"Blue Money"

"Virgo Clowns"

"Gypsy Queen"

"Sweet Jannie"

"If I Ever Needed Someone"

"Street Choir"

Street Choir peaked at number 32 on the Billboard 200 and number 18 on the UK Album Chart and was help mainly by the Top Ten hit Domino. Some songs on the album were previously recorded a few years earlier: I've Been Working was an out-take from the Astral Weeks sessions in 1968 and the Moondance sessions in 1969; If I Ever Needed Someone was also originally recorded in 1968; Virgo Clowns was first recorded at the start of 1969 as (Sit Down) Funny Face; Crazy Face evolved from "Going Around with Jesse James", a song Van first recorded for Astral Weeks on 15 October 1968.

Rolling Stone magazine's, Jon Landau, reviewed Street Choir and described it as follows:

His Band and the Street Choir is a free album. It was recorded with minimal over-dubbing and was obviously intended to show the other side of Moondance. And if it has a flaw it is that, like Moondance, it is too much what it set out to be. A few more numbers with a gravity of "Street Choir" would have made this album as close to perfect as anyone could have stood.

But notwithstanding its limitations. His Band and the Street Choir is another beautiful phase in the continuing development of one of the few originals left in rock. In his own mysterious way. Van Morrison continues to shake his head, strum his guitar and to sing his songs. He knows it's too late to stop now and he quit trying to a long, long time ago. Meanwhile, the song he is singing keeps getting better and better.

RTE Radio 1: Listening to Van Morrison

A special programme, Listening To Van Morrison, with Greil Marcus, American music and cultural critic, author of Listening to Van Morrison (Faber), as he explains what he has come to understand about Morrison's music from paying it deep attention, with special emphasis on the achievement and enduring appeal of Astral Weeks (1968).

24-Oct-10 Royal Albert Hall, London, England

Van reached some incredible heights at the RAH last night. The range in his voice once he opened up with Fair Play, after the toe-tapping ‘greatest hits’ openers, was simply stunning. We saw Van the jazz musician, the blues-man and the pop singer but it is those searching, searing moments of stunning ‘Celtic soul’ that make Van so unique and that bring shivers to the spine and tears to the eyes. And there were plenty of them last night, with Fair Play, In the Garden, Into the Mystic, and Ballerina simply stunning and all worth the ticket price alone. Beautiful, beguiling, rousing, compelling, life-affirming music that just touches something, who knows what…. So, a fantastic show and thank goodness that Van is still performing, still playing and singing these songs. But when a Van show ends though you’re always left wanting just that little bit more which is, I guess, a good thing….Thank you Van.

-Simon

At 45 minutes last night after a sublime In The Garden I thought "This could be the best show ever". He then took us higher still, but it trailed off a bit, and the crowd-pleasing Have I Told You Lately and Bright Side were extremely flat, with a rousing Help Me and Gloria bringing it back up.

Thanks to Paolo for photos.

Fair Play was wonderful, Little Village merely great and Moondance - as ever - let the band stretch out. Although I groaned when it started, Keep Mediocrity At Bay was enjoyable, as was Keep It Simple later - just goes to show that Van does things with songs on stage that don't happen in the studio.

The first hour, after the now traditional throat warmers (Baby Please Don't Go>Here Comes The Night>BEG) was stunning - it summed up the reason why we all do this. All In The Game, In The Garden, a great Celtic Excavation>Into The Mystic and the rendition of Ballerina was the best I've heard - a completely different song - but then..............

But I still came out smiling. I bumped into Simon at the merchandise stand - he thought it a '7', I'd have said '8' - just for Fair Play, Garden and Ballerina. What's great is that Van is performing these songs now as well as - or better - than ever and his voice is still way beyond what anybody else can do. It could have been sublime, but he was merely wonderful. Are we setting our expectations high again, and isn't that great?

The band were on the whole excellent, although the drummer needs a bit of education - I heard him too much. Good to see Paul Moore back on bass. Nobody can ever replace David Hayes, but I thought Paul was good in the shows before the Astral Weeks tour. Jay Berliner continues to be perfect, and Paul Moran holds it all together. The lead guitarist (Andy Jones?) was impressive on his solos without being over-indulgent. The two young horn players, one on trombone, the other on tenor sax, flute, clarinet and oboe, were excellent. As JC said afterwards, it's great that Van uses young players in his band. They played with real confidence. At one point, we had trumpet, trombone and two saxes wailing out - when did that last happen? (I know - Glasgow the night before).

As ever, it was equally wonderful meeting a load of old friends, and even more new ones. I'll forget people, for which usual apologies, but there were fans from Belgium, Holland, France, Spain and probably loads of other places. Great to see Pat again after too many years, the wonderful, Dail, Peter, JC, Brenda, Julia, Marion, Bert, Brendan - the list isn't endless but it may as well be with my memory! Nosey took pains to make introductions - a real Vanbassador.

Just before we left the pub for the show, Nosey and I were talking to a young couple. It was their first van show. He'd always loved his music, her dad had always been a fan and brought her up on it. I hope they enjoyed what we all got.

Cheers

-Jez

This was Van 2010 version. Greatest hits live it was billed as and taking away Keep Mediocrity At Bay that is what we got.

For those of us fortunate enough to have witnessed the sensational Astral Weeks shows at The RAH this show was always going to be difficult one.

Van however was at his professional best. Most importantly he gave 100% to all the songs. The newish band were excellent however Van without Richie Buckley is always a sadness.

The new start with the medley of Baby please don't go, Brown Eyed Girl and Here Comes The Night was fine. Fair Play was wonderful. The £200 price tag was actually made good value by a 15 minute period during which he took us all into that higher ground in a way that only he can.

In the Garden was remarkable - always a strong closing song at his live gigs in the late 80's - his sensitive delivery was just stunning. Definite highlight of the night.

However many times I have seen him play Game live it never disappoints and this version was one of the best.

I have a feeling that we may only see Van on odd occasions in the UK in years to come. I hope that we don't just get greatest hits shows. I will keep going even if it is for those magical few minutes which still enthrall and amaze us.

Also while he still cares it is worth going. There was a sense of real effort last night. Thanks Van - come back again.

-Johnny Longley

Sunshine In London

I knew it was going to be a great Sunday. I woke to see three swans gliding on the glass water of our dock, in the weak autumn sun of a chilly blue sky. It was a majestic start to a day that ended with a Van Morrison concert at the Royal Albert Hall.

If you have read any of my blog posts, you will know I am crazy about Van Morrison’s music. Like silly crazy. So when my husband got this new job, we celebrated by buying tickets for this one-night-only Classic Van concert at the Royal Albert Hall. He knew it was a big treat for me, as I had eyed this show since it was first announced back in June. I think we got the last two tickets in the house. We didn’t even sit together. And our seats were in the “choir” section, above and behind the stage. We had a fabulous view of the band, and – knowing Van and his propensity to turn to face his band – I was pretty confident we’d see more of his face that way. And we did.

We had to brave the cold London evening and cross the city on unreliable weekend public transport, but we arrived a good hour early. The Royal Albert Hall is a beautiful, regal venue in South Kensington, built as part of Prince Albert’s vision for the promotion of the arts and science. It was completed after Prince Albert’s death from typhoid, and opened in 1871. Directly opposite it, in Hyde Park, is the famous golden memorial to the Prince Consort, described as one of the grandest, high-Victorian gothic extravaganzas anywhere. At night it stands in grand, spot-lit splendour against a dark sky.

We went into the Hall as soon as the doors opened, bought some coffee and hung around the foyer and the corridors. We looked at brochures and framed photographs of stars on the hall’s hallowed stages, reckoning we’d take our seats about 15 minutes before the show was due to start. I was so excited I couldn’t stand still … classic Van, man! Does it get better than that? Seriously? I don’t think so.

Our seats were not too bad, one row and about five seats apart. Enough for me to keep looking at my husband and smiling and waving and winking and smiling and waving and, did I say smiling? There was not much leg room between the rows, and I was glad not to be long-legged, nor to have shoes one size bigger. The seat was big enough for me to boogy in, though, and boogy I did!

I sat next to a stiff-lipped English couple, and a cheerful Dutch chappy in a checked shirt. Turns out he was as much of a Van fan as I am – sheesh, he’d flown in from the Netherlands for the concert – and we soon became new best friends.

The band started to arrive on the stage, the lights went down and that big voice said, “Ladies and gentleman, MR VAN MORRISON!” I like that voice. And that’s when I began to scream. And whistle.

Van, in trademark dark suit, dark glasses and black fedora, walked on to the stage, microphone in hand, harmonica in mouth, and opened his show with a medley of Baby, Please Don’t Go and Here Comes the Night. I felt like crying. He went on to sing his well-known favourites like Brown Eyed Girl, Moondance, Have I told You Lately, Into the Mystic, Ballerina, Bright Side of the Road. My personal favourite was All in the Game, which he teased out into the most incredible arrangement with solos from each of his band members: trombonist, pianist, saxophonist, drummer, double bass player, lead guitarist and acoustic guitarist. The double bass player doubled as a bass guitarist, and Van doubled as a saxophonist and harmonica player. I can’t even describe the music they made – just sublime.

I loved watching Van control his musicians with the flick of his hand and a trilling of his fingers. He did what he does so well – brings the music to a stomping crescendo and then right back down to a whisper. I was with him on his every word, every note and I didn’t want to miss a thing. He closed with a rousing version of Gloria, which brought the entire audience to its feet. It was indescribable to experience a packed Royal Albert Hall, filled to the rafters, with Van-loving punters clapping and screaming and whistling for his music never to end. We couldn’t take photographs, but that sight – and feeling – overwhelmed me as it etched itself in my mind.

I made a note of Van’s playlist, lest I forget, and my Dutch neighbour chipped in when he thought I might not know the title – which, believe me, wasn’t often! If I couldn’t sit with my husband, it was wonderful to sit beside another fellow Van fan. After the show finished, we agreed we had just experienced a very very special concert. I told him I had felt like crying, and he said, “Yes, I had some of those moments too.”

One thing about Van’s music is that it is so difficult to categorise. When I look for his music in a music shop, I never know whether to look in the soul section, R & B, jazz, blues, folk. His music could be in any or all of those. But last night, I was reminded that he is in a category all of his own: awesome. Totally awesome.

Setlist
Baby Please Don’t Go->Here Comes The Night
Brown Eyed Girl
Fair Play/Autumn Song
Keep Mediocrity at Bay
Little Village
Moondance
It's All in the Game
In The Garden
Celtic Excavation->Into The Mystic
Ballerina
Have I Told You Lately
Bright Side Of The Road
Keep It Simple
Help Me
Gloria

Big Hand for the Band!
Chris White - Sax
Alistair White - Trombone
Jeff Lardner - Drums
Paul Moore - Bass
Paul Moran - Organ
Jay Berliner - Guitar


Much thanks to Paolo for his amazing photos - see them here. Grazie!

23-Oct-10 Glasgow Clyde Auditorium, Glasgow, Scotland

Van's performance was very impressive. He was in the centre of a group of exceptional musicians who played quietly for the most part. The effect was entrancing as Van sang beautifully and effortlessly controlled the proceedings.

Band: No band introductions, but no Richie Buckley, no David Hayes
Two short points of note:

In The Garden was performed with the stage bathed in violet light for the duration of the song. This evoked thoughts of his "father and his mother' as well as the No Guru album sleeve. After singing the "father and the son and the holy ghost" once, he changed it to "holy guardian angel" which he repeated many times towards the end of the song.

Secondly, in over thirty years of attendance at Van's Scottish shows this was the first I have experienced with any empty seats. In fact entire rows in the more expensive sections remained unused. It was clearly a reaction to the ticket prices which were double what had been charged for his last visit.

Regards (and thanks for all your great work)

-Stephen McGinn

Thank you, Stephen. Stephen is a long time Van fan and created of the Van Morrison Newsletter over 20 years ago.

Setlist

Baby Please Don't Go/Here Comes The Night

Brown Eyed Girl

Fair Play

Little Village

Playhouse

Keep It Simple

Rough God Goes Riding

Keep Mediocrity At Bay

It's All In The Game/You Know What They're Writing About

Moondance/My Funny Valentine

St James Infirmary

Celtic Excavation/Into The Mystic

In The Garden

Ballerina

Help Me

Gloria

Big Hand for the Band!
Chris White - Sax
Alistair White - Trombone
Jeff Lardner - Drums
Paul Moore - Bass
Paul Moran - Organ
Jay Berliner - Guitar

Solomon Burke 1940-2010

09-Oct-10 Santa Barbara Bowl, Santa Barbara, USA

Here's Christopher's review:

I was lucky enough to go to both these shows and they were both terrific. Van was in a good mood and in good voice both nights. The set lists were very similar. Ballerina in San Francisco but not Santa Barbara. Precious Time in Santa Barbara. Most importantly, he seemed into the music both nights so there were lots of surprises along the way. During All in the Game in San Francisco, he sang "Open up your heart," while looking straight up in the air and then said, "That's really hard......I don't want to do that." During the same song in Santa Barbara, he sort of got the giggles early on and never really recovered. He kept breaking himself up laughing. It actually seemed like a nice change.

He also tried to tell a joke both nights before Playhouse (in which jazz guitarist Jay Berliner plays an unlikely banjo). I couldn't hear the answer the first night, but it goes, "What's the difference between a banjo and a trampoline?" "You take off your shoes before you jump on a trampoline." (rim shot).

He played In the Garden wonderfully both nights but kept it very quiet for a long time in Santa Barbara. During "No Guru.....," he said something like, "That line came from a man not far from here...Ojai!" A reference to Krishnamurti, I think. Because then he said, "One more time for K" before singing another chorus of "No guru."

The Santa Barbara Bowl is a wonderful outdoor amphitheater. The sound was gorgeous but it's a hike to get in and I wondered if he would stick to his usual on-time start while lots of people were still filing in. I think he actually started almost 5 minutes early.

For awhile, I'm healed...........

- Chris

Setlist

Baby, Please Don't Go

Here Comes the Night

Brown Eyed Girl

Fair Play

Keep Mediocrity At Bay

Little Village

Playhouse

Keep It Simple

Back on Top

Rough God Goes Riding

It's All in the Game

Precious Time

In the Garden

Celtic Excavation->Into the Mystic

Moondance->My Funny Valentine

Help Me

Gloria

Big Hand for The Band!

David Hayes

Paul Moran

Jay Berliner

Andy Jones

Richie Buckley

Bobby Ruggiero

Becky Ramsey

08-Oct-10 Nob Hill Masonic Auditorium, San Francisco

Here's Art's Review:

Did you want some hits?  Did you want to hear the blues?  Philosophy? Jazz? Lengthy interior ramblings accompanied by glorious rolling grooves?  or a big, powerful classic ballad?  Anyway, it was all on display last night at the Nob Hill Masonic.  Van was energetic, very committed to every song, even the 60's material played with conviction at the very start.  And did he extend the instrumental part at the end of Brown Eyed Girl a few extra bars because 4 or 5 nubile women were up and gyrating in front of him?  Probably.

From there to the first of the bucolic, meditational pieces, 1974's "Fair Play", with extemporized lyrics about church bells in the distance and beautiful solos, especially Richie Buckley on flute and Paul Moran on both piano and trumpet.  Then uptempo  to a shouted, rousing and defiant "Keep Mediocrity at Bay", which this time around has a harp intro and an infectious New Orleans style groove,  and back down to the sublime "Little Village", highlighted by Jay Berliner ..was he playing jazz banjo on this one? Lengthy scat singing, beautiful sax from Richie Buckley.

Rough God follows, and Van finishes with his bit about ridin' on in like Jesse James, Billy the Kid, and when he gets to Clint Eastwood he turns to the band and says "He's local, right?".  Then some joke about a banjo.. I think it was this one: "What's the difference between a banjo and a trampoline? You take your shoes off to jump on a trampoline. "

Playhouse, Jay on banjo and putting the band through their paces, then Keep it Simple, with some new lyrics.  Now he's "down here on the killing floor" instead of "running board", referencing Willie Dixon and Howlin' Wolf, and he's gotta keep it simple "just to keep from getting screwed".

Now for the traditional centerpiece: "It's All in the Game/You Know What They're Writing About", a superb version of a song that hasn't left his repertoire since the late 70's.  The new violinist, Rebecca Ramsey had a chance to shine on this one, and she added a distinctive voice, sometimes echoing movie music from the 30's, sometimes playing like a string quartet.  When Van gets to the part where the abashed lover is knocking on her door to apologize, he beats repeatedly on the microphone, then comes out with "open up your heart?  that's scary, I won't do that."  One of many standing ovations after this was over.  As Mark Watt said of the Los Angeles performance earlier this week he sang "like a man helplessly in the throes of love, heartbreak, or both.."

My personal highlight, "In The Garden", a great song that took a 7 year hiatus until it started reappearing in the shows starting last year. The band really made this performance, by turns their solos talked of eroticism (Jay), brightness and romance (Richie) and then a statement from Paul and the grand piano:  "This is a Song".  Majestic solos, really.  Then Van seems a little perturbed, but he's getting into the deeper part of the song.. "Long notes, long notes... keep it goin'" he shouts to the band...and that triggers the return of the rolling groove, this time with the long notes that let Van counterpoint with his delirious vocal into a big orgasmic final rave-up.

Moondance follows, the still unnamed band taking turns on their instruments, finishing with Van on sax, Paul on trumpet, Richie on sax.  A typically great David Hayes played a deep and interesting bass solo.  Shana Morrison then came out for a crowd-pleasing duet on "Sometimes We Cry".  She did a fine opening set last night, but started 45 minutes before the ticket said the show started, so she played only to the early and the tipped-off.  "Back on Top", a big, bad "Georgia", then the fourth of the night's quintet of  "deep" pieces, Ballerina.  The new violin was a big part of the success of this one, mixing notes of string quartet, country and Hollywood.  Another loud, standing ovation, and the band noodled through the fairly obscure instrumental "Celtic Excavation", reborn this year as a medley/intro for "Into The Mystic", a song which rolled and tumbled and reached more than one big crescendo, including one with repeated shouts of "rock your gypsy soul" that had the crowd where I was whipped into a frenzy.

"Help Me", Sonny Boy Willamson II's loud blues romp,  started with Van on the harp and moved into great  solos from the sax and Hammond organ.  Van name-checks Sonny Boy and Junior Wells "in the Chicago and Detroit area", and winds it all up with a big chorus of screaming "nightshirt"'s.  Big singalong for "Gloria" ends it all.

In sum, no throwaway material.  Five great adventures into the music, lots of commitment from Van and the band.

Huffington Post
Singing Lessons: The Truth About What Motivates Us To Sing, Play and Hear Music

As we walked in the house that Van built on Friday night, it was like walking into a church in the midst of a ferocious revival. Van was on fire. The band was on fire. The crowd was the kind of crowd that gave its all with gratitude and love. I have heard that that sometimes shows are less inspired, but every time I have seen Morrison in concert, he has never disappointed and this night was the most thrilling.


He wore a dark suit, gray hat and black shades. We couldn't see his eyes. He cracked a few jokes, but Morrison's not gregarious. He accepts you'll come to him or you won't and doesn't seem to care what you choose. Although, you sensed he was pleased to be loved that night.

*****
What Phil (my fiance) and I heatedly discussed Saturday morning was the difference between what we saw and what we heard. Phil thought it was an amazing show, but that Van Morrison couldn't care less about the audience (we saw Chris Isaac recently -- Isaac reaches out to the audience, he cares about the audience). I contended that though Van Morrison doesn't necessarily reach out with banter or facial expression, you often can barely understand what the man is even saying, still -- his voice cries out in such a way that each person is pulled close to his soul. If you close your eyes, what you hear is sheer contact, though what you see may appear to be an introvert. "Of course, Van cares about the audience," I said, "what else would drive him to be there and to sing like that?" I don't think it's money or adulation. He is there because he cares about and feels connected to the music and the audience.


There are performers that come to us and performers that force us to go to them. Bruce Springsteen. Thelonious Monk. There are different ways of connecting.

*****
As a performer, I generally go to the audience. As a singing teacher and vocal coach, I take care not to push my students to do the same, because both kinds of performance are valid. What we connect to is subjective. Who we connect to, from their personalities to what they are saying, how they are saying it, the frequencies of their voices, all of it -- what moves us is subjective. It is about intention and perception. Performance is a two way street. What I bring to a show as a listener is as important as what the performer brings. There are three components to a song: the music, the performer and the listener.


This same concept applies to any communal endeavor. If you have to give a presentation, if you are teaching a class, if you need to inspire your kids to memorize their times tables, what makes it work is connection.


In the book Drive, Daniel Pink says "human beings have an innate inner drive to be autonomous, self-determined, and connected to one another."


What drives us to perform is connection. What drives us to attend the performance is connection. The show was so good, because we were all in contact.


*****

Sometimes it feels like magic or miracle, but we can approach it technically as artists and individuals and engender connection. The first step is creating a space. (The Masonic felt like Van's house.)


Before I go on stage, I create a space in my mind. I practice sensorial memory, so that wherever I am performing, I can make it my home.


I ask my students, before you go to sleep, lay in bed and use your imagination to create every detail of a space that belongs to you, a beach somewhere, a mountain top, your room. Know the sounds and the smells, build the details. Who is there? Who could be there, so that when you walk on stage, or in front of your classroom, or when giving an important pitch -- you will know where you are, and the room will belong to you.


How you welcome your audience into your space is a matter of individual expression. It does not have to be done with a grin, an incessant shake of your head or wide open arms. If it's your house, we'll feel it. We'll come to you and want to know what it is you are there to say.


Being connected makes us love our work. Being disconnected can make us hate vacation. Connection is what gives us meaning and makes us feel like we're somewhere.


Connection is why we are driven to sing, play and hear.


Van cares, that's why everybody is there.
-Ruth Gerson

Setlist

Baby Please Don't Go

Here Comes the Night

Browned Eyed Girl

Fair Play

Keep Mediocrity At Bay

Little Village

Rough God Goes Riding

Playhouse

Keep It Simple

It's All in the Game

In the Garden

Moondance->My Funny Valentine

Sometimes We Cry

Back on Top

Georgia On My Mind

Ballerina

Celtic Excavation->Into the Mystic

Help Me

Gloria 

Big Hand for The Band!

David Hayes

Paul Moran

Jay Berliner

Andy Jones

Richie Buckley

Bobby Ruggiero

Becky Ramsey

Thanks to Art for photo.

06-Oct-10 Civic Theatre San Diego Concert Review

Here's Sean's review:
Vegas was a very good show featuring a revamped setlist and two new band members. LA Greek was perhaps a notch below although a great Game made the show feel substantial. The crowd in LA was late arriving and extremely chatty. It was also a cool and wet evening which didn't help matters. It all came together last night in San Diego. Van was on fire from the beginning. The setlist speaks for itself. It was the equal and perhaps even a slight notch above the wonderful Calgary show I saw in August. San Diego was one of those special shows. A long time Van follower, Nosey, declared it to be in his Top Ten and that it was "better than the Albert Hall." While another long time Van gig veteran, Dan Murray, noted how Van "made sounds tonight that I've never heard him make before." That ability to make his art new again, to keep us guessing, to drive the band onward and upward, to create that special kind of magic that only he can...All those gifts were on full display last night. I sat beside a woman who had never seen Van perform before. Afterwards she looked at me and said "I feel like I've been taken some place tonight that I didn't know existed." She was seriously considering a flight to SF for the Friday night show when we said our goodbyes. San Diego was the type of show that gets you hooked. Van took us on another one of those ventures into the slipstream last night. Such a rare and wondrous treat. Off to SF...
-Sean

Setlist

Baby, Please Don't Go

Here Comes the Night

Brown Eyed Girl

Fair Play

Keep Mediocrity At Bay

Little Village

Foreign Window

Keep it Simple

End of the Land

Precious Time

Philosopher's Stone->Didn't He Ramble

That's Entrainment

Moondance->My Funny Valentine

Celtic Excavation->Into the Mystic

And It Stoned Me

Playhouse

It's All in the Game

Help Me

Gloria

Big Hand for The Band!

David Hayes

Paul Moran

Jay Berliner

Andy Jones

Richie Buckley

Bobby Ruggiero

Becky Ramsey