Concert Review Edmonton 28-Feb-07

Van Morrison's soulful swoon captures crowd

There's nothing quite like Van Morrison's soulful, scratchy pipes to ease the loss of a beloved friend or Oiler.

His bluesy vocals and heartbroken lyrics seemed to embody the city's collective pain as he counselled 12,000 fans at Rexall Place on a cold Wednesday night.

"Little darlin', come with me / Won't you help me share my load," he gargled on the opening song, Bright Side of the Road, a country-flavoured number with hints of Louis Armstrong.

"I can't stop wanting you / It's useless to say / So I just live my life / In dreams of yesterday," he cooed on a show-stopping rendition of I Can't Stop Loving You, featuring a mournful lap steel guitar and '30s-style backup singers.

Yet Morrison, dressed like a classier Blues Brother, also offered touches of lightness -- "Is this a gun in my pocket or am I glad to see you?" he joked -- and tough love.

"No pain, no gain," he barked on All Work and No Play, a quiet, loose song on the verge of disappearing into the air like a puff of smoke.

Well, maybe not always.

Morrison's 97-minute set was far from painful -- except for the fact local fans had to wait more than 30 years to hear him perform classics such as Moondance, Domino, Brown Eyed Girl, and the soul stomper, Gloria, which he saved for last.

It was his first appearance in our city, despite Terry Wickham's best efforts to coerce the Irish legend to play the Folk Fest over the last 10 years.

Thankfully, at 61, Morrison isn't yet one of those nostalgia acts on the verge of decline like some of our younger metal friends, say, Vince Neil and Mick Mars of Motley Crue.

While Van the Man's songs certainly conjured up memories of years and hair follicles gone by, he's still at the top of his game.

He plays sax, harmonica and his voice is sharp and dexterous as ever -- ranging from growly to pillow soft, from mumbly to stuttery, repeating words or phrases for dramatic effect.

"Every every every every day," he bellowed on Stranded, a gorgeous slow dance perfect for '60s proms.

Morrison may not be the most charismatic performer -- nor does he like to be the centre of attention -- but his songs don't require any hammy, 'Look-at-me!" gimmicks such as split kicks or microphone twirls.

Instead, his toe-tapping arrangements, scented with country, rhythm and blues, jazz, Celtic folk, even Hawaiian notes, tend to inspire moments of reverie, when you just want to close your eyes and let Enlightenment's sad harmonica or Domino's trumpet blasts carry you away.

Still, Morrison seemed to be enjoying himself more than he did at recent shows in Calgary and Vancouver, according to reports.

He repeatedly thanked the crowd at Rexall and tried to kid around by picking up a guitar and playing There Was An Old Woman before launching into Brown Eyed Girl.

He also giddily conducted his band of crackerjack musicians, 10 men and women, as they showed off their consummate skills on lap steel, fiddle, organ and guitar.

If only they had played for another 90 minutes.
-Sandra Sperounes, The Edmonton Journal

Van panned?

Divided opinions over Van Morrison's first-ever Edmonton show

an the Man panned? Say it isn't so.

But Van Morrison's concert at Rexall Place on Wednesday night, his first-ever Edmonton appearance, left at least some people unhappy in the sold-out crowd of 12,500.

"That was totally brutal, the longest 90 minutes I have ever spent in that coliseum," writes Clint K.

"I kept thinking, 'When's he going to kick it up a notch?' But that never happened. He played three marquee songs at the end - and butchered them all. And everything at half volume.

"Five bucks, maybe $10 - that's what it was worth, not $250 a pair for nosebleeds. Never again."

Ouch.

Fort McMurray's Robert Ash writes:

"Although I'm a huge Van Morrison fan, I found it hard to believe that this supposedly great singer can put on a show and play little or none of the great songs that fans expect to hear, just because he was in a rush to make his way to another venue.

"Some of the music he played was good, but his failure to do an encore was a blow. For the money fans paid, we deserved more.

"If there is a next time, I'll stay home with a CD."

How good the concert was, it seems, had a lot to do with where you were sitting. The closer and, correspondingly, more expensive the seats were, the better things sounded.

It might also fit into a larger debate about concert sound at Rexall and whether people want it clear or loud. Finding that happy medium between the two represents every sound tech's quest - or nightmare.

And if you took umbrage to Morrison's standoffish demeanour, dearth of hits, "short" show for big money and no encore, maybe you're not a true Van Morrison fan after all. If you were, you'd know to expect all that going in.

"I thought it was great," says Stony Plain Records president Holger Petersen, who had "good" seats. "I can see where people are coming from. He is kind of a polarizing performer, but I thought it was very typical of a Morrison show."

Petersen's seen Morrison a few times now and contends that we saw him on a good day.

"I saw him many years ago and he actually had a hissy fit on stage - he kicked a monitor and threw his mike stand down," Petersen recalls.

"It was very much against the grain of every other show that happens at a venue like (Rexall). The energy is in his voice. It's great that there's room in the industry for a show like that."

Folk fest producer Terry Wickham said the concert was pretty much what he expected.

"It wasn't my favourite song selection," Wickham says, "but he obviously had a tight band and everyone I talked to enjoyed it."
-YURI WUENSCH, SUN MEDIA

Setlist:

It's My Business (Band)
Bright Side
All Work and No Play
Stranded
Whining Boy Moan
In The Midnight
Playhouse
I Can't Stop Loving You
Moondance
Don't You Make Me High
Enlightenment
Domino
One Irish Rover
Goin Down Geneva>Brand New Cadillac
Precious Time
Help Me
There Was An Old Woman>Brown Eyed Girl
Star of the County Down
Gloria