27-Jul-07 Woburn Abbey Concert Review

Stuart gives us his thoughts on the show:
I was going to write a play list...but I just could not waste good concert time writing my thoughts or song list, at the time... I was just enjoying the really most AMAZING best van concert I have had the pleasure of attending....the
voice... WOW!! Seems much more smoother.... a bit like a first taste of Irish Guinness... smooth....dark....rich.. the Band...was incredible... it was a really good polished performance by Van and his band...lots of solos....Van on sax... the show just got better as the sun faded away.....and the stage lights took over... the amazing thing is no horrible unnecessary stewards running up stopping people trying to take a photo....none to be seen and I believe Van
enjoyed the show as well.

The show ended with all the old favourites.....and a heck of a lot of concert goers down the front jumping about...and me !!! Ive never seen this happen before. Van did two encores... could have been three.

Really looking forward to Glastonbury abbey show in two weeks time.
Summing up - MEMORABLE AND GOOD AND BRILLIANT...
-Stuart H.

And another take on the show:
I’ve always had an on-again/off-again appreciation of the guy, but it was too good an opportunity to miss. Plus, we escaped rain (luckily, given the current spate of awful weather), and had pretty decent seats.

In my view, Van Morrison has the stage presence and charisma of a turtle, and since I’m a sucker for strong presence, I suppose that was one big strike against him - but hey, he has written some great songs, and wow can he SING. His backup band was fabulous. The highlight for me was in fact not one of his own classics (which were there in ample and satisfying number), but rather his rendition of the Don Gibson-penned’ “I Can’t Stop Loving You” made famous by Ray Charles in 1962. That is one TOUGH number to cover, believe me: I’ve been a Ray Charles fan since before that 1962 hit (!!!) - and I didn’t think anyone could pull it off. But it was very moving, in fact, with a sequence of great surprises: wow, that voice, and then wow, those backing vocalists, and then wow, a wonderful pedal steel guitar solo and then wow, an even more wonderful fiddler… very enjoyable stuff! Plenty of G-L-O-R-I-A and Brown Eyed Girl, etc to get us old fogeys up out of our seats; nice evening!
-Marc

Setlist:
Did Ye Get Healed? > Yeh Yeh [instr.]
Magic Time
Have I Told You Lately [Las Vegas version]
Bright Side Of The Road
Back On Top
There Stands The Glass
Playhouse
Days Like This
Baby Please Don’t Go
Cleaning Windows > Boppin’ The Blues > Be Bop A Lula
Jackie Wilson Said
I Can’t Stop Loving You
Stop Drinking
Wild Night
Moondance
Baby What You Want Me To Do
Don’t Start Crying Now > Custard Pie
Precious Time [scat ending]
Brown Eyed Girl