07-May-09 Los Angeles Concert Review

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Rather than taking a victory lap to celebrate his reclamation of his earliest masterpiece, "Astral Weeks," Van Morrison [ tickets ] is digging deeper into the 40-year-old album's maze of openings, lush walkways and scenic vistas. His performance Thursday (5/7) on the first of three nights at the Orpheum Theater, about eight miles from where he recorded "Astral Weeks Live at the Hollywood Bowl" in November, found the Belfast Cowboy engaged and caring, not just about the material, but the dynamics of the presentation as well.

Veteran acts have found anniversaries provide an excellent marketing hook to revisit classic works that, for a multitude of reasons, never were heard live. Most notably, Brian Wilson did it with "Pet Sounds" and The Zombies with "Odessey & Oracle," but in Morrison's case it's a return to his earliest solo experiment. "Astral Weeks" is a gateway for him to reconnect with a portion of his past that has not been rehashed over and over. The concert is an exploration of his open-ended melange of jazz, blues, folk and beat poetry in the manner in which it was created.

The openness of "Astral Weeks," released in 1968 but never followed up with a tour, would influence "Moondance" and some future albums, but the expansiveness of the material, the lyrics presented as incantations and the striking interplay between acoustic rhythm guitar and upright bass would never be repeated so thoroughly.
For the Hollywood Bowl shows, Morrison went for a nearly identical re-creation of the album, and the resulting live album, released on Listen to the Lion Records, confirms the reports that Morrison put on a show for the ages on those nights.

The second go-round opens the doors for Morrison to expand a bit, find spots to growl, repeat a few more phrases or let the music linger while the violist or one of the guitarists stretches out for a few bars. "Slim Slow Slider," with the previously unrecorded "I Start Breaking Down" added as a coda, was the third song in the set and the first one Morrison attacked with vigor. The band followed his signals impeccably, rising and dropping out when he thrust his arm through the air, allowing the song to unfold rather than drape, his mumbles, whispers and shouts marrying perfectly with the ambling melody. He followed with a deliciously emphatic "Sweet Thing" and an elegant "Cyprus Avenue," complete with harpsichord.

"Astral Weeks" was performed with the same 10-member band that appears on the new album, with the guitarist from the initial session, Jay Berliner, seated up front alongside Morrison.

The group expands to 14 in the first half of the show and on the finale, "Listen to the Lion." While it's only three extra musicians, it ensures that "Listen to the Lion" has a climatic push; the music swells and informs the audience that this has been a journey, not one that makes a whole lot of sense lyrically, but one that concludes on a peak with majestic views. It's visceral and enthralling.

The finale provides a contrast to the rest of "Astral Weeks" as well, enhancing the perception that Morrison is relishing the depth of field being explored. We've all felt bands driving through their material; this is rare instance of an act burrowing underground. The layering of instruments, the counterpoint and contrasts--Morrison's jazz sensibilities are intact. He has ensured that there is an airiness to the music, that Miles Davis quality wherein the notes not played can be just as significant as the ones that are.

The performance's 12-song first half, which had its pluses and minuses, shared many of the qualities of the last several Morrison tours, in which he brings together instruments from his jazz band (assembled in 2003 for "What's Wrong With this Picture?") country unit ("Pay the Devil" in 2006) and R&B-and-then-some act (last year's "Keep It Simple").

The larger ensemble dipped into a bag of obscurities--"Northern Muse (Solid Ground)" from 1982's "Beautiful Vision," "Troubadours" from 1979s' "Into the Music" and "Queen of the Slipstream" from 1987's "Poetic Champions Compose"--in addition to several of his classics. "Caravan" received a "Last Waltz"-inspired treatment; "Moondance" continues to be performed in a swing band style; and despite "Wild Night" and "And It Stoned Me" making it into the set, both were given half-baked performances.

Morrison was prodding his band in the early-going, and it paid off with a passionate reading of the 50-year-old pop classic "It's All in the Game." Evening closed with the inevitable "Gloria," but he shook things up a bit by having the band play another gem from his days in Them, "Mystic Eyes," during the intro.
-Phil Gallo

Setlist:
Solid Ground
Troubadours
Stoned Me
Wild Night
Caravan
Queen of the Slipstream
Help Me
I Can't Stop Loving You
Moondance
It's All In the Game/You Know What They're Writing About
And The Healing Has Begun
Common One/Town Called Paradise
Astral Weeks
Slim Slow Slider
Sweet Thing/Burning Ground
Cyprus Avenue
The Way Young Lovers Do
Ballerina
Madame George
Listen to the Lion
Mystic Eyes/Gloria