20-Jun-09 Bristol, England Concert Review

Bristol Evening Post
VAN THE MAN ON TOP FORM

With ticket prices of £80, this was always destined to be a gig to remember, but Van Morrison’s reputation for unpredictability is the stuff of legend so nobody was taking anything for granted.

In the run-up to this rescheduled gig, there was much talk of the curmudgeonly singer playing tracks from his seminal 1968 album Astral Weeks, as he had recently done in New York and London.

The hefty ticket prices - almost twice what they were the last time he played the venue - certainly suggested the prospect of something as special as a rare airing of his most famous work.

Dressed in his trademark dark suit, black fedora and aviator shades, Morrison walked on stage on the stroke of 8pm with his seven-piece band and he clearly meant business from the outset.

With no acknowledgement of the rapturous reception that greeted him, he sat at the grand piano and launched into Northern Muse (Solid Ground), a track from his lesser known 1982 album Beautiful Vision.

Moondance, one of his most famous songs, came next and then he picked up the guitar for I Like It Like That, a song recorded by his original band Them.

With a career spanning almost 50 years, this fiery Belfast singer songwriter has a vast back catalogue to choose from and he picks the set list as he goes along, depending on his mood. Not even the band know what’s coming next and there is always an air of tension in his performances.

It soon became clear that he was in a more reflective mood and he cherry-picked several tracks from his underrated mid-career albums of the late Seventies and Eighties.

These included some of his more spiritual songs: Queen of The Slipstream and The Mystery (both from 1987’s Poetic Champions Compose) and the magnificent track In The Garden from the 1986 album No Guru, No Method, No Teacher, an epic song during which Morrison brought the volume of his skin-tight band down so low that you could hear a pin drop before raising the roof again.

And there were even more gems to come - a brilliant version of Into The Mystic from the classic 1970 album Moondance and a superlative rendition of And The Healing Has Begun from 1979’s Into The Music, with Morrison playing some mean electric guitar, slapping his instrument like a man a fraction of his 63 years.

After 90 minutes, Morrison left the stage, having not acknowledged the audience or uttered a word all night.

Before the band had chance to leave the stage, he returned to play some improvised bluesy harmonica before going straight into a raucous version of Gloria, which had the audience to its feet and still dancing as he slipped away again and the lights came up for good, job done.

OK, a tad disappointing if you had paid £80 expecting to hear Astral Weeks, but this was Van Morrison on top form and to see this legendary singer at such close quarters, rather in the large arenas he could play, has to be worth every penny even if he doesn't acknowledge it himself.
-Mark Taylor

Here' Bern's Report:
Still totally blown away this morning - hard to grasp that he did Fair Play, and it was an awesome performance as well. Someone said to me after that they came to hear the voice but the musical ending to that song was fantastic!
Also In the Garden, and a sincere version too. Much chat afterward about the last time he did this live. I recall him saying once that he didn't sing it any more because he no longer believed in god. Foreign Window and Into the Mystery and Slipstream where also big moments for me. This AW stretch is certainly getting him reconnected with some of his best work.

And not one AW song in the 90 minute set!

Van and slimmed down band certainly delivered for me.
-Bern

Correspondent Gordon checks in:

Briefly... a great gig. Solid Ground with Van on piano then Moondance and in no particular order .... a wonderful version of In the game, Fair Play (!!), Queen of the slipstream, The mystery song freom poetic champions (sorry I'm tired... whats your excuse), In the garden, (not played live for a while), A filler Magic time, the one about sleeping on a pallet on the floor in the palace of the lord (brilliant), NGMT (also brilliant), also Into the Mystic, Help me, and a song I could not identify.

That's all for now must chill as I am in work tomorrow - everyone was on a buzz about so many people from all over and that just added to the evening - cheers Van and all Vanatics for a great evening... enjoy Cardiff !!
-Gordon Home "in Bristol"

Setlist :
Nothern Muse (Solid Ground)
Moondance
Fair Play
Foreign Window
The Mystery
Help Me
Have I Told You Lately
All In The Game
In the Garden
Queen of the Slipstream
Into the Mystic
Magic Time
Healing Has Begun
Mystic Eyes/Gloria

Big Hand For The Band!
Paul Moran
Richie Buckley
Tony Fitzgibbon
Bobby Ruggiero
David Hayes
Jay Berliner
Sarah Jory