More North American Shows Added In September & October

25-Sep-09 Las Vegas, NV - The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel

26-Sep-09 Wells Fargo Theatre, Denver

29-Sep-09 Chicago, IL - Chicago Theatre

30-Sep-09 Toronto, CA - Massey Hall

01-Oct-09 Montreal, CA - Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier

JUST ADDED
02-Oct-09 Toronto, CA - Massey Hall

24-Oct-09 Waterbury, CT, USA Palace Theater

25-Oct-09 New York, USA Wamu Theater

28-Oct-09 Mashantucket, CT, USA MGM Foxwoods

San Francisco Examiner Interview With Shana Morrison

San Francisco Examiner
Shana Morrison’s back making music

Shana Morrison’s famous father, Van Morrison, has had a rather high profile lately, not only with his special “Astral Weeks” concerts, but in countless interviews the usually quiet Celt has granted to promote the rare events.

“Every magazine, every newspaper, every TV show — my dad’s there,” Shana says. “He talked to more press in the past year than in the previous 20 years combined. People were running up to me going, ‘Did you know Van’s on “Regis” right now?’ He surprised everybody.”

Shana — a blustery blues belter in her own right — often accompanies her father onstage. But not this time.

In fact, since the 2007 solo disc “That’s Who I Am” on her own Belfast Violet Records, the Mill Valley resident has kept an almost nonexistent profile locally; she’s finally emerging Sunday in her hometown with the Hippie Chick Twang SheBang, a special in-the-round evening with three other songwriters, Kim McLean, Devon O’Day and Eve Selis.

Where exactly has she been for the past two years?
For a hint, Morrison points to her once flaming red mane, now trimmed shoulder-length short and dyed a more timid brown.

For months now, she says, she’s been living the office life in Palo Alto, working 60 hours a week for a new Internet startup that prequalifies prospective employees for high-tech positions.

“Companies like Yahoo and Google have so many applications coming in, so we screen them through our Web site,” she says. “They want to be a Java programmer? They do the Java test. And we also do personality tests, math and logic and English tests.”

The singer only returned to Mill Valley, and her songwriting, a month ago.

“As a musician, you have to diversify,” Shana says. “You wear different hats, do different jobs to balance everything out. And it’s great to take my mind off music for awhile. When I come back, I’m always refreshed and reinvigorated.”

That’s how she hit on her novel SheBang concept, an evening of serious female composers trading songs and stories that’s already wowed Nashville. O’Day even launched an Internet radio station at live365.com called the Hippie Chick Twang Cast, featuring similar artists.

It feels great to be back, says Shana, who actually took some of her company’s tests before she left.

“I got a bad grade on the English one,” she says. “And then I did the personality test, and the results said, ‘You should never attempt to do anything creative, and you will never be a leader.’ So I’ve wasted my entire life!”
-Tom Lanham

IF YOU GO
The Hippie Chick Twang SheBang with Shana Morrison
Where: Throckmorton Theatre, 142 Throckmorton, Mill Valley
When: 7 p.m. Sunday
Tickets: $18 to $25
Contact: (415) 383-9600, www.142throckmortontheatre.com

New Van Morrison Documentary, To Be Born Again, To Be Released in Early 2010
Rolling Stone
What started as a few shows to revisit Van Morrison’s 1968 classic Astral Weeks — an album he’d never previously performed live — has blossomed into a much larger celebration of the LP. First, Morrison turned a November 2008 performance in Los Angeles into the live film/album Astral Weeks: Live at the Hollywood Bowl. Now he’s on a full-blown Astral Weeks tour that will run at least through this fall, and there are more related releases in the near future: Morrison is so dedicated to his Astral Weeks revival that fans will be able to witness the entire year-long process of rediscovering the record in the forthcoming feature-length documentary To Be Born Again.

The film, slated for an early 2010 release, will draw from live performances, interviews, rehearsals and other behind-the-scenes footage, starting with the first Hollywood Bowl shows last fall. The doc features footage shot exclusively during the past year, and Morrison (who’s directing) is looking forward to finally telling his story the way he wants it to be told. “The film shows the real Van Morrison,” explains Darren Doane, the filmmaker who co-directed the Live at the Hollywood Bowl concert film and will be working alongside Morrison for the documentary. “It’s his film. And the film is about exposing and tearing down all the myths about Van Morrison and the music industry as a whole.”

Watch Preview of To Be Born Again

For Morrison, Astral Weeks — an album that sold poorly for years and was neglected by his record company upon its release — has stood as a metaphor for his long history of breaking boundaries and pushing artistic limits. “It received no promotion from Warner Bros. — that’s why I never got to play the songs live,” he told Rolling Stone last November. Reclaiming the album as his own through thrilling live performances during the past year has been a liberating experience for Morrison, whose recent Astral Weeks shows have been some of the most inspired performances of his whole career. Using Astral Weeks as his spiritual and artistic focus, Morrison has been revisiting other similarly overlooked portions from his immense catalog, performing breathtaking versions of rarities “Fair Play” and “Streets of Arklow” from the underappreciated 1974 album Veedon Fleece at recent shows in the Northeast.

As for other projects in the works, Morrison is, as always, writing new material but remains focused on his Astral Weeks revival, gearing up for a set of U.S. shows this fall while he puts the finishing touches on To Be Born Again. As Doane explains, the film will be “just one more aspect of Van creating.” As director of the film, Van Morrison is behind all of the creative decisions for the documentary and the film should unmistakably be a product of Morrison’s artistic vision. As Doane puts it, “It’s another 90-120 minutes of pure Van art.”
-Jon Bernstein The Pretender

08-Aug-09 Atlantic City Concert Review

Here's Dan's review:
Nicer venue at Caesars than expected, especially with the name Circus Maximus. About 1,600 seats and a potent, crystal-clear sound system. Much more definition in the instruments and voice than at the DAR in DC. No changes from the Friday night DC setlist, except for Game added in early part of set and Gloria to end the gig. It was another superb performance that was both deeply serious and irresistably joyous and upbeat. Van has broken out that sweet humming he does for these gigs.



The audience was along for the ride, and seemed to enjoy every minute of it. Van and the band's presentation has been so quietly dramatic that the audiences have been allowing Morrison to work deeply and mine whatever improvisational vein he wishes.

Morrison's band has been called on to improvise as never before, and all these wonderful players have risen to the challenge. Van and Jay Berliner were going at it so juicily during Ballerina that Morrison laughed in delight. Tony Fitzgibbon and Richard Buckley have been their usual excellent selves, and all the band deserves to be name-checked.

Last night's Arklow locked into a deep Celtic blues. Foreign Window featured Van "sleeping on a pallet on somebody's floor". In Madame Joy George, he warns about the "frickin cops". In Slim Slo, Morrison rhapsodized about the Rock Island Line "a very fine line" and also evoked memories about emerging from the German doctor's office with some railway carriage charms and feeling like he was "walking on air. One pill to take you up, two to take you back down."Sweet Thing into Burning Ground was a showcase for Van's emotional control and power.

This was a marvelous run of gigs, save the runt on Thursday in DC. Boston was magical; 2nd Night DC may have been the most beautiful show I have ever heard from Van; and Atlantic City was filled with a life-affirming sense of wonder. Looks like the train shows no signs of stopping through the rest of the summer and into the days of the leaves.
-Dan M.

Setlist:
Northern Muse (Solid Ground)
Fair Play
The Mystery
Foreign Window
Streets Of Arklow/You Don't Pull No Punches
All In The Game
In The Garden
Astral Weeks
Beside You
Slim Slow Slider
Sweet Thing>Burning Ground
Cyprus Avenue
The Way Young Lovers Do
Ballerina
Madame George
On Hyndford Street
Gloria

Big Hand For The Band!
Tony Fitzgibbon
Richie Buckley
Michael Graham
Terry Adams
Bobby Ruggiero
David Hayes
Jay Berliner
Paul Moran
Rick Schlosser

[Image via Taylor Hill/Getty Images]

NPR
Van Morrison Revisits His 1968 Classic
(Audio Below)

Van Morrison's 1968 Astral Weeks is perhaps the seminal album of the folk-rock genre. Morrison has described the album as a series of short stories and impressions, some gathered from his time spent in New York and Cambridge, Mass.

"It's just impressions, basically, things people were saying," Morrison says. "Songs come from strange sources."

But when Morrison approached his record label with the album, they almost shelved it.

"All they did was release it," Morrison says. As they call it in the music business, the album was 'buried.' That was kind of the order of the day. You just got ripped off — that's just the way it was."

The Album That Would Not Go Away

But over the years, the album kept coming up. It was a perennial favorite in polls with titles like "What is the greatest album of all time?" On the other hand, Morrison himself had been content to forget the album ever happened.

"It was suppressed in my memory," Morrison says. "As far as I was concerned, it just didn't exist."

Now, the album has an almost mythological status in pop culture. Everyone from Glen Hansard to Johnny Depp has talked about how it changed their lives.

"I don't know what to say because it didn't change my life," says Morrison. "I don't know what to make of [the mythology]. It's like any sort of art form — it's whatever it means to you."

Morrison's cynicism goes further.

"Rock is a brainwash — I think that's where your mythology goes back to," Morrison says. "It's the most pretentious area in music. It's got singers who don't really sing."

In any event, this year Morrison will be touring select cities and performing every song from Astral Weeks. But he says not to expect the sound of his 1968 recordings from his live performances.

"I'm not this 21- or 22-year-old guy," Morrison says. "You move on."

-Guy Raz

07-Aug-09 Washington, DC Concert Review


The Baltimore Sun's Midnight Sun Blog has a review of the show.

Here is Mark's review:

Van Morrison performed Astral Weeks last night for a very appreciative Washington DC crowd at DAR Constitution Hall. My wife and I arrived at DAR around 7:30pm and we immediately snagged a $35 Astral Weeks tour T-shirt (seems to be a leftover from the Hollywood Bowl and NYC concert runs). We got to our seats (Row G Orch) which were really second row just to the left of the grand piano. Our view of the entire Astral Weeks orchestra was somewhat obstructed but we could see Van the entire show. Couldn't see the drummer or the violinist very well due to the piano blocking the view. We did a great close up view (about 15 ft. away) of Van at the piano during the opening tune, Northern Muse (Solid Ground). That was a treat!

We sat next to several folks from North and South Carolina who had made the car trip up to Washington DC. Very nice Van Fans! We also chatted with the security guy who was at the foot of the stage. He spoke of last night's (Thurs) concert and how he only recognized the two "60s songs" at the end of the show! (BEG and Gorilla). So, I was certainly expecting that we would get at least Mystic Eyes/Gorilla as the encore. As you will read later on encores were not in Friday's "Astral plans".

At 8:10pm the house lights went dark and band members took the stage quickly followed by our hero, Van The Man. Van took his seat at the grand piano and began the beautiful slow arrangement of Northern Muse (Solid Ground). I really enjoyed this version and it was fresh to our ears. The show was off to a great beginning!

Next up was Fair Play. My wife and I have dreamed for decades of hearing anything off of Veedon Fleece and we finally were given the opportunity last night. The sound was lush and so romantic. Van's vocal chords opened up fully during Fair Play and you could not help but surrender to the beauty of it all. I was in a trance already. Lots of fans stood at the end of Fair Play and applauded. Van was "2 for 2" and batting 1.000 coming out of the box.

Fair Play was followed up by a mediocre reading of The Mystery. Van never "let himself go" and did not probe the mysteries of this song. It was a very straightforward rendition and he was too fidgety and distracted by something going on with the sound. He asked for his microphone levels to be turned up several times with hand gestures and few of his little barking commands. Oh well, two for three at the point.

Foreign Window was next! NGNMNT is a fave of ours and my wife and I smiled at each other upon hearing the opening notes.....this one was done perfectly! Van gave it his all and seemed to be enjoying the sounds coming from the band. Van really concentrated on the vocal beauty of the song. Some very nice improv passages towards the end of Foreign Window.

Back to Veedon Fleece and a rousing rendition of Streets of Arklow (with a snippet of You Don't Pull No Punches tacked on the end for good measure). Van and the band absolutely nailed this one. The flute, the violin, the piano, the guitar were all featured. Lush lush lush and again you just had to surrender to the beauty of this masterpiece. We were in heaven. About half the audience stood to clap at the end.

Next up was a breathtakingly beautiful rendition of In The Garden (back to NGNMNT). I was lucky enought to have seen Van on the NGNMNT tour at Wolf Trap in Vienna, Virginia July 1986, and this 2009 version was even better than the 1986 version. There are really no words to describe the connection that Van made with the audience last night during In The Garden. It was absolutely unreal. The entire crowd was in a trance during the whispered ending. Again, a majority of the crowd stood at the end to show their appreciation for this masterpiece. Van was batting 5 for 6 on the pre Astral warm up songs.

Now on to Astral Weeks:

By now everyone has at least heard the live version of AW at the Hollywood Bowl. I will try and convey what was different about last night's version.

Astral Weeks was cut a bit short. Van never got into this one last night. He seemed to rush the ending and never got into the improv section of it. Nobody transcended with Van because Van never tried to take the title track to a special place. Oh well, things got better in a hurry.

Beside You was allowed a bit more breathing room and Van got into the AW groove a bit more. His toe was at least in the water on Beside You. The band really came together as well and things started clicking towards the end of Beside You. Very well done.

Slim Slow Slider was even better than the Hollywood Bowl version - a complete connection between Van, his band, and the DAR audience. I recalled how much I enjoyed the version from the Supper Club 1996 shows, but this 2009 version was even better. (I hope that a tape of the show appears so that I can hear this one again.) My wife and I agreed that this was one of the best versions of Slim we had ever heard! Outstanding!

Next up was the surprise (and piece de resistance) of the evening..........Sweet Thing and Burning Ground. My wife and I had tears flowing at the end (tears of joy). Everyone at DAR rose to their feet at the end of Burning Ground - fans were cheering and whistling and everyone had a look of amazement and wonder on their faces. There is nothing quite like this one-two combination of Sweet Thing and Burning Ground. I witnessed the same thing in June 2004 at the Theater at MSG. Van acted out the carrying of the sack during the noonday sun! Van, the band and the crowd completely connected and we were all in a trance! My soul was on the roof of DAR Constitution Hall and I have never felt a religious experience quite like it. The dynamics of Burning Ground are pure genius. The crowd respected Van during the quiet parts and there were no yahoos yelling the rebel yell. You could have heard a pin drop. Stunning stunning stunning. Nuff said.

Next up was Cyprus Avenue. It was well done but how could anything possibly follow what we witnessed during Burning Ground. I was still thinking of Burning Ground during Cyprus Avenue! I couldn't concentrate. I wanted to hear Sweet Thing/Burning Ground over and over and live through that experience again.

Next up was a very bouncy version of The WayYoung Lovers Do. Great stuff and the band really nails it. Nice solos from everyone.

Ballerina was beautiful. This was another highlight and Van had the audience laughing during the "it's getting very very very very very late" part about the light being on the left side of your head (cheek slap and all). Van's vocal dynamics during this one were spot on.

And finally we got Madame George. A bit short and Van was clearly eyeing the exit stage left signs and was anxious to wrap things up. Nothing special about Madame George last night.

Then the troubles started. Van was not happy with the band's performance or the sound during Hyndford Street. Van was moving his microphone stand around and fussing with his sheet music and lyrics on the stand. He was clearly agitated and annoyed about something. He barked out some orders to a few bandmembers and fumbled over a few of the words during the Hyndford Street reading. He walked off to the left of the stage and never returned. The audience was left at the altar, cheering and hoping for more. The stage hands began breaking down the equipment and the stunned audience accepted the reality that there would be no encore. A very strange ending to a beautiful evening of music.

Shannon has posted her thoughts on her blog.

Setlist:

Northern Muse (Solid Ground)

Fair Play

The Mystery

Foreign Window

Streets Of Arklow/You Don't Pull No Punches (snippet)

In The Garden

Astral Weeks

Beside You

Slim Slow Slider

Sweet Thing/Burning Ground

Cyprus Avenue

The Way Young Lovers Do

Ballerina

Madame George

On Hyndford Street

Big Hand For The Band!
Tony Fitzgibbon
Richie Buckley
Michael Graham
Terry Adams
Bobby Ruggiero
David Hayes
Jay Berliner
Paul Moran
Rick Schlosser

[Image via Brian Reed/Washington Post]

06-Aug-09 Washington, DC Concert Review & Interview With Van

Washington Post
The Van Morrison who showed up at Constitution Hall on Thursday clearly views himself as an artist, not an entertainer. So anybody wanting to hear Van Morrison smash hits would have had more success finding a good jukebox or hitting an open mike night at the local coffeehouse.

But for folks who looked forward to spending the evening with a distaff diva, Van the Man delivered.

Quibblers could harp about Morrison staying away from familiar material as if it'd give him swine flu. And that he modulated his voice less than Willie Nelson and mumbled enough to owe Bob Dylan royalties. His people skills were invisible -- not so much as a hello or thanks to fans who'd paid up to $350 face value to share the room with him, and he yelled at bandmates and stagehands like Buddy Rich on a tour bus.

But, oh, what a supply of attitude and talent! An artist's supply, even.

Morrison's current tour showcases material from "Astral Weeks," a 1968 record that got him his greatest reviews, though it wasn't a big seller and had no radio hits. It's the kind of record best listened to alone in a dark room with a mildly mind-altering substance, and clearly comes from an age long before iTunes and singles downloads. In other words, "Astral" is not an obvious choice for the sort of album-centric tours that so many vintage artists are giving these days. But that's Van being Van. Backed by a large band with strings and horns, he reprised tunes such as "The Way Young Lovers Do" and "Slim Slow Slider" while being at once intense and mellow, hushed and swinging. "Sweet Thing" flaunted the Belfast-born Morrison's special brand of Celtic rhythm and blues.

(Read the rest of the review after the jump.)

Morrison, 63, has never been a poster boy for good living. Thursday night he looked like a bloated pallbearer in his dark suit, dark sunglasses and a black hat. But his voice was incredibly strong and clear whenever he wanted it to be. He didn't want it to be that often: For "Cyprus Avenue," he used his lyrics, scat-like, to send a rhythmic rather than verbal message.

Morrison treated his band and crew horribly. In the midst of "Fair Play," one of a handful of non-"Astral" tunes in the set, he decided he didn't like the tempo and screamed at his drummer to switch from brushes to sticks. Morrison was close enough to the microphone that the crowd couldn't avoid taking in the humiliation. He later summoned a roadie to the center of the stage to move microphone and music stands a few feet away from him, then screamed an obscenity at him while telling him to leave the stage. Then Morrison launched into "In the Garden," a 1986 spiritual glorious enough to get him right with god, flaws and all.

The clearest show of respect for the performer and the performance: There was no talking in the nearly full house as the band played, and, despite all the deep cuts, no shouted requests between songs for his hits. At night's end, Morrison touched on his singles file briefly, though it was so little and so late that it felt more like a taunt than a reward. He turned the band loose on "Gloria," a three-chord garage rocker that he wrote as a teenager and was later covered reverently by, among others, Patti Smith, Jimi Hendrix and another iconic Morrison, Jim of the Doors.

But the biggest surprise came with the opening notes of "Brown Eyed Girl." Given all that came earlier, Morrison couldn't have shocked the crowd more if he'd Tasered everybody. But, consistent to the end, Morrison performed his gem with apparent disdain. He sang the opening of the chorus - "Do you remember when we used to sing" - but turned his back to the seats to let the crowd take the "Sha la la la la la la la la la la ti da." He knew everybody would remember.
-Dave McKenna

Washington City Paper
Van Morrison’s gift was the ability to cop a religious experience from the little stuff—the shade of a redwood tree; Jackie Wilson on a staticky radio; a glass of water. Oh, and women—not for nothing was his first hit (with Irish rockers Them) an elision: Gloria, the chick, and gloria, the great hosanna.

That spiritual suggestibility came off rather muted on Thursday night, when Morrison brought his Astral Weeks revival tour to DAR Constitution Hall. Clad in his signature pinstripe suit, tinted sunglasses, and the fedora that’s been glued to his head for the past decade, Van addressed the audience only once—at the end, to thank the band—and otherwise seemed more concerned with PA glitches than with, say, his immortal soul.

The current tour is the first in which Morrison has performed Astral Weeks in its entirety. In certain circles, this is a big deal. And while he isn’t so much performing the songs as trotting them out, the thrill of recognition is enough to carry the suite. Chalk up some of that eeriness to the presence of Richard Davis, who played upright bass (arguably the lead instrument) on the original record. Over those freely wrought, back-turning basslines, Morrison sang with his new voice—a bark-like thing with little time for dynamics but still capable of the righteous flutter and the tearful break. But woe to he who hasn’t memorized the record: Morrison’s latter-day delivery leaves much to the imagination, lyrics-wise; and the slurs and mumbles that once seemed inspired now seem merely unavoidable. Also: A woman in front of me laughed when Morrison promised to “stroll the merry way / and jump the hedges first”; and “Beside You” now sounds vaguely like a threat.

“Northern Muse (Solid Ground),” meanwhile, had Morrison showing off his facility on the piano, and while he omitted his traditional soul-growl from “Listen to the Lion,” he blew a churning harmonica vamp on “Mystic Eyes.” Van’s still spinning a clipped cadence and being willfully inscrutable, and the through-the-nose crowd lapped it up.

Before the performance, Morrison responded by email to a number of my questions. His responses—terse and, yes, willfully inscrutable—below:

Last November, we heard that Astral Weeks at the Bowl would be a one-off. What prompted the decision to tour?

Because the Bowl was so well received, the demand grew. I originally intended just two shows in Hollywood, to get it recorded live from the stage, raw and uncut. And that was it.

While you’ve done songs like “Cyprus Avenue” in concert before, these shows are the first time you’ve played Astral Weeks in its entirety. Why never before? Why now?

Because this music is timeless, for one, and the record did not get any promotion whatsoever when it came out. These are the least performed songs in my repertoire.

One of the mysteries of Astral Weeks is the fantastic looseness of the band. On the subsequent four records—the exception, perhaps, being Moondance—your backing groups hew to a tighter, more consistent sound. Did you take a stronger hand in arrangements after Astral Weeks? How did the experience of writing and recording that album affect your approach in the studio?

Yes, their brief was to “follow the vocal.” And that was exactly what they did, under my direction.

You’ve spoken publicly about your experience with stage fright. Has that fear dissipated with age?

I do not have stage fright any more, though I had it a couple of times in the past.

How does your current lineup stack up with, say, the Caledonia Soul Orchestra or the Caledonia Soul Express? Is there a different approach on this tour?

The Caledonia Soul Orchestra was from another time when it was all about going deep into the music and nothing else.

What will your next record sound like?

Whatever my soul dictates, I suppose. Good question.

What is the first record you remember listening to? The first record you bought? The last record you bought?

The first record I remember hearing was Bing Crosby on the radio—a song called “Please.” The first record I bought was a 78 of Sonny Terry, an instrumental. I believe the last record I bought was Louis Armstrong—I buy those over and over…even if I already have it!

“St. Dominic’s Preview,” as far as I can tell, is a song about what to do once you’ve gotten what you’ve always wanted; for you, I imagined it was also about reconciling poetic integrity with commercial success. Is that fair? And can you please explain where the idea for the song came from—what is St. Dominic’s Preview?

I was writing at the time—I remember reading about a St. Donimic’s Church in San Francisco. Also, there was a French song about St. Dominic, which may or may not be relevant because songs come in such mysterious ways sometimes….

This is a hobbyist question, but I can’t help myself: If you could compose a band of any artists from any era, what would that band look like? E.g., James Jamerson on bass, Howard Johnson in the horn section…who would that be for you?

I have been around long enough to know there is no “ideal” band. Bands are very individual and work to the musical goals. The ones I might choose may or may not be able to go where I need to go or grasp where I want to be, no matter what their pedigree is. That is a loaded question…but a good one.

- Ted Scheinman

Setlist
Northern Muse
Fair Play
The Mystery
Streets of Arklow
In the Garden
Astral Weeks
Beside You
Slim Slow Slider
Sweet Thing
Cyprus Avenue
Young Lovers Do
Ballerina
Madame George
Listen to the Lion
Foreign Window
It's All in the Game
Queen of the Slipstream
Brown Eyed Girl
Mystic Eyes>Gloria

Big Hand For The Band!
Tony Fitzgibbon
Richie Buckley
Michael Graham
Terry Adams
Bobby Ruggiero
David Hayes
Jay Berliner
Paul Moran
Rick Schlosser










[Images via Taylor Hill/Getty Images]

Washington Times Interview With Van

Washington Times
Van Morrison to revisit 'Astral Weeks' in concert

Financially speaking, 1968 was a hard year for Van Morrison. "Brown Eyed Girl," the songwriter's first single as a solo artist, had become an international hit in 1967, yet a skewed record contract kept Mr. Morrison from receiving any royalty payments. Meanwhile, his label continued to push for more pop-oriented music, hoping to capitalize on the single's success.

When the founder of Bang Records died unexpectedly, Mr. Morrison managed to extricate himself from the contract that had all but bankrupted him. A partnership with Warner Bros followed, allowing greater control of his own music but little money upfront. Virtually penniless, Mr. Morrison began recording a new album in September.

"The lack of support and money did force me to do the record lean in '68," Mr. Morrison recalls via email, "but it turns out that was really to my benefit. I learned that to make a solid record, one does not have to have all the producers, bells and whistles. You just have to have the ability, the patience, the ear and the soul. If you can sing and if you write a solid song, all you need is a microphone."

Although Mr. Morrison would eventually insist on producing his own albums, producer Lewis Merenstein was brought aboard to helm the 1968 recording sessions. "I only remember him going for sandwiches," says Mr. Morrison, who nonetheless allowed Mr. Merenstein to assemble a cast of veteran jazz musicians for the project. Bassist Richard Davis, guitarist Jay Berliner and drummer Connie Kay were among those recruited, and their jazz training lent an improvised, impressionistic elegance to the album. Within one month, "Astral Weeks" was complete.

Although "Astral Weeks" never matched the sales of its predecessor, few albums have better stood the test of time. The music is simultaneously baffling and beautiful, mixing uncanny lyrics with an elastic mix of soul, jazz, Celtic folk and classical tropes. Four decades later, "Astral Weeks" continues to yield new discoveries with each listen.

Mr. Morrison claims the record could have been better, however.

"I have just started listening to some old albums of mine, and I wish I would have never let someone else ever touch my songs in post-production," he says now. Recalling his songs were "butchered and killed" in post-production, he vows, "I will never use a producer for post-production ever again; I like real and I like resonance, and that stuff kills it."

To celebrate the album's 40th anniversary — and to revive those elements that had been lost during production — Mr. Morrison has chosen to revisit the songs in concert. "Astral Weeks" had rarely been played live, since Mr. Morrison refused to perform the material without proper instrumentation. Accordingly, a new cast of jazz musicians was assembled in time for two highly publicized concerts in Los Angeles.

Despite the challenging nature of "Astral Weeks," Mr. Morrison only scheduled one rehearsal before opening night.

"I did not prepare," he says. "I did not want to touch until it was time for me to hit the stage, really. We had one rehearsal, and in my estimation it was not hot. The songs came alive in a whole new way [in concert], though. Forty years later, and I just let it rip as if it was brand new. People are saying that I made it new, which I appreciate tremendously. They noticed!"

The concerts were unanimously popular, prompting the release of a live album, "Astral Weeks Live at the Hollywood Bowl," as well as the launch of a national tour. Dubbed "Astral Weeks Live," the tour has since sold out multiple venues across the country, bringing more attention to one of the industry's most reluctant celebrities.

"I love music, I hate fame," he admits. "Fame draws in parasites and fools. I love singing, though, and this has been the irony of me doing what I do. It's difficult to reconcile the two, so I just keep doing what I do — reluctantly."

For all his discomfort on the red carpet, however, Mr. Morrison maintains a confident, commanding presence onstage. "Each performance of 'Astral Weeks 2009' has tended to have its own power and its own magic, and luckily it evolves into something different than the time before, in a good and surprising way each time. With solid songs, this is what can happen."
- Andrew Leahey

04-Aug-09 Boston Concert Review

Boston Globe
So how does Van Morrison singing Them gems “Mystic Eyes’’ and “Gloria’’ feel almost superfluous? Well, when he does those tunes after a cathartic reading of his “Astral Weeks’’ album.

Morrison and his band ended last night’s concert at the Citi Performing Arts Center’s Wang Theatre with those garage-rock paeans. And he began the show with some wonderfully introspective fare that climaxed with the spiritual knockout “In the Garden.’’

But it was Morrison’s venture back into his classic 1968 album that made the night one to remember.

Morrison first revisited “Astral Weeks,’’ a work conceived around the time he was living in Cambridge, last fall with a pair of concerts at the Hollywood Bowl that became the foundation for a live album.

Since then he has performed “Astral Weeks’’ shows sparingly and has only a handful on the East Coast this month. So without overdoing this at-times delicate, almost-always intricate piece of work, Morrison is giving the best of himself.

At the Wang, he did not simply sing the eight-song cycle; he reclaimed its themes of rebirth and awakening in a manner that dispelled criticisms he has endured over the years for seeming uninterested.

Looking fit and ready to work, Morrison arrived on stage wearing his trademark dark shades, dark hat, and dark blazer and took his place at a baby grand for “Northern Muse (Solid Ground).’’ The songs played ahead of the “Astral Weeks’’ tunes mirrored the tone and nature of the main-event material. “The Mystery’’ and “Hard Nose the Highway’’ allowed Morrison and his nine-piece band to work through vocal and solo intricacies that would later congeal beautifully around such “Astral’’ fare as “Slim Slow Slider’’ and “Sweet Thing,’’ songs that alchemize folk, jazz, and pop.

Morrison, playing guitar, sax, and harmonica, did not ape the beefed-up arrangements heard on the live album, instead reinventing the reinventions.

The song “Astral Weeks’’ here got trimmed and tightened. “Cypress Avenue’’ veered from the baroque pop of the original into a poetic flight of fancy. “The Way Young Lovers Do’’ arrived in sleek, dynamic fashion, sounding like the smash hit it should have been originally.

Morrison dramatically inhabited the songs. But as wild as Van got, his band stayed calm, easily following the leader’s every artistic twitch.

After singing “Madame George,’’ Morrison spoke the elegiac “On Hyndford Street,’’ and that’s in his heart, where the show ended.
-Scott McLennan

Boston Herald
It’s hard for old dudes to do young music. Bruce Springsteen is running out of “Born to Run” moxie. The Rolling Stones haven’t been in “Street Fighting Man” shape for years.

But Van Morrison’s “Astral Weeks” - his masterpiece made when he was just into his 20s - was never young music. From the moment Van the Man cut those eight tracks, they were immortal.

Last night at a packed Wang Theatre, Morrison and his nine-piece backing band did all of “Astral Weeks.” It wasn’t that wicked ’68 piece of wax. But it worked.

The Man emerged in black shades, hat and coat, and strapped on a shining white guitar. Plucking out feisty guitar solos and urging his band on with constant waves of his mighty hand, he growled through “Fair Play” and mashed “Streets of Arklow” into “You Don’t Pull No Punches, But You Don’t Push the River.” The three “Veedon Fleece” tunes primed the pump.

With his grand band, Morrison turned the storied LP into something big. He crowded the songs’ intimacy with long solos, swollen arrangements and rumbling, grumbling, tough vocals. Instead of trying to recreate, he interpreted - which is what he’s best at anyway, even with his own catalog.

The title track became less a mystical meditation and more an Irish barn-dance romp. Next, “Slim Slow Sider” (Morrison mixed up the album’s sequence) got the tempo right, but had a fuller sound as Morrison called more and more of his musicians into the mix. For “Beside You” and “Sweet Thing,” the formula was repeated with diminishing returns as each ended with the full band congesting the tunes.

But “Cyprus Avenue,” with its soothing harpsichord and double-bass intro, was rightly balanced. And “Madame George” was the night’s highlight. Finally commanding his band to lay back - no fiddle solos or sax jams - Van the Mystic peeled off those poetic verses.

“Down on Cyprus Avenue,” he called. Then fainter, but bell clear: “With a childlike vision leaping into view/Clicking, clacking of the high heeled shoe/Ford & Fitzroy, Madame George.”

That moment was worth the price of admission. Well, almost. Morrison tickets are as ridiculously steep as ever - you can’t see Van for less than a Benjamin.

But no one seemed to complain as Morrison encored with a classic Them medley - the only thing that got the crowd out of their seats and clapping. “Astral Weeks” is wonderful, but rumblin’, ’60s r&b is a great coda.
-Jed Gottlieb

Boston Music Spotlight
Morrison charms Boston faithful with Astral Weeks
If you came to hear mainstream hits like "Moondance" and "Brown Eyed Girl" you came to the wrong place. But, if you came expecting Van Morrison's best you were happily satisfied. And satisfied one should be with tickets going for several hundred dollars, but apparently Van Morrison shows are recession-proof as the legendary Irish star packed them in for a performance of his 1968 classic Astral Weeks along with some other choice numbers. Morrison is notorious for being off as much as he is on. Luckily, the Boston fans caught him on a night where Van the Man certianly lived up to his knickname.

Morrison started off the show on the piano for "Northern Muse (Solid Ground)" starting the show off on solid ground itself as he quickly exhibited his many vocal abilities from his rambling to his held notes born way down in his powerful frame.

For the rest of the show Morrison, dressed in his usual black coat, hat, and shades, took center stage with his white acoustic guitar belting out tune after tune while running his nine-piece band like a Jazz general as he kept to his improvisation tradition, pointing out band members whom he whished to solo. Violinist Tony Fitzgibbon often got the nod, as he did on "The Mystery" before bassist Dave Hayes took his bassline for a walk at the song's conclusion.

Morrison was animated using his hands to invoke a quick saxophone solo from Richie Buckley before he pumped his arms in anticipation of the drum fills on "Hard Nose The Highway". "Streets of Arklow" then segued into "You Don't Pull No Punches" where Morrison built up the energy with calls for several improvisations from his band before taking the song down to a whisper, getting so he quiet that he was amused enough to chuckle to end the song.

Ready to get to Astral Weeks after "In The Garden", Morrison slightly changed the original track order of the album by playing "Slim Slow Slider" , the last song on the album, after the title track opener. Fitzgibbon played a soft solo in "Slider" but got quite lively soon after during "Sweet Thing". Morrison played his harmonica for the first time during the song before taking it down for another delicate ending. He then did some pickin' along with guitarist Jay Berliner in "Ballerina" which provided one of the best jam sessions of the night.

"Madame George" finished off the Astral Weeks performance as Morrison joked, "Gimme Five!" before many fans rose to their feet in awe. The Man took off after the spoken word "On Hyndford Street" only to return a moment later for a short encore that included portions of both "Mystic Eyes" and "Gloria". The encore was appreciated but definitely felt like an afterthought. However, after Morrison exited for the evening during "Gloria" it did give the fans the chance to show their admiration for his stellar band who each individually answered every call Morrison made while sounding so sonically smooth and effortless as an ensemble.

With ticket prices costing a few Bejamins and a classic, yet commcercially unsuccessful album scheduled to be performed, this Van Morrison show surely was aimed towards the diehard fan. Those diehards who know Van Morrison knew he brought the good stuff and it's performances like this that will make fans feel like it was money well spent.
-Kevin McSheffrey

Also - check out Shannon's Blog for her thoughts on the concert in Boston.

Setlist:
Nothern Muse (Solid Ground)
Fair Play
The Mystery
Hard Nose the Highway
Streets of Arklow>You Don't Pull No Punches
In the Garden
Astral Weeks
Slim Slow Slider
Beside You
Sweet Thing
Cypress Avenue
Way Young Lovers
Ballerina
Madame George
On Hyndford Street
Mystic Eyes>Gloria

Big Hand For The Band!
Tony Fitzgibbon
Richie Buckley
Michael Graham
Terry Adams
Bobby Ruggiero
David Hayes
Jay Berliner
Paul Moran
Rick Schlosser

Thanks to Di For Setlist

Boston Herald
‘Astral’ Projection
Van Morrison revisits a landmark work

When Van Morrison ventured into the slipstream to record his legendary 1968 album “Astral Weeks,” he didn’t do it alone. Alongside the young Irish singer/songwriter were some of the top jazzmen of the day, including bassist Richard Davis, drummer Connie Kay, guitarist Jay Berliner - and one feisty, 22-year-old Concord native.

Flute and saxophone player John Payne, who now runs the John Payne Music Center in Brookline, and Morrison were both living in Cambridge in ’68. Payne wound up playing on “Astral Weeks,” a milestone in the Morrison canon that the unpredictable artist decided to re-record live last November at the Hollywood Bowl. The concert and its release on CD drew critical raves; now Morrison returns to Boston on Tuesday to play “Astral Weeks” at Citi Wang Theatre.

How did Payne and Morrison meet?

“A bass player named Tom Kilbania I knew from jam sessions asked me to come and sit in with this singer he was working with,” Payne remembered.

A jazz musician, Payne hadn’t heard of Morrison, who had scored American hits as a member of the Northern Irish band Them and on his own with “Brown-Eyed Girl.” Payne was going to skip the session, but his brother convinced him that Morrison was an up-and-coming pop star. So Payne grabbed his sax and traveled to a Boston coffeehouse called the Catacombs to check out the singer.

“As you know, Van’s short,” Payne said. “Well, I’m tall. So when I went to say hi to him he kind of went, ‘Ugh,’ and didn’t ask me to sit in. I listened to the first set and wasn’t that impressed and almost left. Then Van asked me if I wanted to sit in for the second set. Well, that was the first time I’d played with someone of his caliber. I felt that he could hear me and was responding, changing his voice as he listened to what I was playing.

“The second song we did was ‘Brown-Eyed Girl,’ and I realized that this wasn’t some song he was covering, this was his song,” Payne continued. “The next night he asked me back. After that he asked me to join the band.”

When Morrison moved to New York to record “Astral Weeks” and look for better gigs, he brought Payne with him. Payne quickly discovered Morrison was last year’s fashion and that finding work would be a hard-fought battle.

Morrison and band scored support slots for folk hero Tim Hardin and blues master John Lee Hooker, but few people showed up to see the opening act. Payne recalls playing to single-digit audiences some nights.

And he wasn’t fairing much better in the recording studio.

“I was not supposed to be on recordings (with Morrison),” Payne said. “They had some session flute player there the first night of the sessions and he was good. But being 22 and young and brash, I kept telling the producer, ‘Let’s do one more song that I can play on.’ The producer finally let me play. But I didn’t even bring my flute, so I had to borrow the other guy’s, and he wanted time and a half for just sitting there. Well, the song we did was ‘Astral Weeks.’ After that night they decided to keep me as the flute player.”

At the nexus of folk, rock and jazz, the “Astral Weeks” album is unique. Payne knew it from the moment the sessions started. The mix of Berliner’s classical guitar flourishes, Kay’s easy rhythms, Davis’ thumping, woody bass and Payne’s hummingbird flute trills formed the backdrop for Morrison’s magical, mystical Irish verse.

“People think there were a lot of rehearsals,” Payne said, “but there were no rehearsals. Zero. These musicians just came in and did it. They probably don’t even remember the sessions. They probably had two more sessions to do that day.

“And there were very few takes. The whole album was done in three sessions,” Payne added. “But these guys knew how to leave space. They knew how to pick up on what was going on and play into it. It’s the sound of something coming together for the first time.”

Payne remembers having his mind blown listening to Van become the Man from the production booth. But Payne, the unknown kid of the sessions, got to blow some minds, too.

“It was just Van, Richard Davis and I for ‘Slim Slow Slider,’ ” he said. “The take we did was maybe 10 minutes longer than what you hear on the recording. We just kept improvising; we went into some baroque stuff; Van even did some improvising on guitar. When we came into the control room everyone was completely silent. Maybe they were just tired and I’m projecting, but it was amazing.”

It likely wasn’t fatigue that floored the control room, but the interplay between the three artists. “Slim Slow Slider,” the closing cut on “Astral Weeks,” is a standout on an album of standouts.

Morrison seemed to agree: You can hear the singer give a little chuckle as Payne enters with a lilting soprano sax run.

But what was heard on the finished album is only an abbreviated version of the take. As the trio begins its strange jam, the track is cut short.

“I’d like to hear that (whole take) again sometime,” Payne said. “Someone should go to Warner Brothers and dig it up.”

As amazing as the sessions and resulting album were, the release didn’t do much to further Morrison’s career. “Astral Weeks” bombed at first.

“I’ll tell you much how much of a flop it was,” Payne said. “We used to go and try and find it for fun. We used to have to go to three or four record stores to find a copy buried in the M section.”

Eventually, Payne wanted to get back into jazz and headed back to Boston. Though Morrison and Payne crossed paths a few more times over the next couple years, including some hang time at Morrison’s house in Woodstock, N.Y., the two eventually lost touch.

Payne wishes Morrison would have called him for this “Astral Weeks” revival tour. He would have liked a chance to play with Van the Man once more, but he’s not bitter.

“I’m not sad that I’m not on (the new ‘Astral Weeks Live at the Hollywood Bowl’ album), but I don’t want to hear it now,” he said. “It’s just something that’s in the past for me.”

Well, unless Morrison calls and asks him to join the band for a few numbers on Tuesday.
- Jed Gottlieb

Van Morrison, Tuesday at Citi Wang Theatre. Tickets: $65-$350; 800-432-7250.