25-Sep-09 Hard Rock, Las Vegas Concert Review
Vegas News
Morrison, wearing his iconic black Fedora and dark sunglasses, performed some of his greatest tunes and demonstrated his powerful and dynamic vocal prowess as the audience hung on every note. At times you could hear a pin drop in the Joint as he skatted and whispered out some of his vocals and then slowly and soulfully built them up into soaring powerful deliveries that got the crowd on its feet and into full roaring applause and cheers.

The sold out crowd was fully engaged with Morrison throughout. He was in full command of the stage, his large backing band and the gold microphone and gold microphone stand embellished with the initials VM. Morrison also played piano, guitar, saxophone and harmonica throughout the show.

Highlights included the tunes In The Garden, Moondance ( a jazzy version reminicent of classic Miles Davis and Art Blakey tunes), Gloria, And The Healing Has Begun, That's Life and Have I Told You Lately?
- Erik Kabik


Here's Chris W's review:
Van really came to sing at the Hard Rock tonight. The first half of the show was simply sublime. He stretched every song out and seemed to be in that spiritual "higher plane." The Voice and the band were in total sync. The newly renovated Joint was somewhat cavernous but this is Vegas. They obviously had unlimited bucks to spend on sound, lights, video screens, etc. and it showed.

Highlights included a beautiful Fair Play, In the Garden, Foreign Window, and Mystery. His tone wandered a bit at the beginning of Slipstream but he brought it back into another drawn out triumph.

Then he went into the real VM "Workshop," All in the Game and he seemed to be impossibly taking it into an even higher realm. He brought the end of "You Know What They're Writing About" to a whisper and started backing away from the mic. The applause quickly built to a crescendo, Van looked up, I think a little disgusted, and abruptly ended the tune. I think the string of medium- to
slow-tempo relatively obscure tunes proved too much for the alcohol-fueled casino crowd.

Next thing you know the band is walking through a perfunctory Moondance (standing ovation) followed by Help Me. He walked off the stage at the end of a well-sung And the Healing Has Begun and we wondered if we would get BEG, Gloria or both. Instead he did Common One with Richie before the usual Gloria closer. It was just about 90 minutes at the end of the last drum crash so I figure he needed another (somewhat longer) song to add to the "encore." The crowd waited
around for a long time thinking they could bring the band back with more applause. They didn't know that Van was probably at the airport before the end of Gloria. Admittedly, the airport in Vegas is pretty close.


Half of one of the best shows I've ever seen is pretty good. Am I too greedy to have wanted a whole one?
- Chris

Setlist
Northern Muse (Solid Ground)
That's Life
Fair Play

The Mystery
Foreign Window
In The Garden
Queen of the Slipstream
Moondance
Help Me
Have I Told You Lately
And The Healing Has Begun

It's All In The Game/You Know What They're Writing
Common One
Gloria

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

{Images via Steven Lawton & Erik Kabik}