01-May-10 Woodlands Pavilion, Houston Concert Review
Culture Map
Brief but beautiful: Inscrutable Van Morrison lets his music do the talking

Houston fans of the musical icon Van Morrison have waited decades for his return to the Bayou City. On Saturday night, Morrison rewarded their patience with a performance showcasing popular favorites, deep album cuts, and even a nod to The Houston Kid, Rodney Crowell. Some may grumble because Morrison sang only 16 songs and hardly acknowledged the audience, but for singer's diehard fans, it was worth every minute he was onstage.Anticipation was high for Morrison’s show at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion. Motivated by advance warning from promoters that there would be no opening act and that no alcohol would be sold after the performance had begun, fans began filing in to the outdoor arena early on the balmy Houston evening.The first arrivers appeared mainly of a vintage that might have embraced Morrison’s early albums when they were initially released in the Sixties. But by the time the show began, the crowd had taken on much more of an all-ages feel – testament to the lasting appeal of Morrison’s work. The Belfast Cowboy took the stage promptly at 8:02 p.m., attired nattily in a bespoke black suit with pocket square, fedora, and aviator sunglasses. Perhaps surprised by such punctuality, many fans were still streaming into their seats throughout the opening song, “Northern Muse (Solid Ground).” The seats were all filled and the hill was packed when Morrison followed with a crowd-pleasing “Brown-Eyed Girl.”During a show in which stage patter was virtually nonexistent and the only visible décor appeared to be a prominent intertwined “VM” on his mic stand, the inscrutable Morrison let his music do the talking. Songs from his early works included “Fair Play” (from the critically acclaimed 1974 album Veedon Fleece), “Help Me” (from the 1974 live album It’s Too Late To Stop Now) and the 1970 classic “Moondance.” He also drew from more recent albums, including two songs from the 2008 release Keep It Simple (the title track and “School of Hard Knocks”).Morrison was in fine voice, especially on highlights such as “The Philosopher’s Stone” and “All Work and No Play.” The latter was followed by a pleasant but inexplicably aborted version of “Choppin’ Wood.” The lone song from Morrison’s masterpiece Astral Weeks (reprised on a 2009 live concert recording from the Hollywood Bowl) was “Ballerina,” performed with gusto toward the end of the set.Minutes later, after a quick check with his band— “Does everybody know this song?” he asked — Morrison uttered essentially his only comment to the audience all evening. “This is a country song by Rodney Crowell,” he said, launching into a beautiful version of “Till I Gain Control Again,” which he covered on his 2006 album Pay the Devil. Adding this popular favorite from a native son was a nice touch for the Houston audience.Backed by a crack six-piece ensemble, Morrison switched from piano to saxophone to guitar to harmonica with ease Saturday. But as always, his rich, expressive voice created the magic. In his new book, When That Rough God Goes Riding: Listening to Van Morrison, cultural critic Greil Marcus describes how Morrison uses words within his songs as opportunities for performance.
“The only time I pay attention to words is when I’m writing a song, and after that, I let the words loose,” Marcus quotes Morrison as saying in 1978. “I’m not singing words, I’m singing syllables.” Marcus notes, “He’s trying to find the moment in a song when words and rhythm and melody and orchestration come together and you can set yourself free from the words.”For 96 minutes, it all came together for Van the Man on Saturday night. Sure, it would have been nice to hear more songs. When Morrison and the band left the stage, the audience, clearly eager for the show to continue, stood and applauded long after house lights came up and the technical crew began to break down the set. Even the shuttle drivers seemed surprised things had wrapped up so quickly. “I’ve never seen a show here end so early! And no encore?” one driver was heard to remark as the crowds filed out.Nope, no encore. But after all this time, it was a welcome return by one of the most significant figures in the history of popular music.
-Susan Darrow

Houst Chronicle
Does a legend owe his fans an encore? Or even a hello?
Van the Mumblin' Man Morrison apparently doesn't think so. Nor was he compelled to let his audience -- which might have been the world's largest 40th high school reunion -- wallow in nostalgia Saturday night at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in the Woodlands.
With a tight six-man band behind him and often featured in solos, Morrison conceded just a few chestnuts in a concert that was heavy on blues and jazz compositions. It all sounded very Van Morrison-y (a good thing), but they became repetitious, with few tunes you could lock onto.
Or lyrics, for that matter. Morrison's singing is pretty much consonant-free these days. If you didn't know his songs already, you weren't going to learn the words here. Age has put some gravel in his voice, although he hasn't lost anything in the soul department. And when he scats, well, you don't mind so much that you paid $50 to sit on the hill, or that you couldn't buy a beer ($11!) after 7:50 p.m., or that he didn't take off his Ray Bans.
Among the nods to memory lane: Brown Eyed Girl got the audience giddy early, then not too long afterward came a jazzy rendition of Moodance. Later came Ballerina, wafting between moodiness and hard-driving rhythms. Then there was the long, bluesy-jazzy The Healing Has Begun -- which turned out to the be finale. A great song, but ironically it didn't leave the audience feeling very healed, since Morrison decided he'd had a night and left the band to finish things off.
The Philosopher's Stone had great energy, and the cover of Rodney Crowell's Til I Gain Control Again was one of the night's most soulful songs. "This is country song by Rodney Crowell I recorded a couple of years ago," he said beforehand.
Which was the only full sentence he uttered all night. He may have said "thank you" after one or two songs -- and he mumbled something at one point that sounded like "are we having a good time." Otherwise, he let his music do the talking -- with just a few minutes on the piano to start, then turns on sax, harmonica and guitar. The harmonica said plenty.
Oh, yeah. He said, "Give a hand to the band" as he left the stage. But he didn't introduce them, so we'll do that here: Jay Berliner, electric guitar; David Hayes, double bass; Bobby Ruggiero, drums; Tony Fitzgibbon (the youngster of the bunch), violin, viola; Richie Buckley, flute, saxophone; and Paul Moran, grand piano.
You've gotta respect Morrison's drive to keep moving forward rather than looking back. But would it kill him to be grateful?
-Molly Glentzer

A reader sent in this review:
I attended the show in Houston last night--section 106 row D. This was a tough show to assess by the end, and I'm still debating it a bit this morning.

The first two-thirds was enjoyable enough. The show had a solid start with Muse. Van was active and sounded good while supplying some nice "Van" moments along the way. If I was to complain, the flow of the songs was a bit monotonous (slow, fast, slow, fast, etc.). Also, the band was not always as tight as it could have been and some bugs still need to be smoothed out.

Then we came to Chopping Wood, according to the published set list anyways--I was not familiar with this song. I really liked the song but Van seemed fidgety throughout. It appeared to end normally, but then the band started up again (strange) only to end suddenly (and not too cleanly) after less than a minute of the reprise. Not sure what was going on.

But, what followed was Philosopher's Stone and you could feel Van kick into a higher gear right away. The band and audience fed off the energy boost. A great Ballerina was next. In fact, the back-to-back Stone and Ballerina earned Mr. Morrison his pay last night. Then came Help Me, the best blues cover of the night, as it should have been after all these years, with an almost overly-heavy Green Onions-like beat. I thought his nod to Houston native Rodney Crowell, with Till I Gain Control Again, was a poignant moment. A wonderful And The Healing Has Begun followed and turned out to be a fitting end to the show.

The most disappointing part of the show was how it ended. Healing was going great. He wandered over near the piano while a technician fiddled with a monitor or something (none of this disrupted the song from my perspective) and then suddenly he waves to the crowd, says something like "how about the band" and shuffles off the stage still singing. The band closes strong and the show abruptly ends.

Are you kidding me? We needed one more great performance. Following Healing with Cypress Avenue to close would have made this a great show rather than an okay show with a fantastic five-song stretch.

I rate the show C+ or B-, but it would have been a solid "A" with just one more great performance. Could we please go back and get Cypress Avenue?!?!?

Also, while there were enough in the crowd who enjoyed the show, many, like with Dylan, were expecting a greatest hits show that sounded like their CDs. Oh well.

Thanks for the web site and to the set list contributors.
-EDC

Setlist:
Northern Muse (Solid Ground)
Brown Eyed Girl
Fair Play
Talk is Cheap
Waiting Game
Moondance
Keep it Simple
School of Hard Knocks
Little Village
All Work. No Play
Choppin' Wood (abort)
Philosopher's Stone
Ballerina
Help Me
Till I Gain Control Again
And The Healing Has Begun

Big Hand For The Band!
Jay Berliner-electric guitar
David Hayes-double bass

Bobby Ruggiero-drums

Tony Fitzgibbon-violin, viola

Richie Buckley-flute, saxophone

Paul Moran-grand piano