Van Photo Of The Day

Mid 70s

New UK Dates Announced For February & March 2012

4 more shows in UK theatres early next year:


Feb 11 – The Sage, Gateshead
Feb 12 – Barbica, York


Mar 3 – Brighton Dome
Mar 4 – Bournemouth Pavilion


Ticket pre sale is only being advertised at vanmorrison.com and is available from 9am Wednesday 30 November at http://www.ticketline.co.uk/van-morrison


Source: Van Morrison Newsletter www.vanmorrison.com

12-November-11 Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, England

Thanks to James T for sending in setlist & his review:

So it had been 4 years since I had seen VM perform at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester and I remember that it was quite a lackluster affair. I have very fond memories meeting up with Dan Murray and having a good chat with him and other Fans after the show.

4 years later VM had brought us Astral Weeks Live, a news scandal, a year long absence from the scene and just recently some UK shows. Birmingham, Liverpool (which I attended), Bristol and Cardiff. Van was due to play in Blackpool on the Friday night but for whatever reason the show was cancelled! The jury is still out on that one! So how would Van play on this chilly night in Manchester?

The simple answer: very well!

The band was noticeably more relaxed and tighter than Liverpool and Van was leading them in a very positive way. His arm movements were clear and direct; there was little confusion of who was in charge!

The set list was very similar to recent shows so I won’t go in to too much detail.

The highlights were:

Jay Berliner – what an amazing guitarist, he really lifts VM game and the whole band responds to him. His frantic style and technique is awesome to behold. VM keeps him on his toes – at point Jay repeated a technique and Van stared at him blankly as if to say “yeah, you already did that earlier!” Jay responded with another brilliant improvisation. Vans face cracked a smile. A Lovely moment!

Fair Play – another early stretch out – a great showcase for the band, all members getting solos. The show took off from this point.

The Mystery – great to hear this live. I would have liked Van to have built the vocal more but his singing was forceful from the very beginning.

I Can’t stop loving you – A surprise, although there have been better versions. This was very welcome and the crowd responded well.

All in the game – there has been much discussion about the mantra at the end of recent versions of this song. Hats off to Van, he did it again! I didn’t think it was possible after Liverpool’s relentless performance clocking in at nearly 12 minutes. Well this was equally jaw dropping and the pinnacle of tonight’s performance for me. No plan B – No safety net. Brilliant to hear this new material – will it end up on an album? Fingers crossed!

In the Garden – Sheer magic! Nuff said!

Help me – No encore tonight but I wasn’t surprised as Van must have started this song after the 90 minutes anyway. This was an intense and souring version which left the band to wrap up with a rousing and loud finish.

Lowlights – The audience was up and down like Yo-yos – do these people have money to burn?

I don’t personally care about the cost. As long as Van continues I will try to see him live. He has well and truly proved that he’s still got it!

-James T.

Setlist

Baby, Please Don't Go

Here Comes The Night

Brown Eyed Girl

Higher Than The World

Magic Time

The Mystery
Fair Play

Real Real Gone

I Cant Stop Loving You
Crazy Love

Young Lovers Do
Moondance

All In The Game

In The Garden

Ballerina

Into The Mystic

Help Me

Van Morrison Adds Belfast & Dublin Shows in February 2012

03-February-12 Odyssey Arena
Belfast, N. Ireland
With Special Guest: Shana Morrison

04-February-12 The O2
Dublin, Ireland
With Special Guest: Shana Morrison

Check vanmorrison.com for the latest updates.

23-September-2011 St. David's Hall, Cardiff, Wales

South Wales Echo
With a reputation for unpredictability that precedes him like the proverbial elephant in the room, you’re never quite sure what sides of the enigmatic but glacial Northern Irish musical legend you’re about to encounter in the live arena.


Van the Man had already got tongues wagging by charging a £100 top ticket price for his Cardiff show, seemingly unfathomable in an area mired firmly in recession.


As a result there were a fair few gaps in the auditorium, although it has to be said the most expensive seats were full of Morrison aficionados urging on their hero.


Dressed in trademark hat and shades, the iconic tunesmith didn’t utter a single word to the audience throughout the show.


But then I guess with songs as great as his, he can let the music do the talking.


And what a set he delivered.


Opening with a lithe, freeform version of Moondance, the ‘70s classic set the standard for all that was to come.


Stood behind a mic stand which bore his only concession to rock ‘n’ roll ego – the gold letters V and M – he took us and his hugely-skilled seven-piece band on an exhaustive 100-minute run through his glittering back catalogue.


Van’s players orchestrated his sublime work with the verve and interpretative skills of a jazz outfit as the maestro changed the direction of songs with a mere flick of his hand, while his band played on their nerves and their talent to mine a rich groove at their master’s request.


It was an unforgettable evening choc full of his greatest compositions. Brown Eyed Girl, Real Real Gone, Have I Told You Lately That I Love You, In The Garden, Ballerina and an especially sumptuous Little Village all wore the rosy glow of the warmest of hypnotic songwriting – a delicious collision of stunning soul, jazz, roots and blues.


A blistering Gloria brought proceedings spinning to a spellbinding close as we were left dazed and beautifully bruised by the experience.


So the iceman cometh and frankly he melted our hearts.
-Dave Owens

South Wales Argus

Van Morrison made a no frills enterance at 7.45 prompt,strapped on his sax and from the start, left the audience in no doubt as to who was running the show.

He directed his technically perfect seven-piece band with no more than a hand-movement, and from the first riveting notes of Moondance, to his finale,Gloria, when he made a James Brown, prompt exit with no encore we knew we were in the presence of a master.

What had come between those two songs two songs was something else. Indulging himself and his band and turning St David's Hall into an intimate jazz club, the set-list was nothing short of impressive.Hhe included Song of Home, Real Real Gone, Plan B, and of couse the classics, Crazy Love, Brown Eyed Girl and Have I Told You Lately The spiritual In the Garden was amazingly good, with Van just breathing into the microphone for over a minute whilst the band played on. An impromtu rant at Twitter and Facebook provided a tinmely extra verse to Talk is Cheap.

At 65, this is a man firmly at the top of his game, the concert was nothing less than extraordinary.

-Steven Healy

Ivo sent in this review

Something extraordinary happened in Cardiff yesterday after the ‘Finsbury Park band’ had taken the stage in front of a by far not sold out St. David’s Hall crowd, played a rather mediocre Moondance, and kicked off Higher Than The World (yes, Higher Than The World). Pure bliss filled the air, and that resulted some 50 minutes of musicianship of the absolute highest level, after which some 40 minutes of ‘just’ great music followed.

I’ve seen Van a couple of times over the past few years, and this was by far – and I mean by far – the best concert I’ve seen. Jay Berliner was back in town, and Van was clearly pleased with the way he played (Jeff Lardner and Paul Moran still got their fair share of comments along the way though).

Overall the band was very tight. It felt a bit like the jazz band Van had back in ’95, but this one is so together (a real band!) that it can take a song in any direction with the slightest of hand signals by Van. Ever heard Talk Is Cheap being whispered, with an extra verse about Facebook and Twitter? It happened yesterday. Ever heard Van just breathe for a minute, and nothing else, during In The Garden, while the band played on? It happened yesterday. And when Van says himself that it is too good to stop during Help Me, you know someone is having fun.

The absolute highlight of the evening, in my book, was You Know What They’re Writing About. Over six minutes of Van caressing, shouting, taking apart the (new?) sentences ‘It’s an assignment – There’s no plan B! No plan B!! No safety net!’, raising the level of intensity as he took them apart in very different ways, before moving to the regular ‘Meet me down by the river’ sequence.

This was a concert that demands to be heard. It was that freaking good! And … a very, very big hand for the band too. It’s the best Van has had in many a year.

-Ivo D

Setlist (Thanks To Mike S.)
Moondance
Higher than the World
Song of Home
Fair Play/Take It Where You Find It
Real Real Gone
All in The Game/You Get Your Assignment/No Plan B/No Safety Net/This is It (new material)
Talk is Cheap
Crazy Love
Little Village
In the Garden
St James Infirmary
Brown Eyed Girl
Have I Told you Lately
Ballerina
Help Me/Wanna Rock That Boat/Too Late To Stop Now
Gloria

22-September-2011 Colston Hall, Bristol, England

Long-time Van fan Pat wrote a great review on his excellent blog
Van came on stage and he has dispensed with the suit which is good and was wearing a real bad boys tight leather jacket. The opening song was MOONDANCE and i was happy to see the great Jay Berliner back on guitar with Vans band of Paul Moran on keyboards piano and trumpet, Paul Moore on bass Jeff Lardner drums Chris White sax, flute Alistair White trombone and Dave Keary on guitar. It was a nice surprise to hear HIGHER THAN THE WORLD next from Van's Inarticulate Speech Of The Heart album and Jay excelled himself with some mesmerising guitar playing. Read the rest of review here.

Setlist (Thanks Mike S.)
Moondance
Higher Than The World
Song of Home
Fair Play
In the Garden
Magic Time
Its All in The Game
Real Real Gone
Talk is Cheap
Crazy Love
Ballerina
Can't Stop Loving You
Little Village
Help Me /It's Too Late to Stop Now
Gloria

03-September-11 Empire Theatre, Liverpool, England

Liverpool Echo

VAN Morrison is certainly no Ken Dodd. Given what I’ve heard about his showmanship, so to speak, I fully expected him to come on stage, insult the audience and then sit with his back to us and play a set of songs off that dreaded ‘new album’ for 10 minutes and then walk off.

But no, Van the man, famed for his grouchiness and seeming antipathy towards his fans, was actually on relatively good form for his Empire gig on Saturday night.

Granted, he hardly spoke, but at least knew what everyone had come for and didn’t disappoint, playing some of the more famous of his songs from his 40-odd year career.

Here Comes the Night, one of his earliest hits with Them, opened up the action, with its anthemic, Rolling Stones-esque chorus. So far, so good – and he hadn’t walked off in a huff yet.

The band were stunning, a wonderful seven piece ensemble with piano, guitar, double bass, drums and brass section, as well as Morrison himself chipping in on sax and mouth organ.

 The mood was laid back, and nearly every song took on a loungey, jazzy tone, including the wonderful Crazy Love, which moved along slowly, gently, like waves lapping up against a shore.

Similarly, Into The Mystic, washed over the 1,300-strong crowd like an incoming tide.

I had been afraid Morrison would go out of his way to play things no-one wanted to hear, the way Dylan sometimes does, but no: He even belted out Moondance itself, that wonderful jazz blues pastiche which I’ll forever associate with the film American Werewolf in London.

There were plenty of dewy eyes when he turned out Have I Told You Lately That I Love You, which was undoubtedly one of the biggest favourites of the show.

His voice was on fine form: That rambling, trademark Irish drawl, interspersed with high pitched wails and the odd bit of scat thrown in. This was, as much as anything, a jazz gig, and with such a tight, albeit restrained, band behind him, all the songs seemed to melt into one, yet each retaining their own distinct flavours that made them hits in their own right.

I think at one point, he may actually have spoken to the audience, but it was unintelligible.

But it didn’t matter – the audience was in the grip of a master, a master who, despite his best efforts to make it look to the contrary, almost seemed like he was enjoying himself.

9/10: Still the man

-Marc Waddington

James Tennant sent in the following review

After walking all the way down Dale Street in search of The Ship and Mitre pub, I quickly realised that we had been walking completely in the wrong direction!  So it was with great desperation that I ordered my friend and I a much deserved pint and headed over to the corner to meet up with the many fans that had come to see Van Morrison perform at the Empire Theatre.

Discussions were positive about the previous concert in Birmingham and it seemed Van had delivered a good show. It was wonderful to meet everyone, what a great bunch of people they were! Stories were told and photos taken but it was soon time to start checking the watches and make our way over to the theatre.

The last time I had seen Van in Liverpool was in 2004 and I felt that the band had really hit their groove at that point. Van was very relaxed and the show just flowed. I thought we could be in for a good one but then I heard an announcement. The front of house manager stated sternly that the show would finish at exactly 9.15pm! Oh dear – Vans got a plane to catch! This doesn’t bode well. My friend told me to stop being negative and get a grip. Let’s get a whisky instead!

After a wee drop we took out seats. We were on the very back row but still had a great view thanks to binoculars! Almost immediately the band entered, there was a brief pause and the riff for ‘Baby Please Don’t Go’ began, the audience cheered in recognition, the lights began to fade. The riff continued but by this time the audience had stopped cheering. Where was Van Morrison? We waited some more then all of a sudden he was on. He was in fine voice although it was clear that something was not right. Van turned to the bass player and instructed him to change to upright bass, which he did – Mid song!

Next was ‘Here comes the night’, another crowd pleaser. The band settled in to find the groove but Van was still not happy. His arm gestures were very jerky and aggressive towards the drummer and Van was looking towards his roadie.  

‘Moondance’ followed and whilst van was singing and the band took their solos, the roadies moved the guitarist closer to Van.  It was after this confusion that Van picked up the sax and began to explore the music as the song was brought to its finish.

Oh dear – This was not a good start.

Well as luck would have it, ‘Fair Play’ was next. This was just wonderful; it ebbed and flowed, the band just pulsing along. Probably not the best version ever but it quickly made it clear that if this band continues with Van, they could be brilliant.

‘Magic Time’, ‘Have I Told You Lately’ and ‘Crazy Love’ added more quality to the mix. Vans voice really started to loosen up and although at this stage Vans singing had felt quite muted, it struck me that the tone in his voice tonight was very intimate and personal. Almost as if Van was just singing to one person, At times throughout the concert Vans vocals were so fragile, he could have been speaking the lyrics.

‘Talk Is cheap’ and ‘Mediocrity’ broke the romance and added some much welcomed spark and a change of tempo. Van even added an expletive at one point; however I’m not quite sure for whose benefit it was for. Maybe it was for the drummer, who was continuing to bare the brunt of Vans frustration.

‘In The Garden” was simply breathtaking and for me the moment where Van got rid of his demons, got into the music and began to enjoy himself. The climax of this song was AMAZING. Van rushed the beginning of the song quickly and got down to the meditation which faded out so that only Vans intense vocal could be heard. This is one of the best fade outs I have witnessed live; it reminded me of the famous fade from Listen to The Lion on “It’s too late to stop now”

Well maybe Van had been listening to the CD before the show because those immortal words became the mantra at the end of the best live performance of ‘All In The Game’ I have ever heard. Again Van seemed to rush the opening verses but just as I thought he would wrap up the song……he continued. Going passed the pylons; he seemed to be on the river of no return. On and on, whispering, growling, screeching and the glorious band rose to the occasion building and building to such a peak. The crowd cheered and for that moment the audience, band and Van were totally in that glorious place where it ain’t why, it just is!

How could you come down from this? Simples…..’Celtic Excavation’ provided the perfect come down. ‘Into the mystic’ surprised the audience.

A chirpy ‘Real Real Gone’ segued into ‘You Send Me’.

‘Ballerina’ was another highlight where Van taught us even more about the power of dynamics. He led band to a whisper only to suddenly bring them back up with a rollicking funky finish! Brilliant! Sheer brilliance!

I was really surprised to hear Beautiful Vision. Another good version and a solid vocal from Van.

As we neared the 9.15pm curfew I hoped Van would throw away the rule book. Alas it was not to be! All good things must come to an end and a rather strange ending it was as Van rushed through ‘Help me’ and came back for ‘Gloria’, only to shout at Paul Moran for not playing long notes…..” Play…..Long Notes……..LONG NOTES……..CHORDS!”

So we were treated to a fractious Van Morrison in Liverpool, he was in deep battle with his slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. Luckily we were left with some truly breathtaking music to remember!

-James Tennant

Alan O'Hare sent in the following review

It didn’t look good.

Empty seats dotted around, a medley opening the gig and a disinterested dance around Moondance. The sound was low too.

But then something happened.

Something that only occurs when Van Morrison is leading a band: magic in the night. The opening piano chords of Fair Play brought about a change and we were off…

The band picked up, Van sang with intensity and the song which opens Veedon Fleece so masterfully, stretched out into a joyful experience. Van twisted and turned the melody inside out and phrased “Geronimo” the way only he can.

The soundman must have picked up on the change of pace too, as all of a sudden the volume went up and the Liverpool Empire began to stir: Magic Time, Talk Is Cheap and Keep Mediocrity At Bay all got the old hall moving and it looked lime Van was starting to enjoy himself.

He moved the band closer together, pointed for solos and the night took off.

There were quirks too: calling for Crazy Love after Have I Told You Lately was mischievous; following the jazz-lounge couples favourite with a song that uses the same tricks but delivers so much more made me smile. It was a great version too.

As was All In The Game/You Know What They’re Writing About – with punchy horns, a funky tempo and fantastic singing from Van, overpowering it all with the vocals: “It’s too late to stop now…” he hollered towards the end to set spines tingling. Mind-blowing.

 

A new version of Into The Mystic followed with an extended horn intro and Van on the saxophone. It never really got going though, until the horns played that famous riff towards the end, whereas Real Real Gone and Ballerina were played pretty much straight and sounded much better for it.

Help Me was one too many blues on the night for this palette and Beautiful Vision didn’t really hit the spot but Gloria brought the house down to close.

Van Morrison’s singular vision remains and renders all discussions about his live performance redundant: it ain’t why, it just is.

And long may he run.

-ALAN O’HARE, SINGER WITH THE TRESTLES

LISTEN HERE: http://www.myspace.com/thetrestles

Setlist

Baby Please Don't Go

Here Comes The Night

Moondance

Fair Play

Magic Time

Have I Told You Lately

Crazy Love

Talk Is Cheap

Keep Mediocrity At Bay

In The Garden

All In The Game

Celtic Excavation

Into The Mystic

Real Real Gone->You Send Me

Ballerina

Beautiful Vision

Help Me

Gloria

Big Hand For The Band!

Paul Moore

Chris White
Dave Cleary

Paul Moran

02-September-11 Symphony Hall, Birmingham, England

Express & Star
Van the Man effortlessly performed almost two hours of mellow music infused with jazz, soul, R&B and blues.

Kicking off with a warmly embraced Moondance the Belfast Cowboy worked his way through his considerable back catalogue of songs with a highlight being his most famous hit Brown Eyed Girl.

Have I Told You Lately and Georgia were stand-out tracks from Van Morrison, while one surprising addition was a moving rendition of Unchained Melody.

With no trite between-song banter or vacuous small talk Van was content to let the music do the talking at last night’s concert, where top end ticket prices pushed £100.

His dexterity displayed on the guitar, saxophone and harp proved his true pedigree as a genuine living legend.

Setlist

Moondance

Fair Play

Magic time

All In the Game

Real Real Gone

In The Garden

Have I Told You Lately

Brown Eyed Girl

Into Th Mystic

Young Lovers Do

Georgia

St. James Infirmary

Ballerina

Unchained Melody

Gloria

Help Me

Big Hand For The Band

Paul Moore

Chris White
Dave Cleary 
Paul Moran

Van Photo Of The Day

San Francisco 1974

19-Jun-11 Irish Feis - Finsbury Park, London, England

Petra sent theis review

Festival Day No. 2 started with promising sunshine – no wellies needed today. The muddy grounds had dried after yesterday’s rain, cleaned from millions of beer cups, and we were fit and eager for more music to come.

Jimmy Cliff was the first gig we joined in the afternoon – who said it’s an Irish festival. The reggae sounds brought a merry Caribbean feeling to Finsbury Park in sunshine – Jimmy and his band a sight for sore eyes with their Jamaican colored drums and costumes, Jimmy dressed all in gold.

The Irish band Clannad delivered smooth harp sounds and angelic singing (a bit boring to my opinion), but then we were woken up by honest and loud folk rock from the Horslips with great e-guitar playing – music legends in Ireland all of them.

But this is the Van Morrison News Blog and, of course, the main reason why we and so many other people traveled to London from far and near is Vantheman. We hadn’t seen him since his last concerts in Germany in 2008. Van gigs in Europe had become scarce after that, and his fans around the world were worrying if he would do any more gigs at all – the latest one was at the Royal Albert Hall in London in October 2010.

So anticipation was growing extremely for the Vanatics as the scheduled time for the Van gig came … Uwe and me were lucky to stand very close to the stage, together with Mike, Brian and Alan – good company. What would be the line-up of his new band ? Which song would be the starter...  would he do a mere routine gig, grab his money and run... or a real good show which would show us that he’s back to the world?

Van was dressed in a black leather jacket and leather waistcoat, fedora and shades as usual. He seemed to be a bit annoyed with some technical issues in the beginning and I feared the worst. Would he turn round on his heel and leave the stage ? But here it came – probably the best of his gigs we joined, so far.

It was obvious from the start that Van not just meant to meet his contractual obligations as we had feared – he tried hard to deliver good quality and give his best. The band was probably not as tight as it could be – maybe they need quite a bit more rehearsals to be fit for the tour we all hope for … But with Jay Berliner playing a wonderful acoustic guitar and with a great horn section they are not far from being perfect. No harmony singers, no fiddle. The sound was beautiful where we stood - for a big event like this. The other musicians were (as far as I know - Van did not introduce the band members this time …): Alistair White on trombone, Chris White on sax, Paul Moore on upright bass, Paul Moran on keyboards and trumpet, Andy Jones (or was it Dave Keary ?) on electric guitar, Jeff Lardner on drums.

The show started with ‘Baby Please Don’t Go’ leading into ‘Here Comes The Night’ and ‘Brown Eyed Girl’ with Van playing sax and a great jazzy fade-out. Now we are through with the crowd pleasers and can focus on what really matters ... Quite smart of Van, I think. Normally the crowd shouts for the “hits” until they get them - what is annoying for everybody.

We were delighted to hear next ‘Fair Play’ from the sublime 1974 Veedon Fleece album. It faded into Van’s mumbled phrasing of ‘church bell chime’ and ‘are you there ?’.

Sounds promising – that’s exactly what we had hoped for … ‘ Real Real Gone’ was next, nice to hear this one again. ‘I Can’t Stop Loving You’ – beautiful. The inevitable ‘Moondance’ with Van and Chris on sax and Paul Moran playing a magnificent muted trumpet – a sublime version of the old standard. I began to look around and watch some faces in the audience around me. Many young people, some with Asian or African background, swaying to the music with an enchanted expression on their faces. Looks like Van is going to win over another audience generation for him …

‘Have I Told You Lately’ for once was not the awful fast Las Vegas version but sung slowly with a feeling, beautiful muted trumpet sound in the background. ‘Wavelength’ was next – never heard it live before ... ‘It’s All In The Game’ with Van playing sax again. And then a wonderful version of ‘In The Garden’ – had hoped so much to hear this one on our previous gigs years ago … This time ‘No Guru’ had an interesting lyric variation: Van sang ‘holy guardian angel’ instead of ‘holy ghost’, looking up into the bright blue evening sky when singing this line … I think listening to this wonderful song brought tears not only to my eyes … Then he murmured something like ‘Live is something completely different’ …

The only really Irish reminiscence was ‘Star Of The County Down’ getting great audience acclaim, of course. Maybe the most amazing song of this evening was his ‘Ballerina’ version ending up in an unusual rock rhythm – never heard that before.

The nightshirt in ‘Help Me’ with a harp playing Van is an indicator that the show comes to an end. A barn-storming ‘Gloria’ was last as usual – then it was done. No word to the audience – Van wanders off the stage, playing his harp while the band continues to play .. As always.

But Van seemed to be in good shape, good voice, played a lot of great sax solos and was quite obviously doing an effort to deliver a good concert. What he really did. We thought it was probably the best one of the 6 gigs we were lucky to witness, so far. Let’s hope this was the start of a new tour series … It’s Too Late To Stop Now, Van !!

-Petra

Bridgit's  review
Van Morrison - second highlight of the day - entertaining concert, the right mix of fast sing-a-longs and some jazzier standards; started with "Baby please don't go" and ended with - well, of course "Gloria"; "Moondance" could have been longer, "Star of the County Down" had a jazzy touch (reminded me of the Montreux 1990 standard); no setlist here, I'm sure somebody else will provide it... the voice is as good as ever (even though he seemed to struggle). I got pretty much to the front - great sound there, happy people but even amongst the hardcore fans you couldn't get away from the noisy drunkards bumping into you.

PS: Later at the "Twelve Pins" Irish Bar right around the corner they had some fun live music, including yet another shalala Brown Eyed Girl. All these kids were happily dancing to it and singing along. And those I asked all said that their concert highlight of the weekend had been "Van the Man".
-Birgit

Setlist (Thanks To Jordi)

Baby Please Don't Go (Van on harp)

Here Comes The Night

Brown Eyed Girl (Nice new version with good horns)

Fair Play

Real Real Gone

I Can't Stop Loving You

Moondance (Few bars of My Funny Valentine)

Have I Told You Lately (Slightly new version of this classic)

Wavelength

All In The Game

In The Garden

Star Of The County Down

Ballerina

Help Me

Gloria

Van Morrison Returns This Sunday

London Feis June 19, 2011

Photo: Norman Seeff

For line up details, tickets, announcements & news visit: www.londonfeis.com

Your Favorite Van Albums 1980-1989

No Guru, No Method, No Teacher (1986) 32%

Poetic Champions Compose (1987) 21%

Common One (1980) 13%

Avalon Sunset (1989) 10%

Beautiful Vision (1982) 7%

Irish Heartbeat (1988) 4%

Live at the Grand Opera House Belfast (1984) 4%

A Sense of Wonder (1985) 3%

Inarticulate Speech of the Heart (1983) 2%

Over one thousand votes were recorded - thanks for participating!

Your Favorite Van Albums 2000-2009

Astral Weeks Live (2009) 38%

Magic Time (2005) 21%

Down The Road (2002) 16%

Keep It Simple (2008) 11%

What's Wrong With This Picture (2003) 6%

Pay The Devil (2006) 3%

The Skiffle Sessions (2000) 3%

You Win Again (2000) 2%

Over a thousand votes were recorded - thanks for participating!

1981 Interview With Van 

by Paul Vincent

From the February 12, 1982 issue of

BAM: The California Music Magazine (issue #123)

Originally Transcribed by David Chance For The van-the-man.info website

Audio available from KMEL archives here.

Van & Paul Vincent November 13, 1981

The following interview took place at KMEL-FM's San Francisco studios in mid-November of last year. Although we don't, as a rule, reprint radio interviews, we were so impressed by the rapport between Van and KMEL jock Paul Vincent that we thought it would be fun to share this rare glimpse of Van Morrison with our readers.

Paul Vincent: How different is it being Van Morrison the artist now as opposed to Van Morrison the artist in the '60s?

Van Morrison: I think now there's a lot less emphasis on art in the music business. It's completely different. When I started there were more people like me. Now there are fewer people doing creative stuff, writing songs or whatever.

PV: Is it difficult separating music from "the business"?

VM: Yeah it is, because the business is like a fixed system now. It's gotten that way because of econimics, I guess.

PV: How do you cope with that?

VM: Well, in some way you've got to compromise. If I really did what I felt I wanted to do, it might be sort of inaccessible because, for instance, when you make an album you end up with three-, four-, maybe five-minute songs, but when I actually just play with other musicians things stretch out much longer than that, so you have to edit it and re-shape it to make it accessible for people to "get it."

PV: "Summertime In England," from Common One, was originally thirteen minutes long, and the record company released an edit of that. Does that distress you when you hear your work edited?

VM: No. That's what I'm saying--you have to do that, 'cause at the pace we live in the world we live in, that's the way it's done.

PV: You play quite a bit in the Bay Area, but you haven't toured in a while. I can understand the negative aspects of touring, but there are also the positive aspects--the reaction you get from people in different cities, and so forth. Do you miss that at all?

VM: You see, for me it was more negative than positive. I take my involvement with music as a whole thing. I was telling somebody yesterday that this album I have coming out has taken me 21 years to make. It's not just an album, something I did months ago. I don't just take it as 1981 or 1982. I've been in it for 21 years, so it's taken me 21 years to get to this point. It's accumulated experience. Getting back to the going on the road thing--I started going on the road when I was 15, so by the time I was 21 I had had enough of touring. Before I even walked in a studio all I knew was touring, one-nighters.

PV: Do you see a time when you might just write and record and not tour at all? Miles Davis, for instance, just came out of a semi-retirement of seven years to do some gigs, and there are other examples of artists who write but don't perform.

VM: It's hard to say, because it depends on a combination of things. If you're happy with the band you've got and it's really happening, you can stand to do more gigs and combat staying in hotels. But also, the economic situation of touring is outrageous at the present time.

PV: You seem to be pretty pleased with the band you have now.

VM: That's why I've been doing some gigs. We just finished the album and it was time to say "goodnight," but I realized I haven't gotten off with a bunch of musicians like this in quite a while, so I wanted to keep it happening.

PV: Many of your songs are rather complex, intricately put together. How do you write? Do you have a musical idea first, or a lyrical idea?

VM: Well, there's "A," "B" and "C." "A" is where I get the whole idea, the lyrics and the melody to the song. That's inspirational writing, which is very rare. "B" is where I get a melody or have a melody I'm working on, and I later work on words to go with the melody and the chords. And "C" is the reverse of that.

PV: Do you write on the guitar or keyboards?

VM: Guitar and piano.

PV: Do you think about your audience at all when you're writing?

VM: Not really, because you can't think about anything when you're writing except that. It's like if you're a carpenter, you can't build a shelf well if you're thinking about who you're going to sell it to. You have to build the shelf first, and then whoever wants to buy it...

PV: Unfortunately, the reverse is usually true these days. Writing--and maybe even carpentry--is done with the audience in mind.

VM: See, I don't think of myself as "a songwriter." I know songwriters and I'm not one. A songwriter's a guy who can come in at 9:30 in the morning and write a song on demand, and I've never been able to do that. I'm an inspirational writer. I write when I'm inspired. If I'm not inspired I *can't* write. It's impossible for me. I'm not like a craftsman, which is what a songwriter is.

PV: There was a period of about three years, between Veedon Fleece ['74] and Period of Transition ['77], when you went back to Ireland for a while. Were you writing during that time? There was no album for about three years.

VM: There was a period there where I didn't write for about two-and-a-half years. I didn't do anything. I didn't play guitar, I didn't listen to music. I had overdosed. I had to stop. I had had enough. I was mentally exhausted, physically exhausted and I just had to get away from music completely. I'd been going at it hard for ten or twelve years.

PV: And then it all came around again and you got psyched up and ready to go back.

VM: I started to like it again. When I was taking the time off I hated it. I had a total aversion to everything about it.

PV: How planned are your live sets? They seem to be kind of structured as they go along.

VM: At this point they're planned, or more planned than they'd be if we just threw something together to play at a club. There are too many people for it not to be planned. There are seven musicians and three singers. The order of the songs isn't planned, though.

PV: Do you still enjoy performing your older music? Do you still enjoy playing "Gloria," or do you do it kind of for the sake of the audience?

VM: If I haven't done a song for a while and it's fresh, I enjoy it. I haven't done "Gloria" in quite a while so it is fresh. I don't take it seriously, though.

PV: You get a kick out of it, though, don't you? It's not drudgery.

VM: No, no, it's good. It's so old it's new, y'know?

PV: A lot of times in live performance you do great songs that weren't written by you: "Stand By Me," "Mona," "Not Fade Away," Sam Cooke's "You Send Me," some Jimmy Reed songs, some Willie Dixon songs, and "Buona Sera," a Louis Prima song which is really a kick. Do you have studio versions of any of these in a vault somewhere?

VM: There's a version of "Buona Sera" somewhere from a KSAN show. I went into the studio a couple of years ago and went through my old tapes. By the time you get through everything you realize it would be better to do it fresh than get hung up on old tapes.

PV: The flipside of "Joyous Sound" from Period of Transition is a song called "Mechanical Bliss" which is weird, kind of strange...

VM: That was a big disappointment for me because I was trying to break into comedy there and that was my only comedy song. I played it for Dudley Moore and he flipped over it; he really loved it. I thought, "This is it. This is my big chance." But Warner Bros. buried it.

PV: It was a flipside and wasn't on any album, but it does show a humorous side of you. A lot of people look at you as being the brooding musician who rarely cracks a smile. Are you aware of people having that image of you as the depressed poet?

VM: Yeah, but I think it's totally wrong. Things have been written and people get hold of certain things and put it in the paper and it gets blown out of proportion. Like the thing that I don't do many interviews. That's wrong. I've done so many interviews you wouldn't believe it. Writers have something about everybody: "Oh he's like that," which usually he isn't.

PV: Do you think, though, that people might get that idea, too, from your live shows? You're very much into your music and the music is the bottom line in your live shows. But do you think people expect you to be more of a--

VM: If I went out there and tried comedy, what would happen? It would be "What?" When I've done that, they don't know what to make of it because the image that's out there is not conducive for me to do comedy. I've been in bands where I've done actual comedy.

PV: At a recent show at the Palace of Fine Arts [in SF] a couple of people yelled out, "Van, talk to us. Say something to us." You hear that when they say it, don't you?

VM: Yeah, but you can't please everybody. When I'm playing I've got to concentrate on the music--the arrangements and the people and getting the moment. If I start developing myself as a personality, that's another form of concentration, so in order to concentrate on that I couldn't do what I do now. I would have to change completely. I have to concentrate to build the energy and I have to put a spell on it, so to speak, to do it. I don't want to talk because it would break the spell. Music is what I'm saying.

PV: Is it frustrating to think that a lot of people don't pick up on that and think that you're just being cold?

VM: Who are "they"? Different people think different things and the audience is made up of individuals. Some people like it and some people don't. I do what I do and if people get it, great. And if they don't get it, they don't have to buy it.

PV: In the past year or so, when you have performed the song "Angeliou", you've expressed some opinions in the break there, little ad libs or whatever. One time I wrote down what you said: "This is the part--this is my message--it only takes a few--everyone will get it sooner or later." What will they get?

VM: The message is not in actual lyrics, because lyrics are different every time. And the message is not really in songs. The message is behind the whole thing, which is getting very, very quiet. And when you get very, very quiet you can actually hear yourself. That's what I was trying to say. I was trying to show the dynamics in the music. There's not enough education about what music is today. Kids aren't taught what it is, and I was trying to do a little teaching about it: these elements are in music because they exist in ourselves and society. Anger is in rock and roll, love is in there. There's a lot of different energy. But if you go out and you don't know what you're doing with it--you're just *blasting* this energy--then it becomes destructive. I was trying to show people, "this is energy and *this* is energy, but ultimately the real energy that we're dealing with is the energy that's inside you that you can only hear when you get quiet. And the whole purpose of that was to make people listen to themselves.

PV: At another point in that break in "Angeliou" you referred to a San Francisco music critic who put your music in with rock and roll and you said, "It's not rock and roll, that's not what it's all about." Is rock and roll a bad image in your mind?

VM: Oh yeah. Once you say "rock and roll" people start to project and relate to you in a certain way. I'm just so far away from that projection and that image. The way I live my life from day to day is so far removed from what people think of when you say "rock and roll." I've got nothing to do with all that rock and roll stuff at all. When I started out, when I was a teenager, rock and roll to me was Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis and Chuck Berry and people like that. But now, what is rock and roll? Rock and roll is a mind trip. It's not music anymore.

PV: Are you aware of what albums are selling these days; what's at the top of the charts? Do you keep abreast at all of any of that?

VM: I don't really know. Some of the new music is interesting. I definitely believe we need a new music, something new in order to survive. If music is such a big thing in everybody's life--and I think it is--we need something different because the garbage that we keep getting is going to make everybody sick after a while. I think the young kids are crying out--screaming--for something new. That's why you're getting all this really destructive punk music. They're saying, "We can't take it anymore. We'll do anything." I feel like some of it is very adventurous, and I like that about it. But some of it has turned into a very destructive thing.

PV: How far in advance do you work as far as writing goes? Do you have songs that you've written and that you'll get back to or do you try to stay pretty current with what you're doing?

VM: I try to stay current, but like I said before, I'm an inspirational writer so I've always got bits and pieces hanging around. I never really put it together unless I've got a contract. If I didn't have a contract to do an album, I wouldn't do it.

PV: Until the mood hit you.

VM: I'd only do it if I need the money, if I needed to do it for survival purposes. Otherwise I'd never do it. I went through that phase years ago of being successful, and then I went through the phase of being a successful songwriter. I went through those phases and saw what they were. When you see what something is, then you can drop it; if you don't see what it is, then you keep doing it.

PV: Your music is always changing. Are those mainly conscious or unconscious changes?

VM: At this point it's conscious, because I'm actually starting to work on it. It's taken me 20 years to be able to see what it is I'm involved in and what I'm actually doing with it. You find out after a while it's just too limiting to make an album and tour, make another album and tour. It's not very creative. So you start exploring: what does a C chord mean? It could mean a lot of different things; it could be a color. The C chord means a certain thing, the G chord means certain things. What does this song mean? What do these lyrics mean? It took me 20 years to get to this point, where I'm consciously involved with what I'm doing.